Agenda and minutes

To agree the procedures for the operation of hybrid meetings.

With agreement between the scrutiny chairs, the meeting was conducted as an informal remote meeting due to the extreme weather; therefore, the hybrid meeting procedure was not required. Ahead of the meeting, the Leader of the Council agreed that if the Committee agreed any references to Cabinet, the reference would be treated as if the meeting were conducted formally.

Apologies had been received from Councillors Tiwari and Parkinson and Co-opted Member Reverend Guy Pope.

To note the Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee Terms of Reference.

Terms of reference

To scrutinise the Council's policies relating to children and the provision, planning, financing, management and performance of children's services, provided by the Supporting People Directorate and other service providers.

RESOLVED -

THAT the terms of reference be noted.

Members will be asked to declare any Statutory Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, Compulsory Registerable Non-Pecuniary Interests and Voluntary Registerable Non-Pecuniary Interests in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of statutory disclosable pecuniary interests, compulsory registerable non-pecuniary interests and voluntary registerable non-pecuniary interests in matters on this agenda.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair to announce the following: ‘In addition to the rights by law   at the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to  remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.’ 

Any other announcements

The Chair made the following announcement:

“In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record this meeting, I would like to remind everyone that this meeting is being broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for twelve months after the meeting. After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available upon request.

If you have asked to address the meeting, you are deemed to be consenting to having your contributions recorded and broadcast, including video when switched on, and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

The Chair invited verbal general updates from the Cabinet Members present. Going forward, Cabinet Members, where their portfolio related to the terms of reference of the Committee, would report their updates to the Committee as formal papers.

The Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families, Councillor Boyland, gave the following update:

·       He was currently meeting all of the head teachers around the borough and would also visit early years services, children’s centres and other children’s services.

·       He would work with the Executive Director Supporting People, Children’s Services and Camden Learning and meet them over the summer. They would be organising a meeting with headteachers to discuss options in preparation for the government white paper (Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child).

·       The 5 year Local Area SEND strategy, following the final consultation period with all stakeholders, would be considered for approval in Autumn 2022.

·       Lastly, he stated that he had the pleasure to attend the unveiling of the Dr Beryl Gilroy Mural, Camden’s first Black headteacher, at West Hampstead Primary School. He added that the ambition was to diversify school governing boards.

The Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture, Councillor Francis, gave the following update:

·       The Youth Safety Fortnight just came to a close, which combined a series of interactive events to provide support for the borough's young people in relation to youth safety. It also raised awareness about local policies to keep young people safe.

·       The two primary themes of the series of events were youth exploitation and the safety of women and girls, which aligned with the national agenda and high-profile cases. These themes also were now be considered in the context of the cost of living crisis.

·       The Steering Group were formalising plans and forming recommendations for the next stage of youth safety work.

·       She would be touring youth clubs around the borough by visiting their evening groups and summer activities.

·       Lastly, she stated that the new Camden Youth MPs had been announced.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Members for their updates and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       Councillor Boyland confirmed that he had met Bridget Phillipson, Labour Shadow Secretary of State for Education, on her visit to speak to parents benefitting from Camden’s enhanced offer nursery provision, which supported parents  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

There were no deputations.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 March 2022 were noted and would be agreed at the next formal meeting of the Committee.

There was no urgent business.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting People.

An Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) short inspection of Camden was carried out in April 2022. A final report was received on 21 June 2022 from Ofsted confirming that Camden’s Children’s Services are judged to be Outstanding.

As part of the inspection process Local Authorities are expected to submit a written improvement plan to Ofsted following the inspection result. This report sets out our initial thinking about our improvement plan and some of the immediate actions already taken to respond to learning from the process.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting People.

The Executive Director for Supporting people, Martin Pratt, summarised the report which outlined the ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted judgement and the written improvement to address those areas still needing work. In addition, he highlighted the following:

·       He commended all teams and partners who worked together and rose to the occasion, contributing to the great result.

·       Within the feedback meeting with Ofsted the approach of including of young inspectors and parents, alongside councillors and senior officers as part of the process, was praised – which Ofsted had not witnessed before. The Executive Director expressed gratitude to those young inspectors and parents involved who made the assessment possible. In addition, within the feedback Ofsted were impressed that Camden had made progress during the pandemic, noting that Camden responded quickly to the pandemic situation and the arrival of Afghan refugees in the borough.

