Agenda and minutes

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2014 were taken as read and signed as a correct record.

The Board was advised that no public questions had been received.

The minutes relating to the Children, Young People and Families Portfolio which had been considered by the Executive Board since the last meeting of the Board, were attached at Appendix 1 for information.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes be noted.

The minutes of the Halton Children’s Trust Meetings held on 29 September 2014 were submitted to the Board for information.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes be noted.

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director Children and Enterprise, which gave a summary of the current position in relation to the support currently available and plans for the future support for children with emotional wellbeing and mental health issues in Halton. 

It also described how the children’s agenda fitted with the wider mental health agenda for adults and older people and the governance process in place.

It was reported that Halton had an all age Mental Health Strategy 2014-2019, which was developed and signed off by a variety of committees and bodies last year.  To support delivery of the objectives identified within the Strategy an Action Plan had also been developed.  It was commented that as the Action Plan was comprehensive, a variety of groups and individuals would be required to work together to deliver all aspects of the plan.  To ensure delivery of the plan a revised governance process had been established, a structure chart of this was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

It was also reported that the Mental Health Oversight Group (Chaired by Councillor Mark Dennett) would meet quarterly and would hold all the groups tasked with delivery of elements of the plan to account via regular updates on progress.  It was noted that the Young People’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing Partnership Board (YPEHWPB) was tasked with delivering the children and young people’s elements of the plan.  The ‘Mental Health Delivery Plan (CYP)’ was attached at appendix 2.

The report went on to provide Members with an update on the current developments in the following areas:

·       Emotional wellbeing for children’s service (Tiers Guide referred to in appendix 3);

·       Emotional wellbeing service for children in care;

·       Self-Harm;

·       Child in need project;

·       Tier 3 CAMHS;

·       Services at A & E; and

·       Hidden harm service.

Members raised the following queries following consideration of the report:

Considering the austerity measures currently in place, was the Council in a position to provide these services?   The mental health budget in Halton was £23m across both the health and social care economies for children, young people and adults and was allocated through careful targeting and identification of need, to ensure the most effective use of money.

What was the Council doing for the birth to 5 years old age group?  The Board heard that Health Visitors were available to support families and could offer a host of assessments, referrals and targeted support to parents.  Post Natal Depression (PND) and attachment issues were also discussed, as were the role of Children’s Centres and the Early Years Curriculum, and a wide variety of early intervention and support services.  It was noted that the commissioning responsibility for the Health Visiting Service was due to transfer to the Council in October 2015, which would then provide an opportunity to review local provision. 

How far was this information disseminated in schools as we often see students being excluded for behavioural issues as schools do not know how to deal with them?  ...  view the full minutes text for item 39.

The Board received a report which informed of the progress in support of the Local Authority’s statutory duties in relation to raising the Participation age.   Information was also provided to Members on the progress in working alongside other Greater Merseyside Local Authorities to jointly commission services for economy of scale.

It was reported that in 2013 local authorities became legally responsible for promoting participation in education and training and for making arrangements to identify those not participating under the Raising of the Participation Age (RPA) legislations.  This meant that young people were given the opportunity, provision and support they needed to learn and participate after age 16. 

Members were informed that on 27 June 2013, the Information, Advice and Guidance paper that was presented to the Executive Board of the Council outlined the end of the Information Advice and Guidance contract with Greater Merseyside Connexions Partnership (GMCP) from April 2014, and the intention to revise the approach to delivering education and training to meet the Local Authority’s (LA’s) statutory duties in relation to Raising the Participation Age.   In order to meet the LA’s statutory duties the 14-19 Team were implementing a Participation Strategy, Young Person Strand, to sit alongside the Halton Borough Council 14-19 Commissioning Statement (this was attached as Annex 1 to the report).

          It was noted that delivery of the Participation Strategy began in April 2014 to follow on from the end of the Information, Advice and Guidance contract with GMCP and to meet the new statutory duties.  The Strategy aimed to progress young people to participate in education or training and comprises the following elements:

·       Young People Tracking Service;

·       Young People Case Workers; and

·       Commissioned Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) Services.

The report continued to provide Members with information on the implementation of the Participation Strategy to date and Officers’ distributed up to date NEET information to that presented in paragraph 3.12 of the report.

Members stated that they would find information on employers providing work experience for young people with SEN post 16 useful and it was suggested to use percentage trends for comparisons over the months and years for future reports.

