Agenda and minutes

Apologies received from Councillor Becky Haggar with Councillor Judy Kelly substituting.

None.

None.

It was confirmed that all items were in Part 1 and would be heard in public.

RESOLVED -

1)    That the minutes from 1 March 2017 record that the minutes were of a high quality of standard.

2)    That the minutes from 14 March 2017 be confirmed as a correct record of the meeting.

The Committee considered the report on the current position of Chid and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which had been requested at the last meeting.

A number of witnesses attended to present the report and answer the Committee's questions.

Joan Veysey, Deputy COO Hillingdon Clinical Commissioning Group, addressed the meeting and made the following points:

·         There is a strong commitment to look at the concerns raised. There was a national focus in 2014/2015 and since then a five year CAMHS improvement plan has been submitted.

·         There has been improvement in the out of hours services offered to young people, but it was recognised that there is still more work to do around access to services. A commitment was made to move to a fully integrated service model development called the Thrive Model of Delivery (TMD). This model emphasised the need to get support when at risk and focussed on signposting people to the right people and resources for support.

·         The TMD is made of three complementary principles namely needs led, integrated and effective and transparent.

·         Co-production work is required to engage families and schools in order to implement care. The CCG and the LBH has commissioned the Anna Freud National Centre for Families to facilitate co-production workshops.

·         The TMD identified good progress in addressing risks and it is forecasted that the model will be fully implemented by the end of May.

Nicholas Morgan from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families addressed the meeting and made the following points:

·         The Anna Freud (AF) organisation is a national organisation which develops and delivers clinical services and research to families and childrens around models of practice for mental health.

·         The AF organisation aims to work with Hillingdon CCG to support young people and parents to co-produce a shared vision for the development of a revised care pathway. This is being done by initial consultation, keeping users of the service engaged and giving them information on the processes and mechanisms for maintaining a sustainable model.

·         The AF organisation is going to conduct training sessions, seminars and oversee monthly meetings of steering groups to deliver the pathway effectively.

·         Moving forward, the AF organisation hopes to identify what methods work well and what needs to be reviewed.

Dr. Stephen Vaughan-Smith, GP Lead for Mental Health and LD, addressed the meeting and made the following points:

·         The CCG is aware and trying to close the gaps in the care for young people. The organisation has engaged charities such as MIND to look at needs and engage children from 16 - 25.

·         Although it has been suggested in the past to go the GP, if there are mental health concerns, this is not the appropriate course of action. The TMD model will resolve this issue by having a single point of access, methods of co-production, and getting help with professionals.

·         Overall the main objective of the new model of delivery is to ensure children at risk are seen at an early stage, as problems  ...  view the full minutes text for item 76.

The Committee considered the draft final report and recommendations of the major review "Major review of the Local Authority's relationship with Academies and Free Schools".

The Committee was pleased with the report and commented that it was "excellent". The Committee considered that the report accurately reflected the progress of the review. The recommendations covered the discussions that had taken place and the Committee requested that their thanks be passed onto the report author.

The Committee deleted the word "vulnerable" under the section entitled "Structure of review". The Committee added an additional word to recommendation three for it to read

"That where there are specific attainment and progress concerns at various key stages, the children Young People & Learning Policy Overview Committee advises that the LA and schools work together to ensure that there are clear and accountable  school improvement plans in place." #

The Committee also requested for the word "academies" to be spelt correctly in the agenda pack.

RESOLVED -

1)    That the Committee grants officers the authority, in conjunction with the Chairman to make appropriate revisions to the report prior to the submission to Cabinet.

2)    The amended report be presented to Cabinet.

3)    That the report is sent all witnesses thanking them for their attendance.

The Committee was asked to identify suitable minor review topics.

The following topics of review were suggested:

·         A review of youth services to consider how youth were engaging with services and to gain an update on how the situation stood in the London Borough of Hillingdon.

·         A review on the Children and Social Work bill which is due to receive Royal Assent this year. 

·         Adoption and fostering service in the LBH. It was noted that a review in 2011/2012 took place in Adoption & Permanency for Looked After Children.

·         Asylum seeking children - to consider LBH's current state of play. Particularly whether the LBH is meeting its statutory obligation and what are services are being provided to these children. It was noted that recent news suggested that LBH was already at capacity which indicated that LBH was meeting its statutory obligations.

RESOLVED -

(1)  That the Chairman would discuss the proposed topics with the Cabinet Members and would report back to the Committee.

The Committee considered an update report on quarterly school place planning.

It was reported that:

·         All children were offered school place in the London Borough of Hillingdon.

·         National Offer Day for primary schools is on 18 April 2017 and all on time applications will offer children within the Borough a school place.

·         National Offer Day for secondary schools was on 1 March 2017 and all children who applied for secondary schools were offered a place.

·         There is a rising demand for secondary school places within the Borough.

·         The increase in school places is being driven by the new residential developments, families moving into the Borough and rising birth rates.

The following points were made in discussion:

·         The pressures for school places in the South of the Borough were being managed.  The need for primary schools has been met by the expansion of three new primary schools within the Borough. Areas where there is a demand for additional primary schools is being monitored. An example of this area includes Hayes.

·         To meet the rising demand in secondary school places it is forecasted that that expansion of two schools will provide additional spaces, options to expand existing schools are being progressed and the Education Funding Agency has confirmed that they have approved two new Free Secondary Schools.

·         By reducing the numbers of nameed schools on applications does not mean that parents will only get that preference. Decisions are made based on a number of factors such as distance, siblings attending the schools and oversubscription numbers. The Schools Admissions team is proactive in this area and contacts parents who only give one option.

RESOLVED -

(1)  That officers be commended and congratulated for  their hard work in securing school places for children within the Borough; and  

(2)  Officers provide further information on school admission levels for next year and report back to the Committee with this information.

RESOLVED -

The Cabinet Forward Plan was noted.

The work programme was noted. Members requested that the topic of the service improvement plan be put back onto next year's work programme at an early stage.

RESOLVED-

(1)  That the work programme be noted.

(2)  That the service improvement plan is added to the work programme at an early stage in 2017/2018 for consideration