·       The Executive Director stated that there were still a small number of areas that required further work and would be addressed rapidly.

The Chair praised the report and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       A Member stated that it was incredible to learn further about the role of the foster carers and praised their amazing work for children, noting that their day-to-day commitment never finished even after returning home from work.

·       In relation to the Camden Short Inspection Report (Paragraph 6, Appendix A), it was confirmed that Child Protection Enquiries Section 47 (S47) was an investigative process which looked into abuse and neglect. This was an Ofsted line of enquiry for Camden. The Director of Children’s Safeguarding and Social Work, Rashida Baig, stated this was a focus area for Camden prior to the inspection and they were reviewing whether the issue arose due to an overly interventionalist approach. Through auditing, neither the Council or Ofsted were able to find cases were it was not legitimate to engage an S47 enquiry. To date, they had not found inaccurate processes and therefore a case for a new thematic approach, however they would continue to scrutinise.

·       In relation to the system for the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) duties when allegations were made against those in a position of trust (3.1, Developing our Improvement Plan and Actions so Far), the Director of Children’s Safeguarding and Social Work confirmed that every open case was audited and reported to the inspection. A designated interim LADO had been appointed and business processes had been updated.

It was confirmed that every Afghan child refugee was placed in a Camden school, which was in excess of 700 places. A Member asked what education provisions there were for adult refugees and the Executive Director stated that a written response would be circulated to the Committee.

Action By - Executive Director Supporting People

RESOLVED -

THAT that the report be noted.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture

This report provides an update on developing the recommendations from the Council’s Youth Review which were agreed by Cabinet in March 2022. The scope of the review covered existing provision and activities across the whole of the borough including the Council’s own Integrated Youth Support Service (IYSS), Sports & Physical Activity, Libraries and the Voluntary and Community Sector, for young people aged 12-18 years old and up to 25 years old for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The report contains proposals for a Camden Offer for Young People across four areas:

·         developing a diverse offer of activities across a range of settings,

·         increasing the agency of young people,

·         developing a skilled workforce across Camden’s youth sector and,

·         improving partnership working and promotion of the offer.

Consideration was given to the report of the Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture.

The Director of Early Intervention and Prevention, Eve Sticker, presented slides to the Committee which covered: the key findings of the Review from young people and professionals, the recommendations from the Review and the proposals for a Camden offer for young people. She was accompanied by the Head of Integrated Youth Services, Eugene Griffin.

The Chair thanked officers for the presentation and report and opened the Committee to comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       A Co-opted Member stated that young people with special needs were included as young people in the scope of the report and asked how their voice was captured in the findings. Secondly, she asked from those findings, how their specific needs would be addressed. In response, the Head of Integrated Youth Services stated:

-       That Councillor Francis attended the Sommers Town Community Centre to take part in the Count Me In project, which supported young people who lived in Camden with learning difficulties and additional needs aged 13-25 to attend Camden youth clubs. The project worked closely with schools.

-       There was also the Reactive Forum, a group for a disabled young people aged 13 to 18 living in Camden. This Forum provided an opportunity for disabled young people to have a say about what they think about services and influence strategic decision-making and service planning that affect disabled young people.

-       These groups were consulted within the Youth Review.

·       In relation to developing skills for young people (2.13, Sport & physical activities), a Member stated that it was great to see that the action plan to increase opportunities for children and young people to address physical inactivity was committed to targeting specific activities for groups with known propensity for becoming inactive, such as teenage girls. He firstly asked if there were any targeted activities for any intersectional groups, and secondly what approach they were taking to acknowledge that need. In response, it was confirmed that it was known there was an issue with accessibility for some groups attending youth centres, which were often male dominated and tucked away buildings. They were looking to recruit more female staff, host more activities for targeted groups and develop relationships with partners to support making changes.

