Agenda item

The Executive Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Safi-Ngongo, introduced this item to the committee: In the discussion, the following points were raised:

·         The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were still being felt not just by the borough’s children and young people, but residents more broadly. There had been many pandemic-related mental health issues arising in the borough’s children and young people and the Executive Member had attended a conference addressing this issue.

·         The Executive Member also stated that there was still a significant crisis in housing the borough’s care leavers. Officers in Housing Services were said to be doing their best but a corporate strategy was needed to resolve the issue, even if it meant the cost being met through Children’s Services, as some of these young people were being forced out of the borough or housed in private accommodation at high cost to the Council.

·         The cost-of-living crisis and housing crisis was fuelling multiple interconnected crises in the borough. This included not just the lack of supply of accommodation for care leavers, but also falling rolls, with many families being rehomed outside of the borough.

·         There had been significant interest not just nationally but internationally in the work Islington was doing in relation to Family Hubs.

·         Early intervention was helping to prevent the number of looked after children and supporting the families where they were.

·         In terms of education, the next plan was to tackle persistent absence, which was said to be significant at even the primary school level and was another COVID-19 related issue. Officers were working hard to find a different approach to getting children back into education.

·         The Executive Member stated they were working with all members of the Executive to ensure Islington was a child friendly borough and that it was the responsibility of the entire organisation, not just Children’s Services.The Executive Member cited an instance wherein at a meeting with children from global majority groups, children of black heritage in particular voiced their fears that riding bicycles would increase their risk of criminalisation/perceived as threats, which highlighted that there was still more work to be done with police and colleagues to empower all young people to feel part of the borough.

·         The next step would be to review current policies to meet the changing need of young people and also to act upon the recommendations made by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee in its 2022-23 scrutiny review.

·         In terms of the support offered to children missing in education, this was something that both officers and the Executive Member were reviewing to see whether it could be improved.

·         In terms of the  Council’s 2030 Child Friendly Ambition for “We will equip and empower every child and young person who attends our education settings with the learning and skills for life and the future world of work”, and whether home-educated children and/or children missing from education had been taken into account, the Executive Member confirmed to members that it had been and work was being undertaken on that element of the recommendations that the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee had made in its 2022-23 review. 

·         Officers confirmed that the programme allocating laptops to students transitioning into year seven would again continue into the new academic year in September.

·         In terms of tackling the increasing number of mental health issues among young people, it was said that early intervention mattered and as soon as it was known that a young person was in crisis, officers would act immediately, providing the support in whatever space that young person felt most comfortable with.

·         The take up of the National Tutoring offer had been good on paper but not enough schools were taking up enough of the offer. While all schools were working on disproportionality and providing support to students with special educational needs and/or disability in compassionate way, the Council was still encouraging schools to take up this offer. 

ACTION:

Officers to provide a briefing to the committee on the pilot of the Additionally Resourced Provision hubs.

ACTION:

Officers to provide data to the committee on the impact its measures are having on reducing the number of children missing from education.

ACTION:

Officers to provide additional data to the Committee on the take up of the National Tutoring Offer.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.