Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence and notification of any substitutes present

Apologies for absence were received from Mr J Constanti and Mr S Manion.

To receive any declarations of interest made by Members in relation to any matter on the agenda.  Members are reminded to specify the agenda item number to which it refers and the nature of the interest being declared

Mr Love made a declaration of interest relating to item 8 as his wife was an employee of CXK.

To consider and approve the minutes as a correct record

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting of the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee held on 10 July 2018 are correctly recorded and that they be signed by the Chairman

To note the minutes and receive a brief update from the Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

1.    Mrs Allen (Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel) provided a brief update on the positive progress that had been made by the Corporate Parenting Panel and the recent events that had taken place over the summer.

a)    In response to a question, Mrs Allen confirmed that OCYPC stood for ‘Our Children and Young People’s Council’ and said that this would be reflected in the signed minutes.

2.    Resolved that the minutes of the Corporate Parenting Panel held on 1 June 2018 be noted; subject to the amendment being made.

To receive an update from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, and the Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education.

1.    Roger Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) gave a verbal update on the following issues:

Results Day 2018:

Mr Gough attended Canterbury Academy and Bennett Memorial during results day this summer and thanked both schools for making him feel welcome. Both Canterbury and Bennet Memorial were good examples of the sheer range of post-16 options and destinations that were available to you people and had very strong outcomes and good performance. Revised GCSE and A-Level results figures had not yet been released, although Kent County Council had seen most of the figures for Kent schools, there were still figures that had not yet been seen. Targets continued to change due to a tougher set of benchmarks and changing grade boundaries. Overall, performance within Kent’s schools was good and Kent County Council were continuing to address challenges such as gaps for vulnerable learners.

‘Change for Kent Children’ programme:

The ‘Change for Kent Children’ programme followed on from the integration of the new Children, Young People and Education directorate. A series of pilots had been undertaken which focused on different aspects in each of area of Kent. In the North of the county, there was a particular focus on integrated teams, in the East of the county, there was a focus on schools and how Kent could ensure that services connected with and supported challenging schools, the South of the county focused on adolescent services and the West of the county focused on placement stability and what Kent could do to support young people who were facing a series of disruptive places in foster care and aimed to build stability for those young people. The productive work that had taken place allowed a drawing model to be constructed, and Kent County Council aimed to implement the full model before the start of the new financial year.

2.    Matt Dunkley (Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education) gave a verbal update on the following issues:

‘Change for Kent Children’ programme:

The decision made in 2017 by Kent County Council was to create an integrated children’s directorate. The ‘Change for Kent Children’ programme would move Kent County Council to a more integrated way of working with children and families. There are two imperatives in the drive towards integrated working.   The first was the national situation around children’s services funding and the need to retain and develop preventative services to be sustainable and reduce demand. The second factor is that integrated working generally produces better outcomes for vulnerable children, and this is reflected in the new Ofsted framework.  Kent County Council aspires to be ‘outstanding’ and Bexley, East Sussex and North Yorkshire were the first local authorities to be rated as outstanding by Ofsted in the new framework this summer. Integration of preventative services with social work services was key to managing demand successfully and building resilience into families.

a)    In response to a question, Matt Dunkley referred to the programme’s title ‘Change for Kent Children’ and reassured Members of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

To receive a report which sets out the proposed decision to expand Meadowfield (Foundation Special) School and informs Members of the revised cost of the project.

Marisa White (Area Education Officer – East Kent) was in attendance for this item

1.    Marisa White introduced the report which set out the reasons behind the request to increase the funding allocation from the Children, Young People and Education Capital Budget for the expansion of Meadowfield (Foundation Special) School and informed Members of the Committee of the revised cost of the project.

a)    In response to a question relating to class sizes, Marisa White said that the class sizes varied between 5 and 8 children because the children had very complex needs.

b)    In response to a question relating to the revised cost of the project, Marisa White said that some of the elements of the project had not been anticipated. She said that many discussions had taken place between the school’s head of department and project managers in relation to the cost of the project, and the company undertaking the work had a duty to take the outcome of those discussions into consideration when producing the cost estimate. She said that it became clear that the company had produced unreliable cost estimates at the point that Kent County Council were undertaking much more work than anticipated to ensure that the project was ready for the planning stage.

c)    In response to a question, Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) said that when being made aware of this issue, he sought assurance from officers in relation to how and why this had happened and where the funding would be taken from to resolve the issue. He said that there were underspends in other areas of Children, Young People and Education within Kent and therefore other projects and other resources would not be deprived of funding.

