Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership

Minutes - 22nd May 2008

Commenced: 10.05 am                 Terminated: 12.00 pm

Present:

Cllr Alison Gwynne Tameside MBC (in the Chair)
Ameena Ahmed Tameside MBC
Zulf Ahmed Learning and Skills Council
Claire Bibby Tameside MBC
Tom Coffey Tameside MBC
Lucy Davies Tameside MBC
Cheryl Eastwood Tameside MBC
Judith Grigg PCT
Nicola Hine Tameside MBC
Veronica Hyde Third Sector Coalition
Jonathan Knowles Greater Manchester Fire Service
Susan Marsh Tameside School Governors Forum
Pat McKelvey Tameside & Glossop PCT
Steve Noble Tameside MBC
Tony Okotie Third Sector Coalition
Sarah Petts Homestart/Tameside Voice
Sheila Piazza Connexions Tameside
John Rogers Tameside Primary Heads
Melanie Sirotkin Tameside and Glossop PCT/Tameside MBC
Bob Shaw Tameside MBC
Ian Smith Tameside MBC
Jim Taylor Tameside MBC
Shaun Walton Greater Manchester Fire Service
Sue Ward Tameside & Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust
Tracy Wood Tameside MBC/PCT
Ian Young Voluntary Sector Representative

Apologies

Adam Allen and Janet Callender.

1. Minutes

The Minutes of the meeting of this Strategic Partnership held on 17th April 2008 were approved as a correct record, subject to Ian Young - Voluntary Sector Representative, being added to the attendance list.

2. Review of the Children and Young People's Plan

A structured discussion on the Children and Young People’s Partnership Plan was undertaken with the following points being raised:-

• More detailed information required on health issues;
• More information on environmental health;
• Children’s Trust section is replicated and needs to be shortened;
• Language within the report needs to be looked at;
• Addition of a progress column for comparison against the year before;
• More information for data for teenage pregnancy actions;
• Inform schools and head teachers of priorities;
• Domestic abuse and bullying – more partnership working with Greater Manchester Fire Service could be reflected;
• Staying Safe targets to be refreshed – more preventative work required;
• Check timescales against priorities;
• Obesity strategy to be reflected more clearly.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

3. Reporting Against the Children and Young People's Plan

Tom Coffey, Head of Strategy and Commissioning (Services for Children and Young People) reported on the Children and Young People Plan Improvement Priorities 2007-2010, quarter four monitoring. It was noted that significant progress had been made in delivering the key objectives and targets in the CYP Plan over the last year, and that there were very few ‘red’ ratings in the report. It was agreed that the current priorities would be circulated to all representatives on the partnership and it was noted that a review of the Plan needed to be submitted by the end of June 2008, All partners were asked to send comments to him to be included in the review of the Plan.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

4. Audit of Consultation with Young People

Cheryl Eastwood, Director for Children, Children and Young People reported on the summary of consultation with children, young people, parents and carers on behalf of Julie Lord, Area Co-ordinator stating that this type of consultation would be undertaken on a more regular basis.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

5. Common Process Update

Tom Coffey, Head of Strategy and Commissioning (Services for Children and Young People) reported on the Common Processes introduced under the Children Act 2004 which were referred to as:-

• Children’s Need Framework;
• JASPER (to become ContactPoint in due course);
• Lead Professional;
• Common Assessment Framework;
• Child and Family meetings (CFM);
• Service Information Directory (SID).

A CYPSP Statement of Expectations re Common Processes was discussed and agreed, which set out the shared expectations on the use of common processes across all agencies in the Partnership. Reference was also made to the Common Processes Action Plan 2008/09 which would be used across the Council and by partner agencies and over the next 12 months.

Resolved
That the reports be noted and that the Common Processes: Statement of Expectations be adopted by the Partnership, and promoted within all partner agencies.

6. Integrated Performance Management

Tom Coffey, Head of Strategy and Commissioning, Services for Children and Young People reported on the key elements of the integrated performance management framework for the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership and the processes for delivering collective performance review.

He stated that further development with regard to the Partnership’s accountability was required and welcomed comments from partners by 6th June 2008.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

7. Refresh of the Joint Commissioning Framework

Pat McKelvey, Head of Children’s Strategy and Partnerships, reported on the draft Joint Commissioning Framework which contained the following:-

• Introduction and Policy context;
• The Vision;
• What we mean by commissioning in Tameside;
• Commissioning Framework for Children’s Services;
• Resources.

