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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 4, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD. View directions

Contact: Jonathan Moore  0207 527 3308

Items
No. Item

78.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Mary Clement and Councillors Spall and Ngongo.

79.

Declaration of Substitute Members

Minutes:

None.

80.

Declarations of Interest

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

§  if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

§  you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

 

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

 

*(a) Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)  Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c) Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d) Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e) Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)   Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

Minutes:

None.

81.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 86 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

 

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on Monday 4 March 2019 be agreed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

82.

Chair's Report

Minutes:

The Chair advised that the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families was unable to attend the meeting, however would issue a written response to any questions submitted under Item B3.

 

The Chair advised that it was her last meeting as Chair of the Committee and thanked all members and officers for their hard work, contribution and commitment to the wellbeing of children.

 

The Committee thanked the Chair for her work and support over the previous three years.  

83.

Items for Call In (if any)

Minutes:

None.

84.

Public Questions

For members of the public to ask questions relating to any subject on the meeting agenda under Procedure Rule 70.5. Alternatively, the Chair may opt to accept questions from the public during the discussion on each agenda item.

Minutes:

None.

85.

Quarterly Review of Children's Services Performance (Q3 2018/19) pdf icon PDF 256 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Quarterly Review of Children’s Services Performance (Item B1) alongside the Education Annual Report (Item B2).

 

The report was introduced by Finola Culbert, Director of Safeguarding and Family Support, Mark Taylor, Director of Learning and Schools, and Andrea Stark, Director of Employment, Skills and Culture. Other officers also contributed to the discussion.

 

The following main points were noted in the discussion:

 

·         Officers continued to be pleased with progress made on diverting young people from the criminal justice system and reducing the number of repeat young offenders.

·         There had been an increase in the number of custodial sentences for young people. The cases had been reviewed by officers and it was considered that the custodial sentences were appropriate given the severity of offending.

·         The number of children missing from care for over 24 hours had increased. Officers advised that all children were offered return home interviews and almost all kept in contact with their social worker while they were missing.

·         The percentage of re-referrals to children’s social care was stable. Officers attributed positive performance to the impact of the council’s motivational social work model.

·         The percentage of children becoming the subject of a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time had slightly increased. Officers advised that Islington’s overall performance against this indicator was positive and a number of cases would be re-audited at the end of the year.

·         The Committee noted concerns about the long term stability of placements for looked after children. It was advised that in recent years there had been an increase in the number of older children and teenagers becoming looked after. These young people tended to have complex needs and entrenched issues which presented significant challenges. Work with the Fostering Service was underway to ensure that foster carers were well-equipped to support young people with such needs.

·         A member provided an example of a family willing to foster care, however they no longer had a spare bedroom as they were previously encouraged to downsize by the council’s Housing service. Officers agreed to look into this issue outside of the meeting.

·         Following a question, officers advised that there was a correlation between children missing from care and those being issued with custodial sentences. These young people typically would have had sustained engagement with local services and previous experiences of trauma. The Committee requested that anonymised case studies be reported to a future meeting.

·         Islington continued to make progress on the percentage of school leavers moving into education, employment or training. Officers noted that the committee’s previous scrutiny review of Post-16 Education, Employment and Training had recommended bringing together the Youth Employment Team and the Progress Team. This had been implemented successfully and officers believed had contributed to the council’s improved performance in this area.

·         Officers provided updates on implementing two key projects; the ‘11 by 11’ pledge which would give Islington’s young people 11 cultural experiences by the age of 11 and the pledge to give Islington’s young people 100 hours experience  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

86.

Education Annual Report 2018 pdf icon PDF 735 KB

Minutes:

This item was considered alongside Item B1.

87.

Executive Member Update and Questions pdf icon PDF 69 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted that the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families had submitted apologies for absence and would respond to any questions in writing.

88.

Permanent and fixed period exclusion from school - Draft report pdf icon PDF 504 KB

Minutes:

Members of the Committee proposed a number of minor typographical and stylistic amendments.

 

RESOLVED:

 

That the draft report be agreed and submitted to the Executive, subject to a number of minor typographical and stylistic amendments.