Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Matt Cooper, Sylvia McNamara and Nanouche Umeadi, and Co-opted Members Sarah Jafri and Margaret Harvey.

There were no declarations.

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair to announce the following: ‘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’.

Any Other Announcements

Broadcast of the meeting

The Chair announced the following: “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 six 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 being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes. If you are addressing the Committee your contribution will be recorded and broadcast.”

Welcome to the new Camden Youth MP and Deputy Youth MPs

The Chair welcomed the new Camden Youth MP, Zarin Bakhshzaad, and Deputy Youth MPs, Harvey O’Brien and Niesha Akyeampong. The Children, Schools, and Families Scrutiny Committee had a co-opted member position for a Camden Youth Council Member, and it was customary to invite the Youth MP to attend meetings. Any CYC member was able to substitute the Youth MP where required, or any additional CYC members were warmly welcome to attend to observe any meeting.

Thanks to the Church of England Diocesan Board Nominated Co-Opted Member who has resigned from the Committee

The Chair stated that Guy Pope had resigned from the Committee after 25 years and thanked him for his contributions on behalf of the Committee. The London Diocesan Board for Schools had been contacted for a new nomination.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

There were no deputations.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 26 February 2024 and 13 March 2024.

RESOLVED - 

THAT the minutes of the meetings held on 26 February 2024 and 13 March 2024 be agreed as an accurate record.

There was no urgent business.

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 Children and Learning Directorate and other service providers. 

RESOLVED - 

THAT the terms of reference be noted.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families.

This report provides the Committee with an update relating to the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families.

Consideration was given to the update of the Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families.

The Cabinet Member updated the Committee on the following areas relating to their portfolio: the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Inclusion Board and the SEND Strategy, the Children’s Trust Partnership Board in May on Mental Health, the reopening of Joseph House, a visit from Mark Riddell and the Department for Education, and school meals future options.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for their update and invited questions and comments from the Committee. The following was discussed:

·       A Co-opted Member stated that Cabinet Member updates generally shared successes in the portfolio, but they would like more challenges to be shared, as described in the purpose of the update paragraphs in section 1.1.

·       In relation to section 2.2, SEND, a Co-opted Member asked for information on how much funding would be available for SEND activities and how many spaces it would equate to; how the quality of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) was being monitored; and how SEND outcomes were being tracked. In response, it was confirmed that SEND was a national challenge with national thinking about plans and strategy management. In response to falling school rolls and work with primary schools, the Council was reviewing pupil access and admission numbers and speaking to schools about where there were shortfalls and how their finances and curriculum were being affected. The SEND Inclusion Board would be reviewing the latest data and then also looking at the recent JSNA (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment) which related to SEND provision. It was noted there were reports listed in the upcoming work programme which would include more granular detail about successes, challenges, voices and outcomes in this area.

·       In relation to section 6, school meals future options, a Member noted that there were great opportunities for the Council if they were to bring meals provision in-house, such as increasing the healthy eating agenda. However, the quality of the service had to be high throughout the whole system from nursery upwards. The low uptake of free school meals, which currently stood at 60% for those eligible, was an expected consequence of low-quality meal provision. In response to Members, officers confirmed that a future update could be given to the Committee on the school meals re-procurement work.

Action By – Director of Education Commissioning and Inclusion

·       In relation to section 4, officers confirmed that Joseph House was a care home for younger children who were between families. It provided seven spaces, including an emergency bed, and played a vital role for foster carers and caring within families. The Cabinet Member visited the care home six months prior and deemed it in need of an upgrade. The Council was able to invest in creating a high-quality space that was welcoming to children. It was confirmed that the provider changed through re-procurement and the new provider was familiar to Camden and had a proven positive model of working. The new care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture.

This report provides the Committee with an update relating to the portfolio of the Cabinet Member for Young People and Culture.

Consideration was given to the update of the Cabinet Member for Young People & Culture.

