Area Coordination Management Meeting

Stalybridge, Dukinfield and Mossley

Minutes

Time: 10.00
Date: Monday 26th March 2007
Venue: Dukinfield Children's Centre

Present:

• Julie Lord - Area Co-ordinator
• Debbie Duddridge - Ridgehill Family Support
• Veronica Hyde - T3SC
• Liz Prize - Education Welfare
• Sue Nathan - Youth Service
• Tina Wills - Youth Offending Team
• Linda Sidebottom - New Charter
• Anne Short - Dukinfield Primary School Headteacher

Note Taker: Jo Cole

1. Welcome

Julie welcomed everyone to the third ACMT meeting and introductions were made around the table.

2. Apologies

• Lisa Cane - Social Care Team Manager
• Maria Schofield - Extended Schools Consultant
• Alyson Harvey - Connexions

Not present

• Gillian Barratt - Mossley Primary School Headteacher
• Diane Goddard/Anne Jenkinson - Secondary School Rep
• Sue Collins - Stalybridge Primary School Headteacher

3. Notes of last meeting and matter arising

The minutes were agreed to be an accurate record of the meeting.

Item 3

A Stalybridge Cluster rep has been appointed - Sue Collins from Arlies Primary School .

The Secondary School rep position has been filled - this will be shared between Diane Goddard and Anne Jenkinson.

Item 4

Clarification is needed whether the meeting on 24 th May will take place at Ridgehill Family Centre or Ridgehill Children's Centre.

Item 5

Julie has met with Amanda Smith and she has been invited to future meetings.

Item 11

The NOF bid for the Play Strategy has been successful.

The Domestic Violence CWDC-funded posts have gone to advert and the interviews will take place next week.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Clarify venue for meeting on 24th May	Jo Cole	10th May

 
4. Minute Distribution

There have been discussions between the area co-ordinators as to how to disseminate the minutes of the ACMT meetings and it has been decided that they will be sent out centrally to all schools (schools will receive the minutes from the meeting relevant to their area).

Any issues / agenda items will be sent to the head teacher reps. So far, no agenda items / queries have been received from the Stalybridge, Dukinfield, Mossley schools.

5. Appointing a Chair

There was a discussion as to whether it is appropriate for Julie to continue being the Chair of this meeting or if it should operate on a rotation basis.

Concerns were raised regarding pressure to attend, the capacity to attend pre-agenda meetings, and the extra workload involved.

It was agreed that Julie should continue being the Chair as this would alleviate the concerns raised above.

It was also felt that it would not be necessary to nominate a deputy, as another area co-ordinator would be able to deputise in Julie's absence.

6. Managers' Updates

Debbie

• Debbie is the Team Manager for the Ridgehill Family Support Team
• In her team, there are 8 Family Support workers and 2 school links workers.
• One of the schools links workers is currently seconded to the BEST team. The other school links worker covers Stalybridge, Dukinfield & Mossley.
• Her team cover the Stalybridge, Dukinfield & Mossley area.
• They receive their work from the Assessment and Care Management Teams.
• They have strong links with the Ridgehill Children's Centre
• She has the responsibility of co-ordinating things in the area, including the Parenting Programme, which is delivered through the Children's Centre and Health, and Speakeasy which is operated in the Stalybridge area.
• Her team are based in Stalybridge and link in to the Wildbank area, as well as other areas.
• The intention is to have strong links with all the children's centres in the area, once open.
• Maria Schofield has recently been appointed as the Children's Centre Co-ordinator for Mossley. Maria was previously an Extended Schools Co-ordinator.
• Discussions are currently taking place with Ginny Casey to develop links with the Dukinfield Children's Centre.

Veronica

• Veronica is the T3SC community networker - responsible for the children and young people network.
• The network is made up of groups and organisations who provide a service for children and young people.
• T3SC support the community, faith and voluntary sector, as well as other not-for-profit organisations.
• Veronica has been in post for just over 6 months.
• Veronica works across all four areas, and identifies mapping as a huge challenge.
• Veronica recently organised 'Rumble in the Jungle'. This was an event held at Dukinfield Town Hall , showcasing some of the work from the voluntary sector. In total, there were 16 stalls and various workshops and speakers. The event was successful, but it is hoped that it will be better attended next year, once the network is more established.
• Currently, Veronica is working on protocols for representation at decision-making groups and is involved with exciting agendas such as the play strategy.
• The second round of the Play lottery funding opened for bidding on 28th March and is now targeted at the VCF sector. Veronica is holding network meetings on 17th April in relation to this.
• There are a great deal of VCF groups in rural areas and the challenge is to engage these groups along with the groups who are more easily accessible.
• As well as housing organisations, like New Charter, many churches run activities for children and young people.
• She hopes she will be able to bring a good picture of the services provided to this forum.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Julie to meet with Elaine Sayer regarding a replacement for Maria Schofield.	Julie Lord	As soon as possible.

7. Draft ACMT Action Plan

The draft action plan was circulated prior to the meeting.

It is a working progress and it will continuously be reviewed and updated.

Any queries or comments were welcomed from the meeting.

There was a discussion regarding Point 1.2 - In particular, support the development of arrangements for ‘swift and easy access/referral'…… There were concerns raised as to how accurate that statement is, when in fact the referral process is not swift or simple. Referrals can be very long and drawn-out, largely because of capacity.

