Agenda and minutes

The Chair to welcome members to the meeting and note any apologies

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited attendees to introduce themselves, apologies noted as above.

The Board to note the minutes of the meeting 17^th September and agree any further action on matters arising.

The Board agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 17 September as a correct record.

The Chair reminded everyone about the e-safety live session being held in January and explained that it was encouraged that a representative from all organisations should attend.

Karl Turner advised that he had informed Fiona Grieveson of the date of the next CSE Sub Group meeting and that he had asked for her to be included on the distribution list.

The Board to receive a presentation of the current issues in reducing infant mortality across Lancashire.

Matt Stanton, Public Health Coordinator, LCC attended the meeting and gave a presentation on Infant Mortality, a copy is included with the minutes for information.

Matt gave an overview of the current issues in reducing infant mortality.  He explained that it is measured differently in each district and that they are able to compare the data at ward level.

Matt gave some examples of campaigns being run by Lancashire County Council including Quit for two campaign, Quit for us App, aimed at pregnant smokers.

Matt is the Public Health contact for Chorley, South Ribble and West Lancs, should anyone need to contact him his email address is matthew.stanton@lancashire.gov.uk.

Matt agreed to send further information for specific wards.

Karl Turner asked if there was anything as a Board that we need to address directly.

Matt explained that as the Board covers three districts this is such a large area and focus should be at a district level.

John Nelson mentioned that the Council is part of the Health and Wellbeing Board and Health Network Group.

The Board to receive a presentation overview on Prevent Duty

Mike Cooney, Course Co-ordinatorPublic Services, West Lancashire College attended and delivered a presentation on Prevent Duty.

Mike explained that Prevent aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism before any criminal activity takes place.  It is a multi-agency approach across a range of services.

Mike talked about looking out for changes in individuals behaviours, and factors that make people vulnerable.

Mike explained that all organisations should develop a Risk Assessment and a single point of contact in relation to Prevent.

Donna Hussain asked if Mike had any case studies he could share, Mike advised he will have some detail he will forward on in due course.

The Board to receive any updates from the LSCB

Information from the recent Serious Case Review to be shared

Possible report from the recent Ofsted Inspection to also be shared

The Chair explained that the recent Ofsted Inspection findings had now been published, Tony Morrissey from LCC had hoped to attend the meeting but unfortunately was now unable to attend.

Karl Turner ran through the presentation pointing out some key issues.

The overall judgement was rated as inadequate, the previous rating was good.

The LSCB was rated good.

Karl explained that the full report is available on the internet.

Karl explained that there are a variety of recommendations including, leadership, management and performance management.

On a positive note there was recognition of good work being done in the service.  Praise was received for work on CSE, the LSCB, Children’s Trust and Partnership working arrangements.

In response to the recommendations LCC have committed £5m additional investment into Children’s Social Care.  LCC are recruiting an additional 27 social workers and 9 managers to reduce caseloads in Children’s Social Care.

There will now be regular monitoring by the DFE (Department for Education) and a further inspection will take place in due course, expected within 18months to 2 years.

The Chair asked members around the table ‘does this feel right locally’?

Donna said that yes from a front line point of view, children’s services we work with, they are picking up need all the time.

Karl agreed that the thresholds are set too high and staff are firefighting.

John Nelson said that he has noticed that the support in the back office isn’t there anymore, they’ve lost skills and knowledge and consequently there are gaps in the service.

Karl agreed with this and said that whole teams have gone and sometimes it is impossible to get information.

John agreed and said that it’s not just Children’s Social Care it’s across departments and a range of services are having problems at County.

Karl mentioned that the WPEH service is currently being reviewed and consulted upon. The proposed changes would see a reduction from approximately 750 FTE’s to 540 and a reduction in budget from £24.4m to £17.2m. This service includes the Troubled Families Unit, which has targets to work with even more families as part of phase 2 of the programme.

Helen Dixon explained that early action thresholds are set too high, there are lots of changes to staff, social workers keep changing and therefore not surprised with the outcome.

Donna asked do we know how we compare nationally?

Karl said that comparisons for various indicators will be available somewhere, he will check and circulate to everyone for information.

Update re CSE Sub-Group

The Chair closed the meeting and advised that this item would be added to the next agenda.

Update on next phase of Working Together with families / Troubled Families

Prevention and Early Help Core Offer

The Chair closed the meeting and advised that this item would be added to the next agenda.

The Board to receive a presentation and update on current options and agree a way forward

Sarah Tinsley and Sally Hopkins from Young enterprise attended the meeting to deliver a presentation.  The presentation included information about who Young Enterprise are and what they offer.

It was agreed that the information received would be forwarded on to school contacts.

Helen Dixon said that she thought this might be something that could be delivered to Police Cadets.

Sally agreed and explained that workshops can be tailored to specific needs as long as they understand what they are looking to achieve.

Helen would supply contact details to Sally to set something up.

A discussion around current engagement and events taking place that we could possibly lead into to take place.

The Chair closed the meeting and advised that this item would be added to the next agenda.

No items were raised.

Thursday 10 March 2016, 2pm – Wheel Room, Civic Centre, South Ribble

Thursday 9 June 2016, 2pm – West Lancs, To be confirmed

Thursday 10^th December 2.00pm – 4.00pm, Wheel Room, Civic Centre, West Paddock, Leyland

Thursday 9^th June 2.00pm – 4.00pm, Tan House Community Enterprise, Ennerdale, Tanhouse, Skelmersdale, WN8 6AN