RESOLVED:  That the Board notes implementation of the Halton Participation Strategy (Young Person Strand) to date.

The Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, presented an overview of the performance of Schools based in the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) and the impact schools were having on improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.  

Members were reminded that Pupil Premium was specific additional funding provided to support the education of pupils known to be eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), pupils who had been eligible for FSM at any point in the last 6 years (known as the ‘Ever 6’ free school meal measure), children who had been looked after continuously for a period of 6 months and children whose parents were currently serving in the armed forces.  The Government believed that the Pupil Premium was the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for FSM and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reached the pupils who needed it most.

A breakdown of the 2014-2015 financial year allocations for the Pupil Premium Grant was provided in the report.  An analysis of the 2014 Key Stage 2 results was also provided (Table 1), with an evaluation of the impact in closing the achievement gaps between pupils in receipt of FSM and their peers, based on FSM Ever 6 measures. 

Also presented was the range of attainment gaps for Mathematics, Reading and Writing (MRW) across Key Stage 2 (in Table 2); and the IDACI and attainment gap analysis by school location, as shown on the maps in Appendices 1 and 2 (Runcorn and Widnes).

Members discussed how best practice could be shared across Halton’s schools and were advised of a current project involving a number of schools with a specific focus upon strategies to close the gap.  The plan was to share outcomes of this research more widely and encourage more schools to engage in the project work.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted and Members advise on further actions required to close the attainment gaps in schools.

The Board received the performance management reports for quarter 2 of 2014/15 (July – September 2014) and was requested to consider and raise any questions or points of clarification in relation to these.

It was noted that the key priorities for development or improvement in 2014-17 were agreed by Members and included in Directorate Plans, for the various functional areas reporting to the Board, as detailed below:

·       Children and Families Services;

·       Learning and Achievement; and

·       Children’s Organisation and Provision.

          The report detailed progress against service objectives and milestones and performance targets and provided information relating to key developments and emerging issues that had arisen during the period.

          Members were also referred to Appendix 1 of the report which contained a progress update concerning the implementation of all Directorate high risk mitigation measures that were relevant to the remit of this Board.

          RESOLVED:  That the second quarter performance management reports be received.

The Board received a report which shared the headlines from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector’s (HMCI) Annual Report, which was recently published.

Members were advised that the HMCI report was published annually in December.  The report looked at the performance of schools nationally and across the nine regions in England and used key performance indicators in order to assess how well local authorities were performing in their regions and nationally. 

Members noted that in this year’s report, Halton was singled out for its improved performance in several areas and as follows:

·       The work with system leaders (school to school support) was effective and improving;

·       The percentage of primary school pupils attending good or outstanding schools was 86% and above the national average;

·       The percentage of secondary aged pupils attending good or outstanding schools had gone up by 20 percentage points; and

·       The proportion of disadvantaged pupils (pupils on Free School Meals (FSM) achieving 5+ A*- C including English and Mathematics at GCSE was the highest in the North West and in the top 10 nationally.

Members noted the Inspectors’ report in relation to Halton’s performance and references made to Halton as above, and suggested that these be shared with our schools.

RESOLVED:  That the Board

1)    notes Halton’s performance compared to the North West region and national averages; and

2)    endorses and supports our work with our schools as detailed in Halton’s Learning and Achievement Strategy.

PART II

In this case the Board has a discretion to exclude the press and public and, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, it is RECOMMENDED that under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, having been satisfied that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act.

The Board considered:

1)    Whether Members of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting of the Board during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business to be considered, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972; and

2)    Whether the disclosure of information was in the public interest, whether any relevant exemptions were applicable and whether, when applying the public interest test and exemptions, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED:  That as, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed that in disclosing the information, members of the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 because it was likely that, in view of the nature of the business, exempt information would be disclosed, being information defined in Section 100 (1) and paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Board received a report that provided information on the latest position on school categories across the Borough.  It outlined the levels of support and challenge available for all schools, with additional targeted support for those schools judged as requiring improvement or inadequate by Ofsted, within the context of Halton’s Learning and Achievement Strategy.

RESOLVED:  That

1)    Members note the schools in adverse Ofsted categories and the level of support available to secure improvements; and

2)    Members note the school categorisation process and support actions being taken to minimise the risks of schools going into inadequate Ofsted categories.