A discussion followed regarding the engagement of children, young people and parents. There were concerns regarding the gaps in provision for 8 – 10 year olds and how parents are unable to self-refer to parenting courses – this needs addressing.

There was also a discussion regarding the list of parenting courses which is produced by Catherine Mee from the PCT. Issues included: not all members aware of this list or receive it, not all courses are on this list, available list is out of date. Members appreciated that it was a huge task to collate all courses.

Julie explained to the meeting that she has completed a draft area profile for Stalybridge, Dukinfield and Mossley.

Action items:	Person responsible:	Deadline:
Catherine Mee's contact details to be circulated to members.	Julie Lord	As soon as possible

8. Staff Directory

The template has been taken to the Data Group and it has emerged that some of the information is already available centrally at the Council Offices.

This will be brought back to the meeting once further progress has been achieved.

9. Integrated Processes

Anne

• The training is laborious.
• Confusion over booking on the introduction course and the full day course as there is repetition.
• It is not helpful that the JASPER password is required to be renewed every 30 days - some people don't access it that often so there is a chance people will forget their passwords.
• It can often be a lengthy process - beginning with a 2 hour Child and Family meeting, plus having to contact the other agencies involved.

Liz

• Clarified that the purpose of the introduction course is for an overview and the full day course is for people who will have more direct involvement.
• Problems have arisen when trying to download the CAF from the ECM website - only able to download the first three pages.
• The Lead Professional should be identified at the Child & Family meeting.
• Not all sections of the CAF need to be completed in great details e.g. medical section.

Tina

• The training is not suitable for people who just need access to JASPER as it is focused on the CAF.
• The CAF is too lengthy and people are avoiding them.
• Referrals are not being done because people do not want to complete CAFs.
• Can appreciate the workload and pressure on EWOs.

Sue

• The training is too long.
• There is confusion regarding cases that are already in the ‘system' - does a CAF still need completing.
• Liz replied to this by explaining that, in theory, JASPER should be accessed to obtain the details of the Lead Professional.

Julie

• Is it the admin role within the department of the Lead Professional to type up the CAF?
• There are many myths surrounding CAFs - i.e. can't do a referral without completing a CAF - this is not true.

Veronica

• It should be a shared responsibility, as with any assessment.

Debbie

• Everybody should be taking responsibility in order to streamline.

Julie circulated the CAF Early Sampling form. Ideas and comments were welcomed.

Concerns were raised over how time consuming it would be for people to check their diaries for how many meetings they have organised and how many times they have been the Lead Professional.

Julie stressed that any issues or queries between now and the next meeting should be emailed to her.

10. Engaging Secondary Partners and Community Members

There is an intention to invite reps from secondary partners and community members to six-monthly meetings e.g. voluntary, community and faith sector, SEN, sports links, social landlords, regeneration partnership, CAMHS, police, etc.

There was a discussion regarding how it will work and what the format will be. Concerns were raised over whether this was the best way to engage secondary partners.

It was agreed that it would be a useful networking event and it would raise awareness as to who's who in the community.

The possibility of having informal workshops, or drop-in sessions was discussed.

11. Connecting to Regeneration Activity

Following on from a piece of work carried out by Julie & Bob in the Denton South regeneration area, there was a discussion over the necessity to engage with the other regeneration areas i.e. Hattersley, Ashton, Brushes, Copley, Micklehurst.

Julie has attended a RASH meeting and found this to be very well attended.

Linda reported on an event which took place last August Bank Holiday in Ridgehill, which was a joint venture between New Charter and the Regeneration Partnership. Many partners were involved, including local residents and the Youth Service.

There was a discussion regarding the funding available in the various regeneration areas, and what influence the ACMT meetings can have on the funding and the projects.

12. News Items

Sue reported that the Youth Centre at Blocksages, Dukinfield will be open in the next couple of weeks. This will be publicised and there will be an official opening.

Linda reported about an event taking place in the Stalybridge area on 2 nd , 3 rd & 4 th April, entitled ‘The Easter Bunny Trail'. It is an information event organised by New Charter and involving the police, Money Matters, local residents groups. The event will be advertised through schools and Linda will feedback to the meeting.

13. AOB

Julie circulated leaflets on the Water Adventure Centre and explained the various activities available there.

It was suggested that a local What's On guide is produced informing young people of the activities in their area. This would be a good preventative initiative. There was a discussion over who would produce it and who would keep it up-to-date. It was suggested that meetings such as the neighbourhood meetings, partnership meetings or youth meetings may be able to develop this and fund it.

There was a discussion regarding involving Tameside College in the ACMT meetings. It was felt they need to be involved at this level.

Glossary

• ACMT Area Co-ordination Management Team
• BEST Behaviour and Education Support Team
• CAF Common Assessment Framework
• CAMHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service
• CLT Children's Leadership Team
• CWDC Children's Workforce Development Council
• CYPSP Children and Young People Strategic Partnership
• ECM Every Child Matters
• EWO Education Welfare Officer
• JASPER Joint Assessment System for Prevention and Early Referral
• NOF New Opportunities Fund
• RASH Ridgehill, Arlies, Springs & Hague
• SEN Special Educational Needs
• SENCO Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator
• SCYP Services for Children and Young People
• T3SC Tameside Third Sector Coalition
• TASH Tameside Association of Secondary Head teachers
• VCF Voluntary, Community Faith (sector)
• YOF Youth Opportunity Fund