Agenda and minutes

Councillor Hellaoui declared a non-pecuniary interest in relation to agenda item 4, Locality Working, as she was Ward Councillor for Newport Ward and Co-Chair of Governors at Newport Primary School - where one of the pilot locality working teams was operational.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Children and Young People’s Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel held on 21 September 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services will be in attendance to provide further information in relation to service provision in the pilot locality working areas.

S Butcher, Executive Director of Children’s Services, R Farnham, Director of Children’s Care and M Walker, Head of Stronger Communities, were in attendance to provide the Panel with further information in relation to the  Panel’s current scrutiny topic ‘Locality Working from a Children’s Services Perspective’. 

The Executive Director opened the presentation by emphasising the importance of the ‘Middlesbrough Children Matter’ branding and Middlesbrough’s mission to show Middlesbrough children that they matter.  The Panel was informed that work was ongoing to roll out ‘Middlesbrough Children Matter’ beyond Children’s Services, corporately across other Council directorates encouraging opportunities for collaboration and contribution to the Children’s Services agenda, and also a longer term ambition to roll out to other partner organisations so that ultimately all agencies were focussing on children.  A new addition to the branding was ‘Middlesbrough on the Map’ which aimed to put Middlesbrough on the map and to promote the innovative work happening in Middlesbrough.

It was acknowledged that locality working was wider than Children’s Services and this was a fundamental ‘working in partnership’ aim of the project, however, the information being provided at the Panel meeting focussed on the Children’s Services element of the project.

The Panel was informed that the locality working pilots, in North Ormesby and Newport, had nine key themes, predominantly informed by local residents and analysis of service demand.  A key principle of locality working was involving the local community and working with them to achieve the objectives.  Individual multi-agency Action Plans had been developed in respect of each of the thematic areas and these were reviewed on a monthly basis.  The nine themes were as follows (with the appropriate service lead identified in brackets):-

·        Making people feel safe (Police)

·        Healthier population (Public Health)

·        Better economic outcomes (Education & Partnerships Team)

·        Better outcomes for children (Children’s Social Care)

·        Improved environmental standards (Environment & Community Services)

·        Improved physical appearance (Environment & Community Services)

·        Improved customer experience (Stronger Communities)

·        Improved community capacity (Thirteen Housing)

·        Improved perceptions (Thirteen Housing)

In terms of staffing in children’s early help and social care within the pilot areas, resources were as follows:-

·        Three Early Help Senior Practitioners (two in Newport, one in North Ormesby)

·        Five Social Workers (two in Newport, three in North Ormesby).  (This was informed by the capacity and demand information obtained for those areas). 

·        The above staff were overseen by two Team Managers – an Early Help Team Manager, who attended the Design Implementation Group; and a Social Care Team Manager who was responsible for the Children’s Locality Action Plan (updated monthly).

·        The Design Implementation Group was made up of senior officers from across all of the partners and was established to design and implement the locality model and to ensure that the objectives were on track.

·        A Risk and Resilience Team was leading on a multi-agency plan to tackle child exploitation.

·        Youth outreach work was delivered in both areas.

Although the project was still in its early stages, the benefits emerging from locality working in relation to children’s early help and social  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/18

The Panel is asked to consider and agree Terms of Reference for its review of ‘Locality Working from a Children’s Services Perspective’.

The Panel was asked to consider, discuss and agree Terms of Reference for its current scrutiny review of ‘Locality Working from a Children’s Services Perspective’.  Proposed Terms of Reference had been circulated with the agenda for consideration.

AGREED that the Panel approve the following Terms of Reference for its review of Locality Working from a Children’s Services Perspective:-

1.        To examine how Locality Working will be developed in the pilot areas.

2.        To understand how the impact of Locality Working for Children’s Services will be measured and how any future roll out of the model in other areas of the town will be determined.

3.        To identify best practice from other local authorities where locality working for Children’s Services is working well.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services will provide an update in relation to Covid recovery in Children’s Services, as and when appropriate.

The Executive Director of Children’s Services advised that there was very little to report currently and that Children’s Services was not being significantly impacted by Covid.  Although there had been some impact on schools, it was currently half term.

NOTED

The Chair will provide a verbal update on business conducted at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 20 October 2021.

A verbal update was provided in relation to the business conducted at the Overview and Scrutiny Board meeting held on 20 October 2021, namely:-

·          Executive forward work programme

·          Update from the Executive Member for Regeneration

·          Chief Executive’s Update

·          Scrutiny Panels’ Chair’s Updates.

·          Final Report – Culture & Communities Scrutiny Panel – Cultural Events.

·          Revenue & Capital Budget – Projected Outturn Position as at Quarter One, 2021/22.

·          Strategic Plan 2021-24 – Progress at Quarter One 2021/22.

·          Scrutiny Chairs’ Training (Two training sessions had been arranged by Democratic Services on Thursday, 18^th November at 10am and 5.30pm for Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs)

AGREED that the information provided be noted.

The next meeting of the Children and Young People’s Social Care and Services Scrutiny Panel was scheduled for Monday, 22 November 2021 at 4.00pm.