Apologies for Absence Ch. Insp. Steve Kyte (Hounslow Metropolitan Police), Mahjabeen Mulbocus (MYP for Hounslow) and Julie Tomkins (EiP).

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1 At a meeting of the Children's Trust Board held on Thursday, 4 February 2010 at 6:00 pm at Room 3, Ground Floor Annex,Civic Centre, Lampton Road, Hounslow. Present: Councillor Peter Thompson, Leader of the Council (Chair) Farhan Ali (MYP for Hounslow), Chris Brabbs (LSCB), Councillor Linda Davies (Lead Member), Sagal Jama (CVS Hounslow), Sue Jeffers (Hounslow PCT), Gerard Mooney (LBH), Judith Pettersen (LBH), Kevin Prunty (Schools Forum) and Nick Relph (PCT). Apologies for Absence Ch. Insp. Steve Kyte (Hounslow Metropolitan Police), Mahjabeen Mulbocus (MYP for Hounslow) and Julie Tomkins (EiP). Welcome & Introductions The Chair welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Children s Trust Board and suggested everyone introduce themselves with a description of their role. 6.05pm: Apologies for Absence Apologies were received from: Chief Inspector Steve Kyte, Hounslow Metropolitan Police, Mahjabeen Mulbocus, MYP for Hounslow and Julie Tomkins, EiP 6.10pm: Introductions Introductions were made at item pm: Delivering the New Children's Trust Arrangements Gerard Mooney presented a report on Children s Trust s arrangements and asked the Board to agree the terms of reference and the proposed additional members to the Trust Board. The Board was proposed as a replacement to the Children & Young People s Strategic Partnership Board as this was not working as effectively as it should have been and was not completely aligned with requirements set out in statutory guidance set out by DCSF. The Council s Executive, PCT Executive and the Schools Forum were consulted on the proposals for the Children s Trust Board. Gerard Mooney stated that the Board will operate in an executive capacity as a strategic commissioning group. Its key roles and responsibilities will include: taking a strategic view of needs (Joint Strategic Needs Assessment) and linking needs to outcomes accessing high quality data and information systems performance management establishing overall commissioning standards and principles governance of service delivery and of commissioning at the different levels setting out the areas in which services can be more effectively commissioned at other

2 levels and the processes for managing this delegation of commissioning functions establishing the correct systems and processes, including workforce development, aligning budgets market managing, especially in relation to ensuring contestability, choice and quality of providers, and working towards a level playing field looking at service redesign, especially encouraging the move towards preventative services and early intervention. The locality based sub-groups that sit beneath the Trust Board will include membership from key partners including children s services, PCT, voluntary sector, schools, Early Years and the police. The lead partners (Council and PCT) will establish a joint commissioning unit. Nick Relph referred to page 7 of the agenda regarding the pooling of budgets and stated that there must be a process by which the PCT/Council agreed which budgets to pool. He requested a review of the work plan. The Chair suggested that the agreement of the proposed new members of the Trust Board be reviewed to see which other groups should be considered for the Board. Gerard Mooney confirmed that he would ask the locality groups if they have other groups to propose and await their response. Resolved It was agreed that the membership of the Trust Board will be reviewed at the next Trust meeting. Committee Services will allocate dates for future meetings. The terms of reference for the Trust Board and Locality Groups were agreed. 6.35pm: Ofsted Inspection Update Chris Hogan presented the report on the recent Ofsted/Care Quality Commission inspection of Safeguarding and Looked After Children. The Inspectors considered all areas of Children s Services as the new Inspection framework views Safeguarding as relevant to all of the department and to the wider partnerships. Hounslow was the 3 rd Local Authority in the country to undergo this new and stringent inspection with only a 2 week preparation period. The inspection took place over a 10 day period and was intensive and demanding. The two main findings Safeguarding and Looked After Children received a judgment of Good. There are 4 possible judgments Inadequate, Adequate, Good and Outstanding. Of the total 33 separate judgements 2 were judged adequate (principally in relation to recording) 2 were seen as outstanding (equality and diversity) and the rest judged good. The action plan in relation to the inspection was reviewed and noted.