She also referred to the Tameside Children’s Commissioning Team structure as at May 2008 and the terms of reference and membership of the Group.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

8. Heath Outcomes Reporting

a) Be Healthy Outcomes Sub-Group

Pat McKelvey, Chair of the Be Healthy Sub-Group, reported on the Group’s main activities during 2007/08 as follows:-

• Work to align information from the Joint Area Review with other documents such as the Tameside Children and Young People Plan Priorities 2007/10, Local Area Agreement and the National Service Framework for Children and Maternity Services;
• Arrangements for the annual performance assessment of children’s services 2007, scrutinising examples of evidence and progress against performance indicators;
• Report card for the promotion of Oral Health of 5 year olds in Tameside and Glossop and the recent ‘Turning the Curve’ exercise;
• Annual health assessments for all Looked After Children;
• Action to be undertaken to promote children and young people’s mental health and providing training and support to practitioners and carers of looked after children;
• Focus on healthy lifestyles promotion in respect of breastfeeding, drugs and alcohol, smoking cessation and Chlamydia.

She further stated that the Sub-Group would be focussing on the health needs of children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, together with tackling obesity locally and the impact environmental issues were having on the health of young people.

b) Teenage Pregnancy Update

Cheryl Eastwood, Director for Children, Children and Young People reported that the Communication Strategy was almost complete and the Performance Framework was being developed in respect of teenage pregnancy.

c) Emotional Health and Well-being Update

Pat McKelvey, Head of Children’s Strategy and Development reported that the emotional health and well-being of children, young people and their parents/carers was one of the top priorities for the Tameside Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership and a broad range of services and initiatives were in place.

She made particular reference to the summary of services in place in Tameside and Glossop against the Children’s Needs Framework, i.e. training and support, early intervention and support to staff, individual support and multi-agency assessment and intervention.

Resolved
That the reports be noted.

9. Joint Area Review

Cheryl Eastwood updated Partners on the Joint Area Review preparations and progress stating that the self assessment had been circulated to the Partnership and 10 cases had been chosen by the Inspectors. She further stated that a list of potential visits had been compiled and that ultimately the Inspectors would decide which projects/services they wanted to visit and would use the visits as forums for talking to children and young people, parents and front-line staff.

She also reported that the mandatory JAR documents had been submitted on 13th May 2008 and the additional key documents would be compiled in time for the analysis during 9th – 13th June 2008.

The main themes for investigation would be focussing on safeguarding looked after children, children with learning disabilities and could include other vulnerable groups such as refugee/asylum groups, young carers and black minority ethnic children.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

10. Children Version of the Children and Young People Partnership Plan

The Children and Young People’s Version of the Children’s Plan 2007-10 was circulated for information and discussion ensued in respect of the Plan containing the 07/08 priorities and it was-

Resolved
That the 0-19 Children’s Services Manager (Services for Children and Young People) would provide an insert to be included within the Plan which identified the new priorities for 2008-09.

11. Childrens workforce development Strategy Update

Tom Coffey, Head of Commissioning and Strategy (Services for Children and Young People), reported on the briefing paper – “Tameside Children’s Workforce Development, which detailed the Children’s Workforce Strategy and the Action Plan 2008-09 to support the realisation of the Community Strategy themes as follows:-

• Improve and increase career and job opportunities in children’s services locally and ensure we had a diverse workforce;
• Increase the opportunities for, and levels of, professional and vocational skills and qualifications relating to working with children, young people and families;
• Ensure both formal and informal development and training opportunities were available for people working with children, young people and families;
• Equip our workforce with skills and competence to help children, young people and families, live safely and well, realise their potential and personal fulfilment and their contribution in our community.

He also reported on the progress made in 2007-08, together with the priorities and actions for 2008-09.

Resolved
That the report be noted.

12. Date of Future Meetings

The Partnership was advised of future dates of meetings as follows:-

Date/Venue
Thursday 16th October 2008 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 11th December 2008 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 19th February 2009 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 16th April 2009 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 18th June 2009 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 20th August 2009 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 15th October 2009 Committee Room 3, Council Offices
Thursday 17th December 2009 Committee Room 3, Council Offices