Minutes of Meeting of the Norfolk Safeguarding

Minutes of Meeting of the Norfolk Safeguarding

Children Board – Board Meeting

20 June 2016

Hethel Engineering Centre, Hethel, Norwich

1.30 - 4.30 pm

Welcome and Introductions
DA welcomed everyone and introduced Roger Smith as the new Chair of the Children’s Services Committee and therefore the new Lead Member for Safeguarding.
List of attendees and apologies attached as Appendix 1

Matters arising from the previous minutes

Page 2: Early Years Advisory Group. The set up for this group is in progress.
Page 4: Section 11. There will be an update of the audit in the Autumn Term.
Page 7: Cultural Competence Training. This training has now been advertised and information is available on the NSCB Training page of our website.
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.
Please note that all reports/presentations shared in advance of the meeting were distributed as Board Papers. Copies can be obtained from Helen Stubbs on request.
2.Chair’s Update
LSCB Review
DA advised that the Alan Wood Review has been completed and the report and the government’s response the report have been published and circulated to Board members.
The Children and Social Work Bill is being discussed in Parliament and this will include LSCBs, SCRs and CDOP governance. There is a clear and reinforced requirement for Children’s Services, Health and the Police to jointly agree local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, but the format of these arrangements is likely to be less prescriptive or require a Board structure. Norfolk will need a discussion once the finalised Bill is passed.
We need to ensure that the right sub-groups are dealing with the right subjects and that not all groups need to cover all subjects.
DA’s view is that the Norfolk LSCB works well and has been effective in both supporting improvement and in challenging and co-ordinating local safeguarding and he would recommend that our Board should continue as we are in the future.
DfE Reporting and Improvement Plan
MR reported that initial feedback from last week's HMI/OFSTED monitoring inspection is positive. They need to wait for their draft letter to see the detail but the HMI said they could see a significant amount of purposeful workhad been put in. They noted that things were much improved since July's inspection in respect of all the key issues that had led to the judgement of inadequate. Some of the specific areas they commented on positively were:

the drive to make sure every child in care has permanency
the impact on getting Initial Health Assessments completed in time and to a higher quality
the improved quality of PEPs
the commitment to keeping in touch with care leavers
performance management where use of data was described as "rigorous"
increased IRO capacity
the balance of pathway plans are now graded RI
one of the four cases reviewed was graded as good.

Next time they will look further at children missing from care, tracking of court work, and sufficiency of options for placements.
This is a welcome endorsement of the focus, skill, and hard work that has gone into the improvement journey over the last year. We can all be proud of our contribution to that and although no-one will relax until a full inspection grades Norfolk as good we should enjoy the moment. It is clear that we are able to make the improvements required and should approach the next phase of improvement with confidence as well as commitment.
The next steps are:

a series of quarterly monitoring visits with the next being in September
a new directions notice is due in July from Ofsted and Dave Hill has sent his report to the DfE but they will not be publishing this.

AP – MR to report back to Board as events unfold.
Locality Working
DA met with the LSCG Chairs prior to this meeting to discuss the Threshold Guide and Audits for the coming year. There is a healthy structure now for all 6 localities.
The 6 LSCG website pages are now up and running on the NSCB website with lots of information about what is happening in each locality. Thanks were given to HS who has pulled all the information together with help from the LSCG Chairs.
Appraisal Objectives of the Independent Chair
BC proposed a comments session on the paper presented while DA stepped out of the room. No comments were given from Board Members.
DA asked for the points of the paper to be agreed by Board, including the objectives for the year 2016-17. These were agreed.
Other updates
DA advised that a new Monitoring and Evaluation Officer has been appointed – Isabel Davidson – and she will start mid-August.
The NSCB has the highest number ofTwitter followers in the country. DA congratulated Sarah-Jayne Lumley and Lou Gostling who have worked tirelessly to ensure we have maximum coverage on Twitter for all safeguarding topics in Norfolk.
Shelf Help – the Reading Well campaign from Norfolk Libraries has been launched and leaflets were available to pick up at the meeting as well as all the information being advertised in the news section and in the parents and children’s pages of the website. This campaign highlights specific titles that are available for children and young people to read around issues such as bullying, confidence and self-esteem, depression, mood swings, self-harm, OCD and stress.
MR advised that there is a CYPSP Workshop being held on 13th July to refocus/reshape that Board. / MR

