Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 March 2009 were correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman.

The following representatives from LCSP will be attending for this item:-

Ruth Herron, LCSP Manager

Jane Robinson, Chair of the LCSP Board

Nicky Cole, Voluntary Organisation

(1)               Members considered a report that provided background information on the progress made and embedding of the processes for the Canterbury city and Country LCSP.

(2)               Members were given the opportunity to make comments and ask questions which included the following:-

(3)               In response to concerns raised by Mr Jones regarding the use of the misspelling of the word “topix”, not using capital letters and the need for quality teaching, Mrs Robinson reassured Mr Jones this was just how young people liked to personalise and badge services and agreed that the quality of teaching was paramount in the classroom and confirmed the professionalism of the teachers in the Canterbury area.

(4)               In response to Mr Vye’s suggestion that there should be consistent outcomes across the county accompanied by the need to measure and monitor those outcomes for young people, although the emphasis and way support was delivered may vary, Mrs Herron advised that the focus of the headings, for example, drug/alcohol may be different was due to the fact that this was a larger issue in the Canterbury area probably due to the large student population and may not be a focus in another Partnership area.  Mrs Morris added that her department provided data to all of the Partnerships, which helped each Partnership focus and prioritise a responsive plan in line with the framework.

(5)               In response to a question by Mr Vye, Mrs Herron reassured him that there were opportunities for the Partnership Chairmen to meet, along with the LCSP Managers.  They met six times per year and in addition also attended the Partnership Managers Group which enabled them to share information and to maintain consistency across the Partnerships.

(6)               In response to a question by the Reverend Genders on how areas linked across each other, Mrs Herron explained that there were two boards in Canterbury which had continued crossover of work.  They shared Minutes of their meetings and were both aware of each others projects as well as carrying out joint projects.  There were also meetings between the headteachers.  Mr Adams explained that there had been moves made to pool resources, especially for smaller partnerships.

(7)               In response to a question by Mr Northey on consulting young people and what structure there was to keep young peoples views and what they wanted, Mrs Morris advised that she felt it was about having an honest discussion with young people including what constraints had to be made.  Work was being undertaken to improve how this communication was carried out.  Mrs Robinson explained that there were school councils in the Canterbury schools, all young people on the council had a viewpoint but they knew the parameters and had a good perception.  She gave the example of a joint cluster of councils who looked at the issue of bullying in schools which had worked out very well.  Mrs Herron concluded that children who were not at school could be contacted through “Hot Topix”.

(8)               Mr Northey felt that young  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The following representatives from LCSP will be attending for this item:-

Laura Froude, LCSP Manager

Malcolm Ramsey, Chair of the Partnership Board, Headteacher at Towers School

Alan Collado, Children's Centre Co-ordinator

(1)               Members received a detailed report that included the background to the Ashford 1 LCSP and its progress since it was launched in September 2008.

(2)               Members were shown a dvd on “One Children’s Workforce” and Mrs Froude gave a brief presentation. 

(3)               Members thanked the officers for the dvd commenting that it was an extremely useful exercise.  Mr Ramsey advised that “Every Child Matters” made this happen.  Mr Ridings felt that the dvd should be included in the Members induction and shown at the CMT. 

(4)               Mr Ramsey highlighted that there was a nil permanent exclusion policy throughout the schools in the Ashford 1 and Ashford Rural areas.  All the Headteachers were convinced that they should work to this policy.  Fixed term exclusions were carried out at school rather than at home to allow the child to gain confidence and improve their learning opportunities.  In the past excluded students were sent to the Beaver and Brook Pupil Referral Units, that funding was now going into schools to make their own provision, for example joined up working with social services.  Mr Ramsey advised that the Leader of Kent County Council had provided money for vocational training in schools.  The schools had been able to manage pupil moves between schools which was working well.  The vocational element was very constructive, i.e. courses in hair, beauty, restaurant work and carpentry, and had improved attendance too.  Mr Adams said that keeping those children in school meant they were still able to have access to other support services which wrap around schools. 