d)    In response to a question, Matt Dunkley said that Kent County Council’s building costs in terms of unit costs, national government guidelines and performance compared very well. Therefore, the vast majority of the school’s capital programme was delivered efficiently, within budget and at a good price compared to national comparators. He discussed the way in which the programmes were delivered and the project management system that Infrastructure, Gen2 and providers said that the transition period occasionally lead to minor issues.

e)    In response to a question, Keith Abbott said that a great amount of discussion had taken place between colleagues in Infrastructure and Gen2 as to why and how certain elements of projects were overlooked. He said that Kent County Council delivered within budget on all aspects of the school capital programme, but this did not mean that setbacks did not occur. He said that it was important to ensure that correct processes were in place to be sure that particular issues were not reoccurring and were managed within the budget that was available.

f)     In response to a question, Keith Abbott said that Revenue and Capital Monitoring was discussed at the Policy and Resources Committee.

2.    Mr Gough proposed to provide a briefing note to Members of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

To receive a report which sets out the performance of the youth offer within Early Help and Preventative Services.

Stuart Collins (Director of Integrated Children's Services (West Kent and Early Help and Preventative Services Lead)) and Helen Cook (Senior Commissioner - (Children’s) Early Help and Preventative Services) were in attendance for this item

1.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) and Stuart Collins introduced the report which set out the total Kent County Council funded youth offer of £3.988 million and how this was utilised to meet the needs of young people in Kent. The funded offer consisted of two key elements, an internally operated targeted youth provision, with a total budget of £2.812m and a commissioned, externally provided, open access youth provision with a total budget of £1.176m.

2.    The Chairman thanked the officers for the detailed, informative report that they had provided which covered all aspects that Members of the Committee had requested previously.

(a)  In response to a question, Matt Dunkley said that any decisions which related to funding were made by Members. He said that many other local authorities were hitting a financial wall for a number of reasons, the main reasons being issues around the national funding formula and population increase, and the challenge that all local authorities were faced with was youth provision. He said that the budget from which services were funded had been cut by 60% since 2008, and therefore all local authorities had to make difficult financial choices.

(b)  In response to a question, Stuart Collins said that when identifying need, it was important to work with Kent’s youth hub delivery managers that understood their local areas and considered the voice of the child, which was a key aspect and at the front and centre of the youth hub delivery engagement. He said that he defined youth work as the voluntary engagement of young people in a range of settings, both universal and targeted, it was the way in which individuals engaged and used the voice of young people that defined good youth work.

(c)  In response to a question, Stuart Collins said that the range of activities that were available to the young people were need-led activities. He said that it was important for Kent to maintain a targeted and universal youth offer.

(d)  In response to a question, Stuart Collins said that e-Start was an ICT system that was used across Kent’s open access youth and children’s centres, and ongoing work was being undertaken to improve the system, but at present, the system was used by internal services but could also be accessed by external services.

(e)  In response to a question, Helen Cook discussed the targeted work that Kent’s commissioning officers undertook with each of the commission providers. She said that commissioning officers were working with young people to build relationships and to make it easier for them to feel that they could share their personal details with them which would improve the red ratings within the report. She talked about the improvement plan and said that the plan  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

To receive a report which sets out the findings of thew review into the governance structures and remit of Local Children’s Partnership Groups (LCPGs), Youth Advisory Groups (YAGs) and District Advisory Boards (DABs).

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

1.    Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) introduced the report which set out the findings of the review and provided a range of options where greater co-ordination and aligned governance had been identified.

a)    In response to a question, Mr Gough suggested that opposition parties be given the opportunity to chair a Youth Advisory Group.

b)    In response to a question, Matt Dunkley suggested that the item be brought back to the Committee in January 2019, Members of the Committee supported this.

c)    In response to a question, Stuart Collins said that Mr Gough and himself would arrange to meet with the Youth Advisory Group (YAG) Chairmen to address arising issues with the groups and to ensure that there was consistency. He said that it was important to ensure that the voice of the child was heard and would work with Members and colleagues to ensure that this was the case at all times.

d)    Matt Dunkley said that a final decision would be brought to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee meeting in January 2019 which would advise Members of the final advice or decision that was being made, Members of the Committee supported this. Mr Gough said that there was no intention to diminish the voice of the child or the involvement of Members.

2.    The Chairman suggested organising an informal briefing for Members of the Committee to allow them to contribute towards influencing the final decision.

3.    RESOLVED that report be noted.

To receive a report which provides an update on the numbers of children placed in Kent by other local authorities and how Kent County Council supports Kent Children in Care placed outside of the county.