LAC Progress Update

Sarah Steel and Ricky Cooper highlighted points from the paper submitted. Children’s Services have completed a review of when assessment have to be completed by and there has been rapid improvements have been made. The number of assessments completed has increased from 4% in February to 87.9% at the beginning of June. As a result of the large increase the quality of these health assessments is being monitored and a Joint Action Plan is to be written.
MR confirmed that there has been a great improvement in the last few months. Better data information can now be gained and health colleagues can pull together an improved dataset.
The launch of Health Passports will take place on 5th July for LAC children.
RS queried the capacity for health assessments to be completed in time with the proposal to bring Asylum Seekers into Care. SS advised that if the funding is available then more GPs could be paid to complete more assessments.
AP - DA asked for an audit of these initial assessments by Public Health to be completed to ensure the improvement is sustainable.
AP – A further update to the LAC Progress to be given at September Board. / SM
RC/SS

Update on Board priorities: CSA

Nick Davison has changed roles within the Police and will no longer be the CSA Lead.
JWv gave an overview of the Signs of Safety mapping exercise on CSA. New leaflets have been written and will go out to primary schools shortly. The CSA Strategy has formally been launched. DA stressed the need to support staff to ensure they have a clear understanding of CSA.
A query was raised about the numbers of CSA in Norfolk and how we compare nationally. JWv advised that analysis and a mapping exercise will identify these numbers.
AP – The key action is for a new chair to be appointed from the CSA sub group within the next 2 weeks. / CSA sub-group
5.Performance Update
AM advised that the new PIQAG group met in May to discuss the dashboard and it was agreed to break the dashboard down into 6 localities. AM showed the attached slide on Neglect Data Mapping by locality area and thanked agencies for contributing more data.
On the dashboard AM highlighted that at Item 3 there is concern that the new Police system is not producing any data at present. JWv confirmed that this is problem for the Police as they are struggling to draw down data from their Intelligence Management system and advised that the situation is being investigated.
Item 4 on the dashboard shows concern that there are 23 joint visits that have not been recorded and 72 cases where a joint visit has not been completed.
AP – Mandy Renton/Children Services QA team will investigate these figures.
The Voice of the Child Survey was discussed at PIQAG and this has been published by Public Health and is available to view on the JNSA website or on the news pages of the NSCB website. SM thanked schools for their help in completing the survey. SB asked if complex needs schools could be included in the survey in future and a query was raised about the areas from which schools responded to these surveys and if there was a way to make completion of the survey compulsory. In future, the questions from the survey could be incorporated into compulsory annual surveys that schools already complete.
AP – AM as PIQAG Chair Public Health will investigate how to develop any safeguarding surveys to reduce duplication for schools and ensure a multi-agency approach to gathering children’s views / MRe/QA team
AM
6.Independent Services Annual Report
CC gave an overview of this report.
Comments

Query around LADO – better publicity is needed as many people do not know what the LADO is.
Concern over the number of LADO officers (2) and admin capacity to close some of the cases still open.
DA asked on behalf of the Board whether we are on top of any backlog and resilience issues. CC advised that this is being looked at currently.

AM attended the LAC Signs of Something Conference and was impressed with the IRO speaker.
DA thanked CC for coming to talk to Board and the work that the service has done this year.
7.Threshold Guide
7 workshops are planned across the county and are at full capacity.
A three minute animation has been created by the same illustrator used for the guide and this was shown to the members. The animation will be launched at the workshops and will be available on the NSCB website once the workshops are completed.
AM thanked the partners who have contributed to getting the Guide to the finished article.
8.Workforce Development Group (WDG)
NR gave an update. The WDG has lacked a chair for the last few months and NR has now been appointed to this role. There are several challenges ahead:

Recruitment
Supporting staff in roles
The exit process

This group had not met since December but held a meeting last week with the current membership where they discussed Section 11. NR is working on the next steps and there will be a visioning workshop held and the membership will be looked at. NR will be visiting members to discuss their roles.
9.Section 11 and the Voluntary Sector
The Section 11 report has been completed. DA thanked NR for all the work entailed. A workshop session was held at the end of April with the voluntary sector to discuss how they can complete the S11 audit. Cindee Crehan and DA to report the feedback at the next Board meeting in September.
10. NSCB Budget, Annual Report and Business Plan
AM gave an overview of the NSCB end of year figures, advising that we did use a significant amount of reserves. The NSCB and Safer budgets have now been separated. Safer has been generating income since 2011 and gives any profit to the Board, which was £10k last year. There has been no increase to funding in the last year 3 years and any reserves that we currently hold should be enough to sustain the NSCB for the next 3 years. The budget for last year was agreed by the Board members.
AM has started the Annual Report and should be finalised by September.
AM will be working with the new Monitoring and Evaluation Officer to finalise the Business Plan.
Meeting finish time: 4.08pm
Date, time and venue of next meetings:
Monday 19th September 2016 – 1.00 pm for 1.30 pm start
Venue:Hethel Engineering Centre, Chapman Way,
Hethel, Norwich NR14 8FB
Minute taker’s contact details:
Helen Stubbs, Business Support Lead, NSCB, Room 60,
County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich, NR1 2DH
Tel 01603 228966 Email