·       A Member firstly asked how success was and would be measured of the Youth Review findings and implementation, and secondly if that could be reported as criteria to future Committees. In response, the Head of Integrated Youth Services stated that they had a number of measures, including capturing single and regular attendance and participation data of activity. There was also an out of school learning curriculum and a measure of young people’s journeys and certificates of achievement. In addition, Camden was investing in six youth work apprenticeships within the Integrated Youth Support Service (IYSS), aimed at young people who may have used the youth club in the past and could gain a qualification from the opportunity. The Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of Executive Directors Supporting People, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services

This report sets out quarter 3, 2021-2022 progress against targets for those performance indicators that fall within the Children, Schools and Families outcome area and within the remit of the Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee.

Consideration was given to the report of Executive Directors for Supporting People, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services.

The Executive Director for Supporting People summarised the report and addition the following was highlighted:

·      

There was an unusual profile of Looked After Children (LAC) in Camden, with a lower rate of 10,000. There was a significant number Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children (UASC) and an even lower number of LAC in the underlying population, which was a consequence of significant work into prevention and early intervention. In the report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care by Josh McCallister this work is referenced, and Camden was one of the 10 ‘deep dive’ areas. The review team heard directly from children, parents and front-line staff.

·      

There were significant workforce pressures across the country, London and Camden. This resulted from a combination of reasons, including the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, people making decisions on how far they were willing travel to work and a portion of the workforce moving back to their native countries of Australia or New Zealand following the reopening of boarders after the pandemic. This was an issue they were monitoring and addressing.

·      

A performance measure was used which focussed on families who had interreacted with Social Work or family help and whose cases had closed 12 months previously. It was reviewed monthly the proportion of that group that had remained free of state intervention in the previous 12 months. This measured the effectiveness of local authority intervention.

·      

Attendance in schools was a particular focus. Getting Camden children back to school was a huge priority which they were monitoring closely as currently attendance levels were not satisfactory. Secondary school attendance was more challenging. There were some parents of children with SEN who were concerned about the continuation of the Coronavirus and the potential harm to vulnerable school children

The Chair thanked officers for the report and opened the Committee for comments and questions. The following was discussed:

·       In relation to complaints (3.4.3, Education and schools – Ofsted), a Co-opted Member asked why Camden Learning had been responding to an increasing number of complaints through Ofsted. The Executive Director summarised the process when a parent felt dissatisfied with a safeguarding element of a school and reported it to Ofsted, they would write to him as DCS. He would ask Camden Learning to investigate and report back, which was followed with either an escalation of response or provision of advice and guidance to the school and governing body. The Executive Director would report back to Ofsted with a view on whether and how the issue had been dealt with. The case remained on Ofsted’s file and could be used as intelligence in an Ofsted school inspection.

·       In response to a Member asking for statistics on how many apprentices working at Camden Council were young people graduating from Camden schools, the Executive Director stated that he would provide information to the Committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting People. 

This report sets out the work programme for the municipal year 2022/23 for the Committee’s consideration. The Committee will continue to be provided with an updated report on their future work programme at each meeting, for their consideration.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director for Supporting People.

The Executive Director for Supporting People summarised the work programme. Amendments were agreed by the Committee and were reflected in the recommendations.

The Chair stated there was interest in establishing a scrutiny panel. After the meeting, she would consult Committee Members on which topic they would enquire into for the first panel and others to follow across the administration period. The Executive Director stated that he would provide a recommendation to the Committee as to what level of officer support could be provided to the panel. It was noted by the Chair that if a panel was to make recommendations to inform policy for the following municipal year, it must conclude by February 2023, therefore the intention was to formally agree the establishment of the scrutiny panel at the next meeting on 5 September 2022.

RESOLVED –

THAT that the report be noted with the following amendments to the work programme:

1)    The SEND Strategy paper would move from the 5 September 2022 to the 16 November 2022 Committee.

2)    A paper which outlined the summer 2022 school examinations, using provisional data, would be added to the 5 September 2022 Committee.

3)    Meetings to consider the Q2-4 performance reports will be identified and included in future iterations of the work programme.

The Children, Schools and Families Scrutiny Committee is asked to note the future meeting dates for 2022/23:

·       Tuesday, 19 July 2022

·       Monday, 5 September 2022

·       Monday, 14 November 2022

·       Tuesday, 13 December 2022

·       Thursday, 12 January 2023

·       Monday, 20 February 2023

The next meeting was on 5 September 2022.

RESOLVED -

THAT the future meeting dates be noted.

There was no urgent business.