Agenda and minutes

[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

Cllr Qaiser Azeem,, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was also being live streamed to the press and public.

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

The Chair  explained the process to be followed during the meeting and for asking questions.

Apologies were received from the following members of the panel:

Cllr Paul Sweet

Cllr Dr Michael Hardacre

Cllr Christopher Haynes

Cyril Randles – Chuch of Engans – Dicocese of Lichfield

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

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

That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 July 2023 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

[Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to give a verbal update on progress]

The Chair invited Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, to present a verbal update on progress in response to SEND Written Statement of Action (WSOA).

The Deputy Director advised the panel that support services for children and young people with SEND were inspected by Ofsted about 18 months ago. The outcome of the inspection visit was that a WSOA should be drafted based on addressing six key areas of concern. 

The Council has had regular monitoring meetings with colleagues from DFE and NHS England, who act as the regulators on behalf of Ofsted under CQC. The Deputy Director commented that during this period there is evidence of significant progress in four of the areas in the WSOA, but there were two areas of concern which have not yet been completely addressed.

The Deputy Director advised the panel that at the final formal monitoring meeting in November 2023 the expectation is that the WSOA will be signed off by the regulators as having made sufficient progress.

The Deputy Director commented on the positive work of cross-party scrutiny working group who met regularly during this period to provide challenge and to support officers in responding to issues in the WSOA.

The Deputy Director advised the panel that a request has been made to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) when the formal monitoring work by DFE and NHS England of progress ends in November 2023 that this should be replaced by a ‘light touch’ monitoring arrangement. The expectation is that November 2023 will be the final monitoring meeting with DfE and NHS England regulators and the WSOA will be signed off. The Deputy Director wanted evidence that progress continues in the other areas not yet completed and maintained in areas where good progress has been made.

The Deputy Director highlighted challenges around the development of the diagnostic pathway for children and young people waiting either for a diagnosis of autism or on the waiting list for the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) assessment.  The Deputy Director added that these services are the responsibility of health partners, and the Council will continue to support colleagues in addressing these issues by taking a partnership approach that has a positive impact on families where SEND is an issue.

The Deputy Director commented on the significant progress made on keys issue of completing Education and Health and Care plans (EHC). At the time the service was inspected only 19 per cent of EHC plans were issued within the legislative timescale of 20 weeks and now 90 per cent of plans are being completed in the timescale. The Deputy Director commented that this achievement is 40 per cent higher than the current national average.

The Deputy Director commented on the progress in the graduated response to schools for children with SEND needs but not at the stage where a EHC is required because of the introduction of a new toolkit. 

The feedback from parents reports that their children’s SEND needs are being addressed at a much  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

[Phil Leivers, Head of Education Excellence, to present report]

The Chair invited Phil Leivers, Head of Education Excellence, to present the report.

The Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2023 reports on the quality of early years provision, the take-up of early years entitlements and the supply and demand for childcare provision across the City.

The Head of Education Excellence advised the panel that the presentation would provide the opportunity to review work being done in Wolverhampton to encourage and provide early years childcare provision.  The Local Authority is required to publish an annual assessment of childcare provision and to present a report to Councillors about how the Council is meeting its duty.

The term ‘sufficient childcare’ is defined as families being able to find childcare that meets their child’s learning needs and enables parents to make a real choice about work and training options.

The Head of Education Excellence added that the assessment is also aimed at businesses who might want to open new childcare provision and encourage them to locate in areas of the City where there is a need for this service. The report will be published on the Council website.

The Head of Education Excellence commented that during the drafting of the report that Government announced a significant development in terms of the widening the entitlement to free childcare places over the next two years. The two main benefits of increasing free childcare entitlement are that it supports the Government’s agenda to encourage more parents to be able to go back to work and secondly to meet the development needs of young children.

The report contains information to helps parents understand what they might be entitled to in terms of provision.

The Head of Education Excellence advised the panel of the criteria for entitlement to free childcare locally is based on receiving certain benefits. It is estimated that 70 percent of families are eligible to take the Terrific for Twos - Children aged 2 whose families receive certain benefits (including low-income families in receipt of in-work benefits), or those who meet additional non-economic criteria. The Head of Excellence commented on the different types of early years funding entitlement, for example, some children are entitled to free childcare, funded by the government.

There is a regular marketing campaigns to try and encourage more parents to take up the Terrific for Twos offer.

The Head of Education Excellence commented on the range of work being to ensure current childcare provision is efficient and of high quality.  It was reported that 93 per cent of early years providers inspected were graded as ‘Good’ or ‘Better’ and 89 per cent of schools with a nursery provision were judged as either ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’.

The Head of Education Excellence advised the panel that there are five members of the Early Years Team supporting the childcare providers across the city, such as private independent nursery settings or schools with nursery settings and child minders. The Early Years Team support providers to make sure they are registered with Ofsted and meet welfare and quality  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director of Commissioning and Transformation of Children's Services, to present report]

The Chair invited Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director of Commissioning and Transformation of Children's Services, to present the report.

