Present:-

Councillors Hannaford (Vice-Chairman, In the Chair), Biederman, Connett, Dewhirst, Eastman, Hannan, Mathews and Sellis

[Councillor Mathews attended for items up to and including Minute *123]

Additional Members for Educational Issues:-

Ms Fontana (Primary Parent Governor Representative)

Members attending in accordance with Standing Order 25:-

Councillors Barker, Hart and McInnes

Apologies:-

Councillors Barisic, Hone, Hosking, Randall Johnson, Rowe, Sanders and Squires and Mrs Mabin (Church of England)

*115 Minutes

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 8 September 2015 be signed as a correct record.

*116 Call-in of Cabinet Member Decision - Proposed Closure of Compass House Creche, Magdalen Road, Exeter

The Vice-Chairman confirmed that following the decision of the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Health Services to withdraw his decision pending further consideration of the issues, this item had been withdrawn from consideration.

*117 Devon Safeguarding Children Board Annual Report 2014/15

The Committee received and noted the Annual Report of the Devon Safeguarding Children Board for 2014/15 (CS/15/27 - supplementary information CS/15/27) on the performance and effectiveness of safeguarding activity and arrangements over the preceding year which had been informed by the inadequate judgement following the Ofsted Inspection undertaken in February/March 2015, the recent Care Quality Commission and Peer Group Inspections and other reviews and audits.

Mr D Taylor, the Board s Chairman, attended and spoke at the invitation of the Committee to present the Report. It had already been presented to the Cabinet and the Health Wellbeing Board on 11 and 12 November 2015 respectively.

The Annual Report summarised progress against the priorities for 2014/15 included in its business plan which were: better understanding of children, young people and families views; more effective working at a multi-agency level; delivery of effective training; and commitment from all agencies to ensure quality supervision. It had concluded that whilst there was evidence of progress, the Board still had a considerable way to go to have impact across the partnership and ensure multi-agency working to safeguard children and young people. The Report identified recommendations and challenges for 2015/16 which would be addressed by the Board s Improvement Plan.

Additionally, Members discussion points with Mr Taylor included stakeholder (agency) attendance and engagement at Board, Executive, training and child safeguarding meetings and specifically Police and General Practitioner involvement and the level of seniority of staff presenting at Board meetings.

*118 Outcomes of Residential Care Homes and Day Services Closures (Minute *92/17 March 2015)

(Councillor Barker (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Health Services) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Head of Adult Social Care (ASC/15/6 - text only | pdf | supplementary information ASC/15/6) on the outcome of the older peoples residential care and day services closure programme following its completion ahead of schedule.

The Report covered, inter alia:

the transition process and the support given to residents of homes which were closing and their families to help find alternative homes or make another move of their choice and to help day service users to find alternative daytime opportunities;

support for staff affected by the closures;

the appointment of Well UK to provide an independent review of the quality of practice and processes employed in relation to transition work and to ensure learning from early transitions to alternative services was reflected in subsequent support work;

feedback from residents and their families or transition workers;

outcomes for residents who had moved, users of closed or merged day services, and staff;

the research undertaken by Well UK and its findings;

the financial outcome for both services.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Member and officers included:

the generally positive response of residents and their families to the outcomes achieved and their appreciation of the hard work and support given by transition team staff;

the acknowledgement that while some difficulties had inevitably occurred in relation to individual residents moves to alternative accommodation, these had been worked through and overcome;

involvement of residents with learning disabilities in their move and further information on the outcomes for these residents;

quality assurance of commissioned services for adults and Quality Care Commission compliance and inspection;

disposal of homes which had been closed;

savings which would be achieved;

the view that overall the older peoples residential care and day services closure programme had gone as well as could been expected.

*119 Children s Standing Overview Group

Councillor Hannaford reported on discussions at the meeting on 6 October 2015 which had included: Devon Children s Improvement Plan 2015/16; Quality Assurance Framework; Progress against Measures in the Department for Education Improvement Notice; Placement Stability; and Role of Health Visitors and School Nurses in terms of Chronic Neglect and Safeguarding Children. He indicated that the next meeting of the Group was due to take place on 8 December 2015.

