Issue - meetings

Mr Collins (Director of Integrated Children's Services (West Kent and Early Help and Preventative Services Lead)) was in attendance for this item.

1.                        Mr Collins introduced the report which set out the revised proposals, based on the comments and feedback that the Cabinet Committee had provided when the paper was submitted to Committee in September 2018.

Mr Collins and Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) then responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -

a)    Mr Collins said that he had recently met with Kent’s Youth Participation Team to explore ways in which Kent could engage young people in youth engagement and develop an engagement model for Members and Chairs.

b)    Mr Collins said that the proposed Local Children's Partnership Groups (LCPG) would be Member-chaired and would meet three times a year.

c)    Mr Collins referred to the current arrangements that were in place for District Advisory Boards (DAB) and Youth Advisory Groups (YAG) and said that the voice of the child and parent was well represented through the forums but weakly represented through the current Local Children’s Partnership Group.

d)    Mr Collins said that partners had received requests from Kent County Council in relation to attending the LCPG, DAB and YAG meetings, although a significant number of partners felt that attending all of the meetings was very resource-intensive.

e)    Mr Collins explained that the young people that attended the YAG and DAB meetings continuously provided valuable and constructive feedback.

f)     Mr Collins confirmed that he could provide more information to Members of the Committee outside of the meeting in relation to potential age restrictions associated with the DAB’s.

g)    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) emphasised the importance of the voice of the child and ensuring that children were included in engaging through YAG’s and DAB’s.

2.         RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, to

a)    agree the proposed district-based governance structure for 0-19 (and up to 25) years non-statutory children’s services,

be endorsed.

(Dr L Sullivan asked that her vote against the recommendation be recorded in the minutes)