The Deputy Director advised the panel that every year several independent reviews are commissioned. The areas of child exploitation and knife crime were selected for thematic reviews this year. The presentation would provide a details of review findings and recommendations.

The Deputy Director explained that the Council that an external review of child exploitation in Wolverhampton was commissioned by Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together Board (WST). WST is the statutory partnership body with responsibility for safeguarding issues across the city.

The Deputy Director commented on the purpose and aims of the review. The conclusions of the review findings reported clear evidence of a positive learning culture in Wolverhampton. The report commented on the good progress made in the city in addressing issues of child exploitation. The Deputy Director commented on the deep commitment by professionals to understanding the lived experiences of young people where exploitation is a feature of their lives.

The Deputy Director highlighted some of the key recommendations and linked themes listed below from the review:

·         Intelligence and information sharing

·         Screening tools

·         Training and Professional Development

·         Risk Assessment and Response

The Deputy Director gave update on progress and response to the recommendations.

The Deputy Director commented that the review recommendations findings are reflective of the original expectations of the partnership about the progress of the approach take to responding to issues of child exploitation.

The panel were invited to comment on the report.

The Chair of the panel commented on the importance of the issue. The Chair queried if there were any references in the report to issue of exploitation using the internet or social media.

The Deputy Director acknowledged the safeguarding issues linked to the availability of different social media apps and that it is an area of work being done with schools and other groups to respond to the issue. The Deputy Director added that there is a comprehensive programme as part Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education in schools about the safe use of social media apps.

The service also works with parents to help them understand what sites their children accessing, and in addition alerts are sent in response to schools if there are concerns about specific apps that are being used for exploitation purposes.

The Deputy Director reassured the panel that the service is aware of the issue and the need to strengthen the response.

A panel member commented on the importance of the willingness of partners to use and share intelligence to help protect children and overriding priority to be given to issues relating to safeguarding.

A panel member asked for an update report on progress on the work with regional strategic partners to develop an exploitation screening tool to be presented to a future meeting.

A panel member referred to the earlier discussion on use of mobile apps in the exploitation of children and young people and queried if the Council is working with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

[Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director of Commissioning and Transformation of Children's Services, to present report]

The Chair invited the Deputy Director to present the report.

Andrew Wolverson, Deputy Director of Commissioning and Transformation of Children’s Services , advised the panel the presentation would include an externally commissioned report for information and a separate Learning Lessons Briefing – Knife Crime Thematic Review. The briefing would be the focus of the presentation to the panel.

The Knife Crime Thematic Review was commissioned by the Wolverhampton Safeguarding Together Board (WST) in response to three knife crime incidents between April and June 2022.  The Deputy Director advised the panel that this was the first published child safeguarding practice review in the city. The learning lessons briefing report was published on 2 October 2023.

The Deputy Director advised the panel that since the three incidents in 2022 which resulted in either death or serious injury there has been another recent incident of death of a young person, which is subject to ongoing investigations.

The Deputy Director commented on added value of the report which was co-authored by someone who was a both a victim and perpetrator of knife crime and that this was the first time this approach had been taken. It was agreed that a survey the views of young people about the issue of knife crime should also be done.  About 1000 survey responses were received which has helped to build a picture of the situation locally. In addition, a series of practioner events and interviews with senior leaders within the system was undertaken.

The Deputy Director gave a summary of the main findings of the review. The review identified the following five areas of similarity between victims and perpetrators across the three different cases.

Gender – all victims and perpetrators were male.

Ethnicity – All victims of the cases that formed a central part of the review were non white.

Cannabis Misuse – The use of cannabis was another common factor in cases analysed.

Cumulative Harm – The victims and most perpetrators had experienced at one or various points in their lives, exposure to violence.

Feeling Safe - The carrying of a weapon carrying is often a tactic used by children and young people to keep them safe from harm.

The Deputy Director reassured the panel that while the region has some the lowest levels of youth violence, and the overall trend has been downward there was a need to avoid complacency based on the statistics which show that violence is not an issue in Wolverhampton.

However, recent knife crime incidents show that when a knife incident does happen, in most cases the result is fatal for the victims involved.

The Deputy Director added the lessons learning briefings have been cascaded through the partnership as the purpose of the review is that it leads to changes in practice and progress in addressing the issues identified in the report.

WST have planned an event where 250 practioners at all levels will meet to discuss the findings of both thematic reviews to look what is being done differently compared  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

[Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present the report]

The Chair invited Earl Piggott-Smith, Scrutiny Officer, to present the report.

The Scrutiny Officer commented on the future agenda items on the panel work programme.

The panel discussed the panel work programme.

The Chair invited panel members to submit suggestions for the panel work programme.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the report.