Area Coordination Management Meeting

Ashton

Time: 10.00am – 12.00pm
Date: 13th November 2008
Venue: Connexions – Stamford Street

Present:

Annie O’Malley Chair - Connexions
Tracy Wood Area Co-ordinator
David Hoyle ISA Project Manager
Glenn Taylor Project Assistant
Christine Redmond Ashton Family Support
Pam Chadwick Youth Offending Team
Catherine Matthews Youth Offending Team
Robin Elms Dale Grove School
Sue Warburton Canon Johnson

Note taker: Laura Birtles

Item 1: Welcome

Annie welcomed all to the meeting.
Introductions were made around the table.

Item 2: Apologies

Jane Dufty
Penny King
Anne Okwei
Lisa Cain

Item 3: Notes of Last Meeting and Matter Arising

The minutes from 25th September 2008 were accepted as a true and accurate record, with the following matters arising:

Item 7: Area Profiles - Tracy attended a presentation about the new software, it appears that it will support delivering good quality area / ward based data. It will be launched at the TSP in December and available there after.

Item 8: Common Processes - A letter from Jim Taylor regarding the need to send a copy of any completed CAF to Jane-Ann Birkitt was sent out by Jo McLaren on 14th October 2008.

Item 4: Common Processes

Tracy started with a reminder that a notification of all CAFs should be put on Jasper and that a copy should be sent to Jane-Ann Birkitt.
David Hoyle then gave an informative presentation about ContactPoint and when it will be implemented.

Main points:

• ContactPoint is a National Online Database that will hold a small amount of basic information on every child and young person, up until their 18th birthday.
• Young people in care, or with disabilities can have their details on the database until they are 25 years old, with their explicit consent. They can also be removed any time between aged 18 and 25.
• From March 2009 – late summer 2009, some (including 17 North West) Local Authorities will be piloting the ‘live’ system. Tameside is not one of these authorities.
• From late summer 2009 – March 2011 the remaining LAs will gain access to ContactPoint, and start using it.
• From March 2011, it is anticipated that ContactPoint will be in steady operation.
• Information about ‘sensitive services’ – Sexual Health Services, CAMHS and Substance Misuse Services – can only be added with the consent of the young person or their parent(s).
• Some records will be ‘Shielded’, meaning only their name and date of birth are shown, as more information could increase risk of their safety and wellbeing.

David answered some questions, and offered to talk to people if they need any more information, or to go out to teams to do the presentation.

Tracy added that the CAF workshops were currently taking place and that there have been changes made to the programme in light of feedback provided. Managers were reminded to book staff on.

Item 5: SID Presentation

Tracy and Glenn gave an informative and interesting presentation to the group using the SID website.

Tracy advised that it might be a good idea for schools and the different services to have a direct link to the SID homepage on their desktop.

Tracy and Glenn gave examples to the group of how to search for things if you are a parent, child, or practitioner, using ‘keywords’. They also gave examples of using the direct links to services on the SID homepage.

Tracy explained that to use SID, you do not have to be logged in. However, a practitioner can log in, and look at different things – i.e. a discussion board, where you can post questions and get responses, and service directories.

Tracy has a script to go through how to use the website, and agreed to send this out, to make it easier for staff to use.

The site contains a lot of information about different services in Tameside, and figures prove that people are using the website, with the most popular page being ‘Things To Do’.

The only drawback is that there is a lot of information that needs to be kept up to date.

Item 6: Community Safety – Local Initiatives

Tracy informed the group that the ‘Not in my Neighbourhood’ stand in Ashton Arcades – although put on by the Fire Service and Patrollers and not aimed at children – had a very good response. It generated requests for 256 home security surveys in the Ashton area alone, which shows people are being aware of their home safety.

Tracy handed out posters of a Staying Safe event at Broadoak Community Centre on Saturday 15th November, and asked the group to please put one up at their place of work.

Tracy also reported on the issue of anti-social behaviour, that Patrollers are now issuing letters to parents of young people they find on the street, under the influence of alcohol.

Item 7 : Community News

Tracy reported that Smallshaw and Hurst areas of Ashton are to start a Community Newsletter, which will be similar to the Newsletters of Hattersley and Denton.
The first Newsletter will go out before Christmas, so they wish to focus on good news. The group was asked to send any information to Caroline Wilkinson before the 1st December.

Item 8: Family Learning Bid

Tracy has been contacted by Steve Moss, from New Charter, who has put in a bid with the Big Lottery Fund, and has asked for help with the application.
The project is called ‘Life – Live It’ and the objectives come under the 5 Outcomes – Be Healthy, Stay Safe, Enjoy and Achieve, Make a Positive Contribution, Achieve Economic Wellbeing. Tracy ran through these with the group.
Steve wants to know what Services there are, what gaps there are in these services, and if the proposals would fill the gaps.
Tracy asked if anyone could help support Steve, and contribute to the bid, that they contact him as soon as possible but certainly before the 1st December.

Item 9: TellUs 3 – Key Messages

Tracy reported that the results of the TellUs 3 Survey have been released, and that 28 schools in total took part.

Tracy ran through some of the ‘Local Demographics’ and explained that most of the above percentages neared the national scores; however we had more Year 6 students, and more white students complete the survey. The key messages were shared (copy attached below)

It was thought that the drawbacks to the survey is that the data cannot be interrogated, to find out what age groups said what, to look at trends. There was a discussion to see if there would be any way of finding out, by asking schools, or if this would breach confidentiality. It was decided that this would not be possible, as the data could not be broken down that much.

Tracy said that the full questionnaire is on the OfSTED website, Tameside / Childrens and local services by local authority / Ofsted home / Ofsted - Ofsted so that teams can compare this to the TellUs 2 Survey last year.

Item 10: Updated Area Action Plan – For Information

Tracy briefly discussed the Area Action Plan and informed the group that we are moving in the right direction, and making progress in the areas that were red. However, she felt that relationships with schools still need building, and the barriers need to be broken down. This is in part being approached through the working with the Extended Schools agenda.

There was a discussion about schools being aware of CAF and JASPER, and worries that schools are not fully aware. Robin thought it would be a good idea to have a presentation for schools, to be delivered by the Head or Deputy Head teacher, as it is thought that the written guidance is hard to take in. Tracy agreed to talk to Jane-Ann and try to sort out a presentation and supplement this with a Top 10 Tips of bullet points for staff.      

Tracy will speak to Jane-Ann, and feed back to the group at the next meeting.

Item 11: Any Other Business

• Catherine Matthews wanted to remind everyone that the YOT Prevention team take referrals for young people aged 7 plus, who are at risk of offending. The Prevention team are not getting many referrals for children and young people who are at risk of offending.

Catherine asked the group to feed this information to their teams. Robin agreed to pass on the message to Headteachers.

• Tracy informed the group that she will be taking the lead on a mapping exercise. She will be contacting Service Managers in the near future to get information about their services. Tim Grahamslaw will be Tracy’s support, and the point of contact for any queries.

Tracy explained that schools will not be involved, but it will include Tameside’s services, and all of the services that Tameside directly commission.
Tracy will speak to the Children’s Management Team to confirm which areas will need to be mapped.
She reminded everyone that the quality information put in to this, results in a better outcome.

Item 12: Date & Time of Next Meeting:

22nd January 2009 – 10.00am
Portland Centre (Behind New Charter)