*120 Adults Standing Overview Group

Councillor Hannaford reported on discussions at the meeting on 16 September 2015 which had included: Market Sufficiency and Quality; Attraction Plan 2015/16 for Adult Social Care; Care Act, 2014; and Adult Social Care Peer Challenge and that the next meeting of the Group was due to take place on 2 December 2015.

*121 Care Leavers Task Group Interim Report (Minute *99/22 June 2015)

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee considered the Interim Report of the Task Group (CP/15/29) on a Review of provision for care leavers in Devon in response to the inadequate judgement on the experiences and progress of care leavers in the May 2015 Ofsted Report on children s services.

The Task Group had made recommendations for better support for the transition to adulthood, greater involvement of care leavers in their pathway planning, working more closely with housing authorities, strengthening corporate parenting and re-examining the commissioning arrangements relating to supported accommodation. The Task Group would hear from care leavers during the next stage of the Review.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Member and officers included support for care leavers with children and current statistical information on care leavers not in education, employment or training.

It was MOVED by Councillor Hannaford, SECONDED by Councillor Dewhirst and

RESOLVED that the Task Group's findings and recommendations be commended to the Cabinet for approval and action.

*122 Children s Centres Task Group - Update and Review of Recommendations

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Head of Education Learning (EL/15/16 - text only | pdf EL/15/16) on progress with implementing recommendations by the Children s Centres Task Group on a further detailed review of children s centre services in Devon; universal promotion and targeted support; early intervention; and performance monitoring.

The Report drew attention to:

the development following a public consultation exercise of a new service specification which placed greater emphasis on supporting vulnerable families through a universal gateway;

the award of new contracts for children s centre services in North Devon and Torridge and work on the re-commissioning of those for South and West Devon and Exeter/East and Mid Devon;

the availability of services to all parents to be and those with a child under five years of age and the emphasis on co-delivering universal services in a multi-agency way to maximise resources;

the development of an Early Help Strategy for use by all partners;

arrangements for monitoring performance on contracts and the required number of contacts with each family.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Member and officers included:

progress being made through the roll-out of the Devon Assessment Framework towards the capture of live birth data across all children s centres in a consistent manner and the use by the Public Health Nursing team of electronic media;

whether/when 100% of all births would be reported to service providers;

notifying local county councillors about the introduction of re-commissioned services in South and West Devon and Exeter/East and Mid Devon.

*123 2015/16 Budget - In Year Briefing

(Councillor Barker (Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Health Services) and Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee)

The Strategic Director, People reported on progress with the delivery of the current financial year s People s Services budget against the Council s agreed priorities and objectives in the context of the delivery of the Council s overall budget. The Report of the County Treasurer to the Cabinet on 11 November 2015 on Budget Monitoring setting out the position at Month 6 in 2015/16 had been circulated to the Committee as background information. The Report had revealed that the overall forecast revenue overspend at the year end had worsened by 2,000,000 from Month 4 - directly related to People s Services - and that a total overspend of 4,500,000 was now anticipated.

The Strategic Director reported that the potential overall overspend for People s Services had increased to 9,100,000 as a result of the projected Children s Social Work and Child Protection overspend having increased to 12,400,000 mainly due to a significant increase in the costs of placements of Children in Care which had prevented the achievement of previously identified savings. These continuing increased costs would be offset in part by anticipated underspendings in other People s Services budget areas. The Strategic Director highlighted the challenges presented by increasing and more complex demands, robust regulatory frameworks and the difficulty of recruiting social work staff and referred to urgent action being taken by management to identify further savings to reduce the projected overspend. As always, the emphasis would be on fulfilling legal requirements, protecting the most vulnerable, prevention/early intervention and working in partnership with other agencies and organisations to make the most efficient and effective use of limited resources. The Committee noted the position based on Month 6.

Additionally, Members discussion points with the Cabinet Members and officers included the make-up of the originally proposed savings in 2015/16 and external placements for Children in Care/parent and child fostering.

The Committee noted that relevant Cabinet Members would meet regularly to monitor the 2015/16 budget situation and oversee appropriate management action, and that this Committee had been invited to establish a Task Group to look at the reasons for the overspend.