(5)               In response to a question by Mr Horne, Mr Ramsey advised that links with Further Education (FE) in Ashford was difficult because of the current position of the local College.  However, schools worked well together.  He gave the example of North School which offered land based management.  Mr Ramsey added that Tower School offered hairdressing and business studies and these facilities were open to students from other schools.  There was a member from the FE/HE colleges on the Kent Children’s Trust Board. 

(6)               In response to a concern by the Reverend Genders that resources would be directed at particular targets for marginal pupils, Mr Ramsey explained that the resources were moving barriers.  There was a need to focus on the children’s needs and any barriers that needed to be moved.  Mr Adams added that the Partnership was looking to deliver most of what they could but there needed to be a lot of work and focus on the problems within the areas.

(7)               Mr Vye referred to the role of the voluntary sector and requested a report on how commissioning worked.  Officers agreed to provide this report to a future meeting.

(8)               Mrs Herron felt there was a need to establish the location of the voluntary sector services within each area.  Mr Vye suggested that the council for voluntary services had been involved they may be able to assist with this task.  Mrs Ackroyd added that Pathfinders guidance needed to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The following representatives from LCSP will be attending for this item:-

Helen Anderson, LCSP Manager

Diane Butler, District Manager for Social Services and Vice Chair of the  Partnership Board

Sharon Clarke,  Locality Clinical Co-coordinator

(1)               The Sub Committee received a detailed report which covered the progress made since the LCSP was established in September 2008 with feedback from partners helping to further define the focus of shared areas of activity to achieve the targets in the Kent CYPP as well as addressing local issues.

(2)               Mrs Anderson, Local Children’s Services Manager, gave a brief introduction highlighting key points detailed in the report which included the following:-

(3)               There were 12,500 children and young people in the Ashford Rural area, 70% of which lived in the rural area.  Ashford Rural was the 5^th least deprived area in Kent but had pockets of deprivations.

(4)               Mrs Anderson felt that the shared attendance policy throughout the Ashford area detailed on page 102 of the report had a great impact. 

(5)               In recognising that there was a need to support primary to secondary education a social worker assistant was appointed to work with families to see children through Year 6 and Year 7.

(6)               Both Partnerships for Ashford were working well together.

(7)               Transport was an issue in Ashford Rural area.

(8)               There was a need to continue learning and consulting between the Partnerships and the Youth Service about young people.  There was also an aim to develop work between the Teenage Youth Forum Group.

(9)               Mrs Anderson advised that the restructuring of the Children’s Centres within the Ashford area had begun and that work was still needed to be undertaken to develop outreach.

(10)          Mrs Anderson advised that a pilot had been launched across Ashford named “Active Movement”, a multi-agency and parent centred programme providing fully integrated working to share knowledge about what makes well balanced children. 

(11)          Mrs Butler explained that her role as District Manager for Social Services was to manage risk which covered the issue of families in crisis which she stressed could not be watered down.  There were logistical problems in covering this and a need for other solutions, preventative measures.  A post was to be funded in light of the rise of children on the Child Protection Plan from 67 to 97.  Mrs Anderson emphasised the impact and effect of not having social workers to deal with these increases.  She asked that the Sub Committee be mindful of the invisible children; those not in school and those that did not access Children’s Centres.  The Chairman felt that this was where the role of the Health visitor could play a part. 

(12)          Mrs Clark advised that the Health visitors were an expensive service but very necessary but unless the net was cast wide it would not be possible to catch the problems down the line.  She felt that Children’s Centres were marvellous and well signposted although there were people who would not use those facilities which was the real challenge.  Health visitors still carried out five visits in a child’s first three years.

(13)          In response to questions by Mr Northey, Mrs Butler advised that officers had been discussing how to give  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

It has been agreed that the LCSPs for Sevenoaks South, Tonbridge, Cranbrook and Paddock Wood will be attending this meeting.

Thursday 23 July 2009 at 10:00 am in Waterton Lee Room, Invicta House.