Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Carl Craney  Tel: 01902 555046 or Email: carl.craney@wolverhampton.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence (if any)

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Cllrs Paula Brookfield, Julie Hodgkiss, Rita Potter and Martin Waite.

2.

Declarations of interests (if any)

Minutes:

No declarations of interests were made.

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016 pdf icon PDF 82 KB

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

Minutes:

Resolved:

          That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

4.

Matters arising

[To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on xxx]

Minutes:

With reference to Minute 8 (Performance Monitoring – Looked After Children), Emma Bennett, Service Director Children and Young People clarified the last bullet point, particularly on the point of support during the period between the age range 18 to 25 years.

5.

Schedule of Outstanding Matters

[There are no outstanding matters]

Minutes:

It was noted that there were no outstanding matters from issues previously considered by the Board.

6.

CAMHS Looked After Children's Mental Health Report pdf icon PDF 260 KB

[Dr Roberta Fry to present report]

Minutes:

Roberta Fry, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Cheryl Newton Manager CYPF presented the Looked After Children and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) Annual Report.

 

Resolved:

  1. That the repot be received and noted.
  2. That future Annual Reports indicate whether the position regarding average waiting times and length of consultations is improving.
  3. That the Looked After Children Health Steering Group be asked to:

i.     explore ways of making the data analysis of the figures in the Annual Report more consistent particularly in terms of references to days and weeks.

ii.    Consider presenting to a future meeting an anonymised case study to enable the Board to better understand the Looked After Children and Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service Team’s work.

7.

Health - Annual Report Regarding the Health of Wolverhampton's Looked After Children pdf icon PDF 198 KB

[Report to follow.  Fiona Brennan and Chitra Ramalingam, NHS, to present report]

Minutes:

Fiona Brennan, Designated Nurse Looked After Children and Dr C Ramalingam, Designated Doctor Looked After Children presented the Annual Report on the health of Wolverhampton’s Looked After Children for the period September 2015 to August 2016. The report summarised the key areas of development and outcomes achieved by local health service providers during the period and provided the Board with assurance that action was being taken to resolve on-going issues.  The report also included information on current and future work activities.

 

Resolved:

          That the report be received and noted.

8.

Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer Service 2015 -16 pdf icon PDF 174 KB

Minutes:

Mandy Lee, Safeguarding Manager – Children presented the Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer Service 2015 - 16 and responded to the Board’s questions on the Annual Report. 

 

The Board welcomed the ten core entitlements for looked after children and care leavers.  They also welcomed that it would remain a priority of Safeguarding to improve and have more regular reporting to the safeguarding service in respect of: timeliness of reviews/conferences; participation; quality assurance information; and RAG rating and timeliness of responses.

 

In addition to the information contained within the report it was reported that:

 

·          Independent Reviewing Officers were required to have a Social Worker background.

·          Social Workers are responsible for managing a child or care leaver’s case. IRO’s are not the case managers but they have a caseload of reviews.

·          The Service intents to improve on how it ensures that looked after children and care leavers are made aware of their rights and entitlements.

·          Young people could access the electronic child consultation tool ‘Mind Of My Own’ app and talk about the preparations for their own reviews.  A briefing note on the app would be included on the agenda for the next meeting.

 

Resolved:

  1. That the Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer Service 2015 - 16 be received and noted.

2.     That for the purposes of future Annual Reports, where Looked After Children Reviews go outside the statutory timescales or where children do not participate in their reviews, the reasons be included in the Annual Report.

9.

Performance Report pdf icon PDF 547 KB

Minutes:

Emma Bennett, Service Director – Children and Young People, provided an overview of the key points and findings of the November 2016 Performance Report (data as at September 2016).

 

During the discussion it was noted that six LAC who are asylum seekers and now with the Council were now attending The Royal School. The Principal of the School had produced an article about the new pupils which the Service Director – Children and Young People undertook to circulate to the Board.  It was also suggested that the article be placed on Wolverhampton Today and reference be made to the funding for the school placements of the LAC that are asylum seekers came from Central Government.

 

Resolved

  1. That the report be noted.
  2. That for future performance reports, the pictorial on LAC population include a breakdown of the number that are unaccompanied asylum seekers.
  3. That the article by the Principal of The Royal School on the asylum seekers now with the Council who were attending The Royal School be widely circulated.

 

At the end of the meeting the Chair placed on record her thanks to the officers who attended the meeting to present reports and respond to the Board’s questions.