*124 Divestment of the Devon Youth Service (Minute *91/17 March 2015)

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee).

The Head of Services for Communities updated the Committee on progress with the divestment of the Devon Youth Service to an employee-led public service mutual or other social enterprise. He indicated that the Cabinet at its meeting on 14 October 2015 had reaffirmed its previous decision that the Youth Service be divested to an independent entity by September 2016 and approved the next steps involving the preparation of a detailed service specification, conducting a procurement exercise and helping the County Council s Youth Service team to secure legal and financial advice to prepare a business plan, establish a new organisation and submit a bid in response to the invitation to tender. To facilitate this work, it had also been agreed that the Devon Youth Service should become the responsibility of the Cabinet Member for Performance Engagement and be managed as part of the Council s Services for Communities. The Head of Service s report to the Cabinet on 14 October 2015 had been circulated to the Committee as background information.

The Head of Service indicated that work to take forward the divestment of the Devon Youth Service was in hand and that he would report on progress to a future meeting.

It was MOVED by Councillor Connett, SECONDED by Councillor Biederman and

RESOLVED that the next steps as set out in Section 5 of the Report to the Cabinet on 14 October 2015 in relation to the future of Devon Youth Services be noted and that the Cabinet be asked for the draft business plan to be considered by People s Scrutiny Committee before presentation to the Cabinet.

*125 Performance Report on People s Services

(Councillor McInnes (Cabinet Member for Children, Schools Skills) attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item at the invitation of the Committee)

The Committee received and noted the Report of the Strategic Director, People (SCC/15/43 - supplementary information SCC/15/43) summarising progress, on a risk assessed, exception basis, with work being delivered by People s Services against Strategic Plan priorities for Children s and Adult Social Care Services and Education and Learning to the end of the second quarter of 2015/16 (30 September 2015).

The Report covered the following:

Education and Learning: Early Years; attainment and attainment gaps; quality of provision; permanent exclusions; special educational needs and disabilities (SEND);

Adult Social Care: performance management information on: assessment and review; personalisation; delayed transfers from hospital to home care etc; admissions to residential/nursing care; reablement/rehabilitation services; and information on quality assurance of commissioned services and the Quality Care Commission s new inspection regime;

Children s Social Care: performance management information on: Devon Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) enquiries/assessment/referrals/initial response; children and families/Children in Need; auditing of Child in Need cases; children subject to Child Protection Plans; auditing of Child Protection work; numbers of Children in Care; auditing of Children in Care cases; workforce data; and information on quality assurance of commissioned services;

Risk Management.

Additionally, other general points discussed with the Cabinet Member and officers included:

Devon s strong overall performance against most education measures despite significant underfunding;

reduced attainment gaps for vulnerable learners, although this remained an area of focus;

the challenges of Statements of Special Educational Needs and the new Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) - the EHCP process; funding arrangements; support for schools and capacity building; the views of children and parents and role of the Devon Information Advice and Support Service (DIAS); reasons for the number of statemented pupils in Devon being significantly above the national average; and concern regarding the impact of delays in assessment or alternative intervention measures;

anticipated improvements in performance on adult social care assessments etc following the recent recruitment of additional social workers and other staff;

allocation of Children in Need to a named professional; number of children subject to Child Protection Plans compared with other authorities; recorded visits to Children in Care; private fostering and Family and Friends placements; and the level of reporting.

*126 People s Scrutiny Committee Work Programme

The Committee endorsed the Work Programme, subject to the addition of the following:

Update on Prisons - from a Care Act and children and families perspective;

Outcomes of Residential Homes Closures and moves for residents with learning disabilities;

Statements of Special Educational Needs/Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

The Committee agreed that a Scrutiny Review of the 2015/16 People s Services budget overspend should be initiated by: Councillors Connett, Hannaford, Hosking and Randall Johnson.

*DENOTES DELEGATED MATTER WITH POWER TO ACT

The meeting started at 2.00pm and finished at 4.55pm, following an adjournment from 3.35pm to 3.45pm

The Minutes of this Committee are published on the County Council s Website at:-