Minutes of the Meeting of the Joint Committee on Children and Young People held in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Wednesday 19 September 2007 at 2.30 pm

 

Present


 
Highland Council Members
Mrs M C Davidson, Mrs L MacDonald, Mrs B McAllister, Mr W Fernie

 

NHS Highland Members
Ms P Courcha (Chairman), Mrs A Bethune, Mrs G McCreath, Mrs J Baird, Dr D Alston, Highland Drug and Alcohol Action Team

 

Highland Council Officers:
Ms H Dempster, Director of Social Work, Mr H Fraser, Director Of Education, Culture and Sport, Mr D Robertson, Head of Accounting, Finance Service, Mr P McClelland, Resource Manager, Social Work Services, Mr A McMahon, Children’s Rights Officer, Ms A Anthoney, Senior Youth Development Officer, Miss J Maclennan, Committee Administrator, Chief Executive’s Office

 

NHS Highland Officers
Ms S Amor, Specialist in Public Health, Mr A Ward, Women and Children’s Services Manager, Ms R Soplantila, Women and Children’s Services Nurse Manager


Highland Council/NHS
Mr B Alexander, Head of Integrated Children Services


In attendance:
Mr B Gormley, Highland Councillor, Mr C Munro, Highland Children’s Forum, Mrs A Brady, Care and Learning Alliance (CALA), Miss G Slider, Youth Convener
 

 

1.           Apologies for Absence

 

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr A M Millar, Mrs J Urquhart, Mr A Park, Mr I Gibson and Mrs C MacLean.

 

 

2.           Minutes of Meeting of the Joint Committee held on 16 March
        2007

 

The Minutes of the meeting of the Joint Committee held on 16 March 2007 were circulated and NOTED.

 

 

3.           Revenue Budget 2007/08 – Monitoring

 

Ms P Courcha declared a non-financial interest in this item for personal reasons and left the room during discussion of the item.

 

Mrs L MacDonald took the Chair for this item.

 

Report No CYP 13-07 by Bill Alexander, Head of Integrated Children’s Services was circulated providing monitoring information to 31 July 2007 and the projected year-end position on those areas of expenditure that had been delegated to the Joint Committee, particular budget pressures being highlighted as Early Education and out of authority placements.  It was envisaged that budget pressures in Early Years would be mitigated but, despite an Action Plan being put in place to address the number of out of authority placements in Highland, an overspend of £2.5m had been projected.  Through various measures some further savings could be achieved but a budget overspend of £1.8m was still anticipated.  Members were informed of the process that was to be followed should they concur that it was unlikely the overspend could be addressed.

 

The background leading to the current situation was detailed and a comparison made to other local authorities.  The measures taken to alleviate the overspend were likely to be detrimental in the long term and it was felt national lobbying should take place for a review to determine how levels of funding for out of authority placements were allocated.

 

Having considered the implications of the action being taken and the continuing high number of children placed outwith the authority, the Joint Committee NOTED:-

 

i.             the report;

ii.           the Action Plan being used to address the number of out of authority
        placements, and the current position of each action;

iii.         that, on a national basis, it was necessary to investigate the relationship
        between the budget allocation for out of authority placements and
        population;

 

and AGREED:-

 

iv.         that, as a significant overspend was predicted, the matter be referred
        back, in accordance with the agreed protocol, to the Council’s
        Education, Culture and Sport Committee; and

v.           that Mrs L MacDonald, Joint Chair raise this matter with CoSLA..

 

 

4.           Children’s Plan and Local Outcome Agreements

 

Report No CYP 14-07 by Bill Alexander, Head of Integrated Children’s Services was circulated providing an update on proposals for the preparation of For Highland’s Children 3, including as part of a further local outcomes model with the Scottish Government.

 

The Scottish Government were proposing a review of arrangements surrounding ring-fenced budgets.  The intention was that, while performance outcomes would be agreed in advance, there would be more flexibility as to how the money allocated could be used and objectives achieved.  However, it was important than in this review money was still directed to where it was needed most and that account be taken of the impact of cuts in funding.

 

AGREED that:-

 

i.             the Council’s Programme for Administration be incorporated into the
        Plan;

ii.           For Highland’s Children 3 build on the existing framework, providing the
        basis for integration with any national outcomes model;

iii.          each strategic planning group review the improvement objectives and
        delivery strategies within its responsibility, including with service users in
        appropriate forums and with managers and practitioners;

iv.         the framework assessment be brought back to a future meeting of the
        Joint Committee; and

v.           continued discussions be undertaken with the Scottish Government
        towards the creation of a local authority outcome agreement.                 

 

 

5.           Implementation of Getting It Right for Every Child

 

Report No CYP 15-07 by Bill Alexander, Head of Integrated Children’s Services was circulated confirming the progress being made on the implementation of the pathfinder programme and updating Members on recent discussions on the programme with the Scottish Government.