The Cabinet Member updated the Committee on the following areas relating to their portfolio: data and performance linked to the Youth Justice Plan key performance indicators; key achievements including disproportionality work, education, and training and employment programmes, Peer Advocates and the new Youth Justice Service reception space opened co-designed with children; events including the Youth Justice Event, Camden Youth Mission events, and the Youth Safety event; children, young people’s and families voice; and key successes. In addition, the Cabinet Member stated that their updates would be providing more statistics and information throughout the year, to give opportunity for the Committee to see the data more frequently than the annual Cabinet Member report.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for their update and invited questions and comments from the Committee. The following was discussed:

·       A Member stated that it was currently a tough environment for the creative subjects and that those excelling in the field were disproportionately privately educated. The Member suggested that Camden should design its own strategy to ensure young people from low-income communities could access arts education. In response, it was confirmed that work had started on drafting a new Cultural Strategy because the climate had changed greatly. Examples of this change include the impacts of the pandemic, the loss of Arts Council funding, and reductions in government funding due to national ‘levelling up’ policies, from which Camden suffered a loss. Officers were speaking with schools and the Cultural Camden Committee to form ideas. Additionally, it was noted that Camden’s culture and community funding made £100,000 available per year for organizations to bid for funding.

·       In relation to section 2, a Co-opted Member asked what the service knew about the children who reoffended and their pathways to reoffending. In response, it was confirmed that there were many programs and a lot of family centre work taking place. However, the portion of children who reoffended tended to have very complex cases. Each year the Youth Justice Board received a report which outlined a deeper dive on those children and their complexities, which included: being known to social care, having SEND, having experienced a number of transitions between schools, and parental mental health issues. These children may thrill-seek through peer groups and if they were from a more deprived area they were vulnerable to exploitation and grooming from older influential people which was a difficult trajectory to leave. Young people who were being exploited often did not see themselves as being taken advantage of but saw themselves as earning money; alternatively, those young people needed therapeutic support and help to gain legitimate experience and confidence. The learning for the Council when support to young people had not been successful informed other work at earlier stages of the process. Examples of this included improving teaching schools about adverse childhood experiences, trauma informed training, early help and preventative work to help children at risk, and targeted help for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Director of Health and Wellbeing, Supporting People.

The report summarises health outcomes for children and young people (CYP) and families in Camden focusing on population health metrics, inequalities and intersectionality data. Data is taken from the Office for Health Improvement (OHID) Fingertips Child and Maternal Health dashboard, annual public health report, HealtheIntent as well as commissioned services across the council and health system. The report also provides updates on work undertaken to improve health and address inequalities across 2023/24 and plans for work in 2024/25 incorporating case studies, evidence of impact and children and parental voice.

Consideration was given to the report of Director of Health and Wellbeing.

Manuj Sharma (Consultant in Public Health for Children and Young People), accompanied by Kirsten Watters (Director of Health and Wellbeing),

introduced the report. The report summarised health outcomes for children, young people and families in Camden and focussed on population health metrics, inequalities and intersectionality data. The report also provided updates on work undertaken to improve health and address inequalities across 2023/24, plans for work in 2024/25, incorporated case studies, evidence of impact, and children and parental voice.

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

·       A Member stated that much of the report provided snapshots of data rather than evidence of an ongoing picture that could assess progress. The Member noted that while Camden was reported to this Committee as performing well on breastfeeding metrics a decade ago, this report only provides a comparison to the previous year’s performance, lacking broader historical data. The Member requested more comparative data in a future report. In response, it was confirmed that some previous data was not available due to new processes and measures which were not compatible with previous years. Camden was performing well in the breastfeeding space, however there were inequalities, for example outreach in the Bangladeshi community where health partners wanted to increase peer support initiatives and volunteer outreach programmes. It was confirmed that for most public health childhood outcomes there were benchmarks and Members could request detailed reports on particular interest areas

·       A Member expressed concern over the stark variation in life expectancy outcomes across the borough, which they stated was up to 13 years between a boy born in Gospel Oak compared to Hampstead Heath. The Member went on to speak about child health challenges such as smoking, the unknown consequences of vaping, obesity due to inactivity, and oral hygiene due to poor access to treatment. In response, it was confirmed that some of the deep inequalities were hard to digest and ambition was still high in the child health equity agenda. Children may experience poor housing conditions, live in households with drug misuse, live in poverty and therefore wrap around care was required to reduce the health gap, whilst operating in the tide of national issues such as impacts from the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. It was confirmed there was a lot of work including with schools was taking place relating to youth vaping.  There was a national crisis in child health; children were shorter, had poorer mental health and there was an increase in severity of health conditions. Improving services in general was not enough but targeting the services most in need and whole system working would be key.

