Agenda, decisions and minutes

Venue: Alyn & Deeside Room, County Hall, Mold CH7 6NA

Contact: Maureen Potter / Tracy Waters 01352 702322 702331  Email: maureen.potter@flintshire.gov.uk / Email: tracy.waters@flintshire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

2.

Appointment of Chairman

Nominations will be sought for a Chairman for the meeting.

Decision:

That Councillor C.A. Ellis be nominated as Chairman for the meeting

Minutes:

Nominations were sought for a Chairman for the meeting.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That Councillor C.A. Ellis be nominated as Chairman for the meeting

3.

Declarations of Interest (Including Whipping Declarations)

Minutes:

The Chairman advised Members of the need to declare a personal  interest in school related items on the agenda of they were school or college governors.  All Members present except Councillors R.C. Bithell, A. Bragg, A.I. Dunbar, P.G. Heesom and P. Shotton (who were not school governors) declared an interest as school governors.

 

4.

Children & Young People Partnership pdf icon PDF 37 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

(a)       That the update be noted;

 

(b)       That the Families First Programme Overview attached to the report be noted; and

 

(b)       That a report on how the views for securing further improvement from

            Estyn can be implemented be submitted to a future meeting of the

            Lifelong Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  

 

Minutes:

The Director of Lifelong Learning introduced a report on the progress of the Flintshire Children and Young People’s Plan “Making a Positive Difference 2011-2014” as the vehicle for Flintshire to deliver the Welsh Government Child Poverty Strategy 2011, and as the catalyst to commission collaborative strategic projects.  He invited Ann Roberts, Children and Young People’s Partnership (CYPP) Co-ordinator and Families First Lead, to give further detail on the development of the Plan.

 

The CYPP Co-ordinator provided background information and referred to the key considerations in the report.  She advised that the Flying Start plan had been agreed by the Welsh Government and was being delivered and supporting families.  The Communities First and the Health Social Care and Wellbeing plans had significant cross over to the CYPP plan with some agreed shared priorities.  All three plans enhanced each other to deliver the best outcomes for children, young people and families. 

 

The CYPP Co-ordinator referred to the Families First Plan which was a delivery plan for the CYPP and informed the CYPP about the level of vulnerable families in Flintshire.  It was also informed by a mapping profile of services for families with a disabled child.  The Co-ordinator explained that the CYPP took an active part in the recent Estyn Monitoring Visit to demonstrate to inspectors how the whole CYPP worked in an outcomes focussed approach to all delivery.

 

The Coordinator distributed copies of the Families First in Flintshire Programme Overview for members’ information.

 

During discussion the Director of Lifelong Learning and CYPP Co-ordinator responded to the questions and concerns raised by members around how families and young people in need of support were identified and how they gained access to the information and services provided. 

 

Councillor P.G. Heesom raised concerns regarding admission arrangements in schools, and also referred to communities which had a high number of families with recognised needs.  The Director agreed to provide further explanation to Councillor Heesom on the schools admission policy following the meeting.  He gave an assurance that the services which had been outlined by the CYPP Co-ordinator to help families and young people were available county wide. 

 

The CYPP Co-ordinator commented on the need to capture the overall performance of interventions and track consistently the progress of children and young people.  She referred to the benefit of early bespoke interventions with families which made measurable contributions to improved educational outcomes for learners.  However, the early intervention work by wider support services with learners and their families was not known or built on by schools or school improvement services.  She advised that there was a need for awareness to be raised through schools and suggested that school governing bodies could assist in this respect.  Members were informed that a referral training programme was provided to individuals and it was suggested by Councillor V. Gay that it would be helpful if this could be included in the School Governor Development Training Programme produced by the Lifelong Learning directorate. 

 

Councillor S. Jones expressed a concern around the cost  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Families First pdf icon PDF 60 KB

Decision:

(a)       That the report be received;

 

(b)       That a further report be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee to include how challenges can and have been overcome and the impact on receiving communities; and

 

(c)        That the CYPP Co-ordinator would provide members with a contact number for the Families First service.

 

Minutes:

The Children and Young People’s Partnership Co-ordinator introduced a report to inform Members of the progress and ongoing development of the Families First Programme and the transition from the Cymorth Programme to the Families First Programme which had been completed.

 

The CYPP Co-ordinator provided background information and referred to the key considerations in the report.  She advised that the Families First programme aimed to build on best practice in the development of integrated service models to deliver preventative and early intervention approaches which targeted families most in need.   She also reported that the Family and Adolescent Support Team (FAST) provided a range of family centred interventions.

 

Members were informed that following guidance from the Welsh Government (WG) each local authority was required to submit a Families First Plan.  An updated Flintshire Families First Plan had been approved by the WG for roll out in April 2013.   A key element of the Plan was the development of the Team Around the Family (TAF) which had supported over a 100 families and worked with local services and support to co-ordinate a holistic whole family support approach via the implementation of TAF meetings and interventions for the most vulnerable families.  The Flintshire Families First Plan focused on national outcomes and local workstream areas.  The CYPP Co-ordinator explained that evidence and data from the workstreams had informed the development of the tendering process for the commissioning of the full Families First programme to deliver the broader Flintshire Families First Plan and commissioned projects.

 

During discussion the CYPP Co-ordinator responded to the concerns and observations made by Councillor P.G. Heesom around co-ordination and collaborative working concerning the Families First Programme and the Children and Young Peoples Partnership.  Councillor H.G. Roberts commented on the difficulties experienced in practice through collaborative working.  The CYPP Co-ordinator commented that Flintshire had worked closely with Wrexham and Denbighshire Authorities to share good practice and the results of collaborative working had been positive.

 

Councillor H.J. McGuill asked if links had been established with the  Housing service.  The CYPP Co-ordinator explained that there had been a number of referrals from Housing.  Councillor McGuill also asked what support was provided for families which experienced very difficult and unsettled lifestyles.   

 

The Chairman asked how the Children and Young Peoples Partnership fed into the Health Social and Well-being Care Partnership.  The CYPP Co-ordinator advised that the Health Social Care and Well Being Partnership had created a shared agenda.

 

Councillor I.B. Roberts queried how local communities were supported when intervention with families and young people had not been successful and communities suffered disruption as a result.  In his response the Director of Community Services referred to a number of approaches which could be taken to resolve the issues alluded to.  He also commented on the close links established between Housing services and Families First and the policies in place to address problems caused by anti-social behaviour.

 

Councillor C.A. Thomas raised further questions concerning funding, access to information and services, awareness raising, consistency, and play  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Educational Attainment of Looked After Children pdf icon PDF 43 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That the item be deferred to the next meeting of the Committee.

 

Minutes:

Councillor I.B. Roberts proposed that the item be deferred to the next meeting of the Committee so that the Learning Advisor for Children Looked After could be present.  The proposal was seconded and when put to the vote became the resolution of the Committee.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the item be deferred to the next meeting of the Committee.