Area Coordination Management Meeting

Denton, Droylsden and Audenshaw

Time: 10.00
Date: Friday 21 November 2008
Venue: Greenside Children’s Centre

Present:

Bob Shaw Area Co-ordinator & Chair
Chris Harris Connexions
Diane King Youth Service
Lynn Barber Area Children’s Centre Manager
Phil Massey St. Stephens
Harvey Hudson (sub for Tracy Rowe) Social Care (Assessment & Care Management)
Terrie Wilson STM College
Mark McLoughlin Littlemoss High / Droylsden School
Lorna Grennan PCT
Catherine Robertson TMBC
Kath Astley SCYP
David Hoyle SCYP

Note taker: Laura Birtles

Item 1: Welcome

Bob welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for their attendance.
Introductions were made around the table.

Item 2: Apologies

No apologies were sent.

Item 3: Notes of last meeting and matter arising

Minutes of last meeting agreed as accurate.
Matters arising:
Lynn informed the group that the Children’s Centre Coordinator at Denton has now been appointed. Karen Armstrong will start in the New Year.
Lynn also informed the group that there has been development in the key decision about the phase 3 centre in Audenshaw.

Item 4: Common Processes

David Hoyle 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. However, this can be overridden in an emergency.

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. There was some concern that JASPER can arrange Child and Family meetings and can provide secure messaging, but ContactPoint cannot.

Bob and David reported that there has been some common processes workshops, and the next one is on 11th December. Whilst feedback forms from course attendees were completed Bob was interested to learn if managers had direct feedback from staff who had attended. Bob and David invited managers to ask their staff to provide this feedback.

David discussed some Guidance on Information Sharing from the DCSF. The can be found on the following website:
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/resources-and-practice/IG00340
Hard copies can also be ordered.

Bob handed round monthly JASPER stats. These along with the feedback from staff attending the workshop it was noted that: 

• Common Assessments (CA) are not being completed or recorded on JASPER
• Child and Family meetings are being carried out without Common Assessments

There was a discussion that CA numbers should be more less or equal to the number of Child and Family meetings. However, people added that a CA can only be carried out with parental consent, so if consent is not given, this will affect the numbers.

Item 5: SID

Kath gave an informative and interesting presentation to the group using the SID website.
Kath gave examples to the group of how to search for things if you are a parent, child, or practitioner, using ‘Category Search’. She also gave examples of using the direct links to services on the SID homepage, including ‘Children’s Centres’, ‘Childcare Link’ and ‘Find What You Want’.
Kath explained that to use SID, you do not have to be logged in. However, a practitioner can log in, and look at the practioner forum. This includes a discussion board, staff directories and a Common Processes FAQ page. Questions can be posted and responses later provided. If anyone has any documents to upload, Kath asked them to contact her.

Kath explained that the site will be changing next year, and that a company is working on this at the moment. This will make the site user friendly and generally easier to use. Kath asked for any improvement ideas to be sent to her. This should be up and running and ready to use by February 2009.

The group thought SID was a good site and useful tool. Some wanted Kath to come to their teams, to do the presentation for them. Bob asked them to contact him or Kath directly to arrange this.

The only drawback to SID is that there is a lot of information that needs to be kept up to date, and it is only as good as the information put in. Kath stressed that she needs to be informed of any changes to services, so that SID can be updated. Bob stressed that managers/practitioners need to be mindful of the need to provide Kath with updated information.

Item 6: School Health Service Modernisation: Presentation

Lorna Grennan gave a presentation to the group about the Health Visiting Service.
The service is based in five areas:

•  Ashton
• Denton, Droylsden, Audenshaw
• Dukinfield, Stalybridge, Mossley
• Hyde, Hattersley, Longdendale
• Glossop, Hadfield, Gamesley

The Health Visitor client group are residents, pregnant women, and families with children. They have contact with new mothers and babies, they check for post-natal depression, provide breastfeeding support, help vulnerable and disadvantaged families, provide positive parenting classes, etc. They take self referrals, referrals from partner agencies, midwives, GPs, A&E, or the Women’s Refuge.

Lorna gave examples of good practice:

• St Peter’s Breastfeeding Peer Support
• Teenage Parenting Support
• BOAT – Better Outcomes Achieved Together (This will be the subject of presentation at the next meeting)

Lorna informed the group that the Health Service are now doing work in Children’s Centres, setting up different clinics, and work on Child Protection.
It was agreed that the Health Visitor Information should be on SID. Bob asked Lorna to liaise with Kath Astley.
School Nursing was deferred to the next meeting.

Item 7: Family Learning Proposal (New Charter)

Bob reported that Steve Moss, from New Charter, has put in a bid to the Big Lottery Fund, and has asked for support with the application.
The project is called ‘Life – Live It’ and the objectives are set out under the 5 Outcomes. The project is to provide a wide range of fun and interactive learning programmes, including; cookery classes, dancing activities, relationship awareness classes, sexual health classes, healthy lifestyle classes, literacy and numeracy, etc.
Two Family Learning Coordinators will be employed, if the bid is successful.
It was thought that there might be a link between the Family Learning Teams in Children’s Centres, and concern that there may be duplication. This needs to be avoided.
Bob asked if anyone could help with the bid, for them to contact him and he will forward the ideas to Steve.

Item 8: Community Safety – local initiatives

Catherine Robertson explained to the group that her department (the Community Safety Unit) deals with Young People and Adults responsible for committing acts of anti-social behaviour. Their focus is on Intervention, Prevention and Enforcement. They receive referrals from the Police, the Patrollers and the general public.
When young people are found to be causing a nuisance, letters are sent out to parents. Catherine has been including SID leaflets in with these letters.
Catherine reported that she has tried a new scheme where parents are called in to meet with their children and her, rather than sending out letters, so they can speak face-to-face and together work on the issues facing the parent and the young person. This has been taken on by different areas, and has proved effective.
The Community Safety Unit are helping to prevent young people getting into Anti Social Behaviour, by arranging days out, and getting involved in fun activities. Catherine explained that this then can spur young people on to do better, positive things. They also arrange events for adults and young people, such as ‘Neighbourhood Wide’ which is taking place at Two Trees Sports College for DDA residents. Here, Catherine explained, they can ask questions and find out about Criminal Justice, etc.
Catherine explained that her department sometimes have to obtain ASBOs (anti-social behaviour order) against residents; however enforcement is their last choice. She told the group that the majority of ASBOs are against adults, and the amount in Denton, Droylsden and Audenshaw is very low.
Catherine felt that agencies are now working together, and that the results are good. A 29% decrease in Anti Social Behaviour in the Denton South area has been noted. She also said that residents are raising issues, and solutions are being put in place – i.e. mobile CCTV cameras.
Bob asked if the reductions in anti social behaviour would feed into referrals to Social Care, YOT and Connexions. He also asked what relationship Community Safety has with CAF. She explained there is no real connection, but they want to get access to the information. Work is in progress to develop joint working relationships.
Bob invited Catherine to join this meeting as a regular member. This will be considered.

Item 9: Tellus3 Survey (2009); Summary

There was a brief discussion about the Tellus3 Survey.

Item 10: Reporting back on local networks

There was positive feedback from the group, about both Droylsden and Denton South Network Events.

Item 11: Action Plan update (for information)

Bob briefly mentioned the Area Coordination Action Plan update for the year.

Item 12: Dates of future meetings

16 January 2009 – 10am
Greenside Children’s Centre, Droylsden

Item 13: Any Other Business

None