Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Jon Stansfield and the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Families, Councillor Ngongo

There were no declarations of substitute members.

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This applies to all members present at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest. …

Councillor Jegorovas-Armstrong an outstanding action in the minutes of meeting held on 20^th March 2023, in which members were due to receive further information on the Safer Schools Protocol.  

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 20^th March 2023 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

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.

The Chair of the Committee, Councillor Chapman thanked members who attended evidence gathering visits as part of the scrutiny review into Making Children Visible and expressed gratitude also to the young people who spoke to members.

Councillor Chapman also informed the Committee that it was at the suggestion of the Head of Strategic Programmes and Strategy, to field some of the recommendations to the relevant body, rather than all to the Executive, and cited examples of recommendations being directed at the Education Board.

It was also noted by Councillor Chapman that themes emerged from the evidence, such as continuity, awareness of offers, the means in which the Council engages with partners, and the possibility of alumni schemes. There were also areas in which the Council needed to consider new pathways for young people.

Councillor Jegorovas-Armstrong seconded the thanks provided by Councillor Chapman, highlighting that it had been shown that Islington’s young people had awareness of important matters and current affairs, particularly through the utilisation of social media, and that it was up to the Council to be providing greater support to them. It was also emphasised that the first recommendation on creating a home educated needed to be as consultative as possible, and the Councillor also sought to offer a word of caution that whenever bespoke solutions were created, the system should be more inclusive.

The Director of Children’s Services, Jon Abbey, thanked the Chair and all members of the Committee for their work, engaging with the local community and meeting families. Members were told that officers were keen to learn what the feedback provided by the community was. The suggestion from the Head of Strategic Programmes and Strategy about spreading the recommendations beyond one directorate was again highlighted for praise. On recommendation nine, the Director for Children’s Services highlighted that this was positive that Islington were at the forefront on this matter and that it made him reflect on a similar stance taken by the London Borough of Camden. Overall, the Director of Children’s Services told members, that for marginalised children and the opportunities and visibility of young people, members had arrived at recommendations that address this and officers will review and learn from them.

RESOLVED:

That the draft recommendations of the scrutiny review into Making Children Visible be agreed by the Committee.

The Chair of the Committee thanked officers for providing members with the detailed report and invited officers to address the key points. This was delivered primarily by the Independent Chair of the Islington Safeguarding Children Board (ISCB), and the points addressed were:

·       The safeguarding arrangements are led by three statutory partners and the role of the Independent Chair was to oversee that and the work done as a partnership. There is currently an excellent partnership with Islington in seeking out its most vulnerable children and providing them with the best services.

·       The leadership of the service itself is led by the three statutory leads. This includes looking at what the challenges are for the future such as transitions, children who are being exploited, providing services to vulnerable groups at the earliest opportunity.

·       Serious violence, knife and gun crime remain a concern. The Youth Violence Strategy is testament to cross-partnership working with agencies.

·       There was good engagement with schools, and this was something that was particularly done well in Islington. The board works with their subgroup to address the effectiveness of safeguarding in schools and the actions taken from it.

The Director of Safeguarding & Family Support, Laura Eden, noted the importance of trauma informed practice and how the Council engages with children and young people and families, highlighting that it wasn’t a matter of children and young people not engaging with the Council, but more the Council services not engaging enough with them. The rate of transition from early help to social care intervention has been approximately 1 in 10 families, for the past five years. Members were told that the duties of the London Safeguarding Procedures have been extended, but there was also the ability to offer six sessions, and that some young people who don’t participate in the return interview would have engaged with other services.

The Chair referenced pages 10 and 11 of the report concerning the joint area for SEND inspection, which happened at the back end of 2021, highlighting that given eighteen months had passed since the inspection, it would be useful to have an update. In response, officers told the Committee that this was embedded in detail within the SEND strategy. Members were told that exclusions were down – including children with SEND – and the Council was working closely with our health partners to look at other ways of dealing with preventative services. These challenges were being experienced nationally, members were told, but things were improving but slowly

The Director of Children’s Services added that inclusive practice will always be focused on in Islington. There were challenges around the backlog of therapy assessments, and within school they were holding a lot of that need. Together with parents, schools and partners, Inclusive schools aim to build additional resource provision.

Members were also told that children and young people are accessing services earlier, benefitting from intervention before mental health issues escalate.

When asked by the Chair of the Committee what gaps they foresaw, the Independent Chair  ...  view the full minutes text for item 103.

The Committee were presented an update on Supported Internships, the report which had been circulated to members in the agenda. Key highlights from the discussion included:

·       The programme was highly successful

·       The ambition was for a council led internship programme that provided work based learning opportunities to people; currently the programme tended to use a lot of support for internship programmes.

·       The programme had experienced a boost recently owing to a grant from the Department for Education (DfE). Officers only learned of the grant in October 2022 and the first tranche of money has been spent. The DfE was contacted today to say how it was spent.

·       Conditions included an employment forum and an action plan.

·       The programme was looking to learn from other local authorities who were taking a similar approach such as Hounslow and Hackney.

·       All previous participants on supported internship programmes have been contacted. All  five people from the 18/19 cohort are fully employed. Participants have also been contacted regarding their journey and a tracking sheet has been created to capture this. A report with analysis will also be created.

·       The programmes referred to included:

o   Project Search Whittington Hospital

o   Project Search Moorfields Eye Hospital

o   The Autism Project - Care Trade

o   Project Search – Great Ormond Street Hospital

o   Royal Mencap Society

o   Transport For London (Steps Into Work)

o   Project Choice (Health Education England)

o   GLL Leisure Centres (Steps into Work)

·       There was a big offer, full with opportunities, but not all avenues were full. Some of the opportunities may even be suited to young people who were more entrepreneurial. The issue was getting awareness out there.

·       Many supported internships resulted in roles being taken up in hospitals, leisure, transport, as well as traineeships.

·       Working group set up and will meet soon

·       There needed to be greater mental health support for young people, particularly those transitioning from the safety net of school into the wider world.

·       We have an employment forum, and we are working to develop that and make that more a focus on supported internships. Including partners such as HR and Comms. Celebrating success is key to getting the information out there.

Members were told that there was support from job coaches to do something called systematic instruction, which entailed breaking down responsibilities down into steps until that young person was competent to undertake it independently; job coaches would be supplied by a college as they needed to be trained to a professional level, and officers were trying to get ahead of anticipated demand increase further down the line.

Members were told that it was important to match the aspiration and skills with the right jobs; it was highlighted that Islington had many opportunities and one of the programmes was working with several schools on taster days that were much more focused and in depth than world of work., identifying and focusing on what that young person can do. Members were also told that cross-directorate working with Council officers in culture  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104.