Sarah Hammond (Director Integrated Children's Services (Social Work Lead)) and Keith Abbott (Director - Education Planning and Access) were in attendance for this item

1.    Sarah Hammond and Keith Abbott introduced the report which set out the numbers of children placed in Kent by other local authorities and how Kent County Council supported Kent Children in Care placed outside of the county. Sarah Hammond handed out a data sheet to Members of the Committee that had not been included in the report and explained the figures within the data spreadsheet in further detail.

(a)    In response to a question, Sarah Hammond said that the number of children in care being placed in Thanet had reduced to 235 from over 300 in recent years.

(b)    In response to a question, Sarah Hammond discussed a figure within the report which related to Tunbridge Wells and explained that the figure reflected the areas in which foster carers were situated. She said that there were far fewer foster carers in Tunbridge Wells than in the other districts or borough and Tunbridge Wells needed more.

(c)     In response to a question, Matt Dunkley said that Kent County Council had worked closely with the Coastal Academies Trust and schools in Thanet to address their concerns to meet the needs of the young people that they were responsible for. He said that the conversations with the schools had been very positive, and Kent County Council were ensuring that support packages were provided to each of the schools concerned.

(d)    In response to a question, Sarah Hammond said that although she was unable to provide the exact percentages relating to the increase in other local authority children in care being placed in Swale, she said that the increase was not significant, but the decrease in Thanet had meant that Swale now had the most other local authority children in care than any other area in Kent.

2.    Matt Dunkley said that the majority of children from other local authorities coming into Kent were not receiving education in Kent schools because many of the children were in placements where education was provided by the placement provider and not by the local school.

3.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report which provides an update on how the Commissioned Children’s Centre changes have been embedded within the Early Help Offer and whether the changes in Thanet and Swale have impacted the wider district offers.

Stuart Collins (Director of Integrated Children's Services (West Kent and Early Help and Preventative Services Lead)) and Helen Cook (Senior Commissioner - (Children’s) Early Help and Preventative Services) were in attendance for this item

1.    Stuart Collins introduced the report which informed Members of the changes that had been made within the Early Help Offer and whether the changes in Thanet and Swale had impacted the wider district offers.

a)    In response to a question, Stuart Collins said that Kent County Council continued to monitor all of the activity that took place within the children’s centres in Kent and worked with performance teams within early help to continue to ensure that through the contract management, outcomes were robust.

2.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report which sets out the Children’s Services Dataset Review

1.    Matt Dunkley introduced the report which set out a proposed review of the current performance and data monitoring reporting across Children’s Services. He said that the scorecard would be circulated to Members of the Committee to provide them with a clear and meaningful overview of demand and performance within Kent’s Children’s Services.

2.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report which provides information about the operation of the Children Act 1989 Complaints and Representations Procedure in 2017/18 as required by the Statutory regulations. It also provides information about the ‘non-statutory’ social care complaints and complaints received about Education Services

Claire Thomson (Complaints Officer (Children's)) was in attendance for this item

1.    Claire Thomson introduced the report which set out information about the operation of the Children Act 1989 Complaints and Representations Procedure in 2017/18 as required by the Statutory regulations. The report also provided information about the ‘non-statutory’ social care complaints and complaints received about Education Services.

2.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and the Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education which sets out the directorate’s performance scorecard.

1.    Sarah Hammond introduced the report which set out the Children, Young People and Education performance management framework and the targets and milestones for each year up to 2020, set out in the Strategic Priority Statement, Vision and Priorities for Improvement, and service business plans.

(a)    In response to a question, Mr Gough (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education) said that there was an increase in the number of social workers that had been recruited in Kent which meant that the caseload for social workers had decreased significantly. Sarah Hammond said that social workers’ caseloads depended on the balance between the work that was being received, the number of social workers that Kent had and the progression of the work.

(b)    In response to a question, Sarah Hammond said that there were government funded initiatives to help to improve the number of social workers that were being recruited. An example of a government funded initiative was the ‘Step Up to Social Work’ scheme in which funding was provided for local authorities to train a social worker.

(c)    In response to a question, Matt Dunkley talked about the actions that were being taken to reduce social worker’s caseloads and the support that was being provided to Kent’s social workers.

(d)    In response to a question, Mr Gough said that extra resources were being allocated to recruit more Education Psychologists to meet the increasing demand in special schools.

2.    RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Committee is asked to note an information-only item which sets out the Ofsted results.

1.    The inclusion of this information item on the agenda was noted and no discussion took place.

To receive the report from the General Counsel that gives details of the proposed Work Programme for the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee.

RESOLVED that the Work Programme for 2018 be noted.