 

In welcoming the positive impact that Getting it Right for Every Child was having across the board, the Joint Committee NOTED the report and AGREED:-

 

i.             in principle to continued support for the implementation of the Getting
        It Right for Every Child programme into 2008/09, subject to successful
        negotiations about funding with the Scottish Government;

ii.           regular update reports be submitted to future meetings of the Joint
        Committee.

 

 

6.           Early Years Services

 

Report No CYP 16-07  by Bill Alexander, Head of Integrated Children’s Services was circulated setting out the issues presently facing Early Years Services.  The report provided a background to the current situation, the key issues affecting the provision of Early Years Services and detailed the current policy.  The report also included proposals for the additional funding for teachers in Early Years and sought agreement from Members on rates for partner centre provision for the 2007/08 session and the deployment of dedicated Scottish Government funding for capital projects.  A copy of the Pre-School and Childcare Framework referred to in the report was also circulated. 

 

The report contributed towards the Council’s Programme for Administration commitment to review and consult on childcare and educational services for young children and their families by 2010.

 

In discussion, Members considered the issues raised and welcomed the proposals contained in the report, particularly given the staffing crisis in the voluntary sector.  In so doing, it was important that pay scales were reviewed regularly so that they were able to go some way to compete with other employers.  It was felt important Members were kept informed regularly of the considerable changes and developments anticipated in the forthcoming period, acknowledging the fact that the process needed to have reached a conclusion by March in any given year as children were enrolled to pre-school in the following August.

 

AGREED the proposals as follows:-

 

i.             the draft Pre-school and Childcare Framework as a model whereby
        agreement could be reached in local communities about the nature of
        the partnership arrangement between providers, necessary to deliver on
        this commitment;

ii.           the need to review further the number of Nursery Co-ordinator Teachers
        required across the authority, as part of the increased teaching capacity
        being funded by the Scottish Government;

iii.         to increase the rate to partner centres, as recommended in the report,
        with a further review to take place in financial year 2008/09;

iv.         the allocation of the childcare and play capital fund as recommended in
        the report;

v.           that consultation on the review of childcare and educational services was
        organised in Areas around Associated School Groups (ASG);

vi.         that the consultation take place in a number of stages, as follows:-

·        preparatory meetings with managers of services within an ASG, to brief managers on the mapping of local provision and to consider options about the future organisation of services.

·        presentation of the mapping exercise and recommendations to meetings of Councillors in those Wards that might be significantly affected, followed by meetings of Ward Forums, if possible.

·        meetings with parents in any communities that might be significantly affected, where options could be further considered.

·        presentation of conclusions and updates to meetings of Councillors in the Wards.

·        a presentation of conclusions and final recommendations to the Joint Committee on Children & Young People.

vii.       regular report be submitted to meetings of the Joint Committee advising
        Members on progress.

 

 

7.           Young People and Substance Misuse – The Highland Picture

 

As previously requested by the Joint Committee, Report No CYP 17-07 by Suzy Calder, Substance Misuse Strategy and Implementation Manager and Pol McClelland, Resource Manager, Youth Action and Substance Misuse was circulated providing an update on performance on the Children’s Plan targets and which also detailed the commitments included in the Highland Drug and Alcohol Action Team Corporate Action Plan 2007/08.

 

In discussion, reference was made to the RSA Commission’s report on Drugs, Community and Public Policy and to the recommendations suggested on how to discourage demand.  In considering the report’s findings, a comparison with Highland’s current practice would be worthwhile.

 

NOTED the progress made in addressing the issues of drug and alcohol misuse by young people and AGREED:-

 

i.             to endorse the steps taken to build on this progress to create a
        healthier Highland for young people and their communities; and

ii.           that the report of the RSA Commission be considered at a future
        meeting

 

 

8.           Quality Improvement Scotland Asthma Standards for Children
        and Young People

 

Report No CYP 18-07 by Jan Baird, Director of Community Care was circulated informing the Joint Committee about a forthcoming review of NHS Highland’s asthma services by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (QIS) where a comparison would be made against QIS’s asthma standards for children and young people.  In addition, QIS would be using the Clinical Governance and Risk Management Standards to assess how NHS Highland was implementing clinical governance and risk management at operation level.  This was the first time that QIS had combined a set of clinical standards with selected criteria from the national clinical governance and risk management standards.

 

NOTED the QIS visit and AGREED that a report be brought back to the Joint Committee later in the year when the self assessment process was complete.

 

 

9.           Date of Next Meeting

 

NOTED the next meeting of the Joint Committee would be held on Wednesday 7 November 2007 at 2.30 p.m. at Highland Council Headquarters, Inverness.

 

The meeting ended at 4.55 pm.