3 The immediate area for action was the timeliness of child protection conference following a strategy meeting. Other areas were that of social worker recruitment and retention. Hounslow, like other London authorities, has challenges in these areas and is actively addressing them. The issue of electronic social care recording is being addressed through the commissioning and procurement of a replacement for SWIFT. The action plan will be regularly reviewed. 6.55pm: Speech and Language Pathfinder Update A presentation was given by Anne Breaks, Head of Children s Therapies and Nick Peacey from SENJIT, on the progress of the Speech and Language Pathfinder project (now published). Anne Breaks provided background to the project which began as a scrutiny review. Anne Breaks told the Board that this led to Government funding of 1.2m in response to the John Bercow MP review into speech and language. From this, Hounslow became one of sixteen authorities to be awarded pathfinder status. The main aims of the project were to: Provide commissioners with the detail about the high level of need for speech and language interventions, in order for them to commission effectively To pilot and evaluate models of service delivery to inform commissioners To engage with parents/carers of children with SCLN to improve outcomes. Anne Breaks stated that piloting and evaluating models of service delivery to inform commissioners was very important. Also, that value for money was key and that there was a need to make sure that there is clear and reliable data to make sure targets are met. Nick Peacey was involved in target research of different local authorities tackling this area with different initiatives and found that their impact varied. Sixteen national pathfinder projects had already achieved a reduction in the variety of initiatives to provide a better speech and language therapy service. This was the outcome of hard work with colleagues on data outcomes, to track and achieve value for money in the implementation of the project. Another initiative was to help schools and authorities move forward with SLC and which would help to reduce school exclusions, by early identification of children with speech and language therapy needs. Nick Peacey and Anne Breaks also wished to thank Jonathon Hill-Brown for his help in ensuring they had the necessary data on outcomes and meeting dates set for the Board to take the project forward in a highly effective way. The project is on track to be delivered on time. Councillor Linda Davies commented that the parent that prompted the scrutiny review was very excited about the implementation of the pathfinder project. Sue Jeffers said that the appointment of a Public Health Surgeon starting in early March

4 to lead on children s services, would like to be involved in the data collection analysis review. Asked about issues regarding lots of different commissioning areas, Nick Relph said that the PCT would look at the process of commissioning speech and language services from this project, with a view to putting a speech and language package together as far as possible. The Board noted the progress and thanked Anne Breaks and Nick Peacey for their presentation. 7.15pm: Voluntary Sector Workforce Development A powerpoint presentation was given by Sagal Jama (CVS), which outlined the work carried out to identify and improve training for voluntary sector workers working with children and young people. Sagal Jama said that the results of a survey launched in July 2009 to indentify the training needs of staff and volunteers who work with children and young people in Hounslow resulted in CVS Hounslow funding two training courses for VCS groups. Safeguarding was indentified as a top priority. Basic awareness training on safeguarding children was held in October 2009 in partnership with Hounslow Local Safeguarding Children s Board and Children England, which thirty people attended. A second training course based on the common core of skills and knowledge training is planned for March 2010 for approximately forty people. Sagal Jama thanked the Board for the opportunity to deliver this presentation. In response to a question from Chris Brabbs, Sagal Jama said that there is a need to build on the provision of basic awareness training for safeguarding children, as the first session was oversubscribed. The Board thanked Sagal Jama for her presentation. 7.35pm: Care Quality Commission Inspection Sue Jeffers presented the Board with a report on the inspection by the CQC on safeguarding children across healthcare services in Hounslow. She said that the report was overall very positive and reported that the CQC thought that NHS Hounslow worked well with other partners in safeguarding children. An action plan was drawn up and submitted to the CQC in December Sue Jeffers confirmed that NHS Hounslow had published an interim declaration, which was reviewed in January 2010 and that PCT providers made individual declarations by January Judith Pettersen expressed concern that there were no plans to look at CRB checking retrospectively as requirements were very different now. Sue Jeffers replied that she

5 talked to CRB about re-checking staff retrospectively but that there was no need with the implementation of vetting and barring in place. The action plan on pages was reviewed by the Board and progress noted. Chris Brabbs commented that the overall results were good and that the CQC report gave a good starting point in knowing where issues are regarding safeguarding children locally. He said that the national agenda will be more challenging and that there will be further policy development and scrutiny of safeguarding children. Chris Brabbs agreed to share national statistics and trends with the Board at the next meeting. The Board noted the update from Sue Jeffers. 7.55pm: Any Other Business Members of the Board suggested the following items be included in future meetings: Agree membership of Trust Board Presentations from young people Encourage young people to contribute more actively and reflect on ways of doing things. CYP Plan progress Key targets that need to be delivered - Teenage pregnancies Chlamydia screening Immunisation Share statistics and data on progress national picture Chris Brabbs said that he would have a report to present at the July meeting focussed on Safeguarding children. Date and Time of Next Meeting The dates of the next 2 meetings were provisionally agreed as:- - Wednesday 21 st April Monday 5 th July 2010 The meeting finished at 7:35 pm.