To receive a verbal update from the Cabinet Members for Specialist Children’s Services and Adult Social Care and Public Health, the Corporate Director of Social Care, Health and Wellbeing and the Director of Public Health.
Minutes:
1. The Cabinet Member, Mr P J Oakford, gave a verbal update on the following specialist children’s services issues:
Visited Children’s Centres in the Ashford and Swale areas
Visited Children’s Centres in the Thanet area with a local GP to explore how specialist children’s services and health could integrate and work more closely together in using children’s centre facilities.
Children’s Centres Working Group – this group had recently been established with officers from Property, Public Health and Early Help services to ensure that optimum use was being made of children’s centres premises, both in terms of the services based there and the number of days per week on which the premises were used, to achieve best use of public money. It was planned that the health visiting service and youth service both be based there. In response to a concern raised, Mr Oakford emphasised that this was not an exercise to identify a reduction in children’s centres. The work of the group was in no way to be seen as confidential and all local Members would be involved.
A recent Member briefing on child sexual exploitation had been well attended.
Opened Tunbridge Wells Youth Hub with Mike Hill, Cabinet Member for Communities – until recently, Tunbridge Wells had been the only area of Kent not to have a youth hub, so it was particularly pleasing that a suitable premises had become available for this use.
Attended Challenger Troupe Awards ceremony
Unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) national dispersal scheme – two recent meetings at the Home Office had addressed the need for and the establishment of a national dispersal system for UASC. It was disappointing that the scheme was still voluntary rather than mandatory, and that, of the 12 other local authorities which had indicated a willingness to help, only West Sussex had ultimately come forward to take a maximum of 15 UASC from Kent. If the Home Office calculation of the ideal maximum percentage of UASC compared to the overall population of a local authority were applied, it would mean that Kent should have no more than 300 UASC, yet currently had three times that number. Monthly arrival rates were much lower than for the summer of 2015 but the 30 or so UASC arriving per month still had some impact on accommodation, policing, health and education services. Kent would continue to lobby for a mandatory national dispersal scheme.
In response to a question, Mr Oakford clarified that an amendment to the Immigration Act in May 2016 had given the Government reserve powers to direct local authorities to take UASC, so could impose a mandatory scheme.
2. Mr A Ireland then gave a verbal update on the following specialist children’s services issues:
Ofsted visit – no Ofsted visit had yet been announced so this would not now happen until September at the earliest.
Ofsted consultation – Ofsted had very recently published a consultation on its future inspection framework. The issues set out in the consultation would be examined and reported to a future meeting of this committee.
Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards (LSCBs) – a review of the role and functions of of Local Safeguarding Children’s Boards, commissioned by the Government and prepared by Alan Wood, had reported in May 2016 had made a clear recommendation that local authorities should not have a duty to have a LSCB, but, if they chose not to, they had to demonstrate that they had in place robust joint working arrangements with local Police and Health services to ensure that child protection issues were adequately covered. All local authorities would need to consider how they wished to proceed, and this committee would have an opportunity to discuss the possibilities for Kent.
Regional Adoption Arrangements – progress towards new arrangements was continuing, and the Coram Partnership Board had met recently. All local authorities would need to consider what they wished to put in place and were considering the possibilities, which included potential partnership arrangements with neighbouring authorities. It was expected that further progress would be reported to this committee shortly.
3. As Deputy Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health, Mrs P T Cole gave a verbal update on the following children’s public health issues:
Mind the Gap – the County Council’s new Health Inequalities Action Plan would be reported shortly to the Adult Social Care and Health Cabinet Committee and, to avoid duplication, it would not also be reported to this committee. However, Members of this committee could attend the Adult Social Care and Health Cabinet Committee meeting on 12 July to hear the item and take part in the debate.
29 June Spoke at Perinatal Mental Health Conference at Canterbury Christ Church University
29 June Visited Turning Point substance misuse service in Canterbury - it had been encouraging to see the increased confidence that the service was able to give people and to see former users who had benefited from support returning to mentor others.
4. Mr A Scott-Clark then gave a verbal update on the following children’s public health issues:
Community Pharmacies – a letter from Mr Gibbens and the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform, Roger Gough, had been sent to the Minister to seek to secure adequate funding for pharmacies in rural and edge-of-town locations. It had been good to receive the recent news that NHS funding would be made available to support the integration of primary care and community pharmacies. Mr Scott-Clark added that pharmacies facing hardship could bid to access this funding via pharmacy access schemes, based on location and local need. Local Pharmaceutical Committees had expressed concern about the viability of suburban and rural pharmacies.
NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans: Prevention – prevention had previously been a key issue in the NHS 5 year plan, and the County Council’s Public Health team would support enhanced intervention and seek to promote priorities such as addressing obesity, achieving parity of esteem for mental and physical health and encouraging employers to take workplace health and lifestyle choices, such as drinking and smoking, seriously.
Work with the Town and Country Planning Association – the County Council’s Public Health team would work with Public Health England, district councils, local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and Health and Wellbeing Boards to address the issue of planning health more systematically and effectively into the infrastructure of new developments, for example, in terms of green space and walking and cycling routes.
Healthy New Towns/Ebbsfleet – related to the above, Ebbsfleet had been awarded Healthy New Towns status, and Public Health would work with Public Health England, the district council, the local CCG and the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation to address issues such as building a healthy environment and linking health services to the local transport network.
News of the Ebbsfleet Healthy New Towns initiative was welcomed, and Mr Scott-Clark was asked to ensure that the Kent Association of Parish Councils made other parish councils fully aware of the Healthy New Towns project and the opportunities this represented;
5. RESOLVED that the verbal updates be noted, with thanks.