·       In relation to section 11.3, a Member expressed their concern over contraception being less accessible now than prior to the pandemic and asked what the plan was to address the problem. In response, it was confirmed that following a Sexual Needs Assessment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Executive Directors of Adults and Health, Children and Learning, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services.

This report focusses on the year 2023-24 using a broad range of measures from each directorate and division across the organisation. In this report, Camden Directors have been asked to provide a narrative covering key areas of challenge, opportunity, and learning.

This report is divided into two main sections:

• An overview of key themes: a summary which highlights key responses from directorates and highlights particular cross-cutting themes  
• A more detailed account of individual service responses across each of our three Directorates. 

Appendix A contains the data dashboard with key measures and data for 2023-24 from services across the Council.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Directors of Adults and Health, Children and Learning, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services.

Tim Aldridge summarised sections in the report which related to the Children and Learning directorate. This end of year report focussed on the year 2023-24 using a broad range of measures from each division and Camden Directors were asked to provide narratives covering key areas of challenge, opportunity, and learning.

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

·       A Member asked why there had been an increase in secondary school suspensions and how this issue was being addressed. In response, it was confirmed that the increasing number of suspensions in the autumn term was a trend which required a deeper dive. There was an item on the work programme concerning permanent exclusions scheduled for November 2024, which has remained static; however, suspensions required more attention.

·       A Member asked why primary school attendance was decreasing and how it could be improved. In response, it was confirmed that emerging out of the pandemic period was a worrying national trend in decreasing attendance. Even before the pandemic, Camden started from a low baseline and did not perform as well as statistical neighbours, therefore long-term work was taking place to address the issue using more granular cohort analysis to understand the factors of why some children were more vulnerable to missing school. Although an increase in attendance was observed in the autumn term, more data was awaited for further review.

·       A Co-opted Member commented that in their view the challenges and opportunities in section 2 did not match up. They stated that focusing more on responding to the questions set out in section 1.3 would have improved the report’s reflection of what was happening in services. They asked if the paper truly reflected the story of the services. In response, it was noted that this was the first iteration of the end-of-year Insight, Learning, and Impact Report and that learning was ongoing regarding the approach and format of the report. Directors had been asked to speak about their services individually and currently there was less of a focus on matching the whole directorate story together across the piece. Feedback and suggestions from the Committee on how to improve the paper would be highlighted to report authors.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director, Children and Learning.

This report provides an outline of the 2024/25 work programme (Appendix 1) and the 2024/25 action tracker (Appendix 2).

Consideration was given to the report of Executive Director, Children and Learning.

Tim Aldridge summarised the work programme.

The Chair invited questions and comments from the Committee.

Dr Rachel Wrangham requested that the School Place Planning report scheduled for November 2024 should include details on special schools and SEND provision, commenting there was no clear plan for the larger cohort of high-needs children entering secondary school and data was available to address this impending challenge. Secondly, Dr Rachrel Wrangham stated that the Persistent Absence, Inclusion, and Alternative Provision Report scheduled for November needed to include strong family perspectives of why children were not attending school and the barriers they faced. The Chair stated that family perspectives could also be addressed in the Stocktaking report on the approach to participation and co-production with children, schools and families listed for October 2024. Tim Aldridge stated there was specific work was taking place with schools on SEND school place planning and attendance which could be shared as part of the relevant reports.

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

The Children, Schools, and Families Scrutiny Committee is asked to note the scheduled meeting dates for the 2024-25 municipal year:

·         Thursday8 October 2024 

·         Thursday 11 November 2024 

·         Tuesday 10 December 2024 ? 

·         Thursday 15 January 2025 

·         Monday 25 February 2025 

The next meeting would be on 8 October 2024. The remaining meeting dates for the 2024/25 municipal were noted.

There was no urgent business.