Appendix 1

ATTENDEES:

NSCB

David Ashcroft (DA)NSCB Independent Chair

Abigail McGarry (AM)NSCB Board Manager

Helen Stubbs (HS) (Minutes)Business Support Lead, NSCB

Norfolk County Council

Roger Smith (RS)Cabinet Member, Children’s Services

Michael Rosen (MR)Director of Children’s Services

Paul Corina (PC)Head of Social Care & LSCG Chair, City

Carol Manning (CMa)Head of Partnerships & LSCG Chair, Kings Lynn

Ricky Cooper (RC)Head of Social Work

Wendy Dyde (WD)Head of Social Care & LSCG Chair- North Norfolk &

Broadland

Suzanne Meredith (SM)Public Health Rep

Health

Sarah Steel (SS)Designated Doctor, Norfolk & Waveney NHS

Emma McKay (EM)Norfolk & Norwich NHS Foundation Trust

Mandy Renton (MRe)Cambridgeshire Community Services

Maria Richardson (MRi)Norfolk Community Health & Care Rep

Rebecca Hulme (RH)Deputy Designated Nurse, NHS Norfolk & Waveney

Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG

Lucy Parsons (LP)QEH Rep

Jonathan Williams (JW)East Coast Community Healthcare, CIC

Education

Susan Booth (SBo)Norfolk Specials Schools Association rep &

Headteacher, Parkside School

Helen Richardson-Hulme (HRH)FE Rep, City College Norwich

District Councils

Bob Cronk (BC)Norwich CityCouncil Rep

Mike Pursehouse (MP)South Norfolk DC Rep

Richard Block (RB)Broadland DC Rep& Chair DC Advisory Group

Agencies reporting to MoJ

Julie Wvendth (JWv)Norfolk Constabulary

Chris Small (CS)Service Manager, Youth Justice, Children’s Services

Judith Blackman (JB)National Probation Service

Vincent Callaghan (VC)CAFCASS

Voluntary Sector

Sandra Wilson-Low (SWL)Stonham Home Group & LSCG Chair, West

Lay Member

Natasha Rennolds (NR)Independent Lay Member

APOLOGIES:

NCC
Don Evans
Gordon Boyd
Tracy Whittaker
Lorna Bright
Louise Smith
Cathy Mouser
Andrea Brown
Sal Thirlway
Kelly Waters / AD: Children’s Services, Performance, Planning & Quality Assurance
AD: Children’s Services, Education
Head of Social Care & LSCG Chair, East
AD: Adults Social Care
Director, Public Health
AD: Children’s Social Work
Principal Social Worker, Children’s Services
AD: Early Help & Prevention
Safeguarding Advisor for Schools
Education
Jane Worsdale
Jonathan Taylor / Chair Education Advisory Group & Headteacher,
Dussindale Primary School
Secondary School rep, & Principal, Wymondham
College
Health
Mavis Spencer
Catherine Morgan
Cath Byford
Catherine Knox
Simon Chase
Robert Mack / NHS England
Norfolk Community Health & Care
Great Yarmouth & Waveney CCG
Designated Nurse for Safeguarding, NHSNorfolk &
Waveney
East of England Ambulance Service NHS
Norfolk & Suffolk Foundation Trust & Co-Chair, East
LSCG
District Councils
Ray Harding
David Neville
Robert Read
Sonia Shuter / CEX, King’s Lynn & West Norfolk Borough Council
South Norfolk DC Rep & LSCG Chair, South
Great Yarmouth BC rep
North Norfolk DC rep
Agencies linked to the MoJ
Nick Davison
David Nicholson / Norfolk Constabulary
HM Prisons
Voluntary Sector
Cindee Crehan / CEO, Momentum Norfolk