LGA Governance


Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Westminster Room, 8th Floor, 18 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HZ. View directions

Contact: Amber Chandler  020 7664 3242/ Email: amber.chandler@local.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed all members to the Children and Young People Board meeting. Apologies were noted and are listed in Appendix A.

 

No declarations of interest were made.

 

2.

Outcomes for Children's Social Care - Presentation by Ivana La Valle and Diane Hart pdf icon PDF 185 KB

Minutes:

The Chair introduced Diane Hart and Ivana La Valle who are leading the research on Outcomes for Children’s Social Care. They outlined the work they have undertaken to develop a new outcomes framework for children’s social care services. The intention of the project is to offer local authorities a more meaningful way of measuring the quality and impact of their service than is currently available, potentially supporting the LGA CYP Board’s Bright Futures call for local and national government to develop a better understanding of ‘what works’ and ‘what good looks like’ for children’s services.

 

Diane stated that key findings show that Assessments of Children’s Social Care Services (CSCS) performance is based mainly on what is easy to measure (e.g. processes), rather than changes in the lives of children in need and their families, and there is a scarcity of quantitative indicators that have been used to systematically and ‘objectively’ measure quality and link it to positive outcomes for users.

Ivana explained that the ways we can understand how CSCS can make a difference to children and their families is through three overarching questions:

 

1.    Are CSCS keeping children safe?

2.    Are CSCS supporting children to achieve their educational potential?

3.    Are CSCS supporting the health and wellbeing of children in need?

Without the use of different data, a robust assessment of CSCS performance cannot accurately collect ‘meaningful data’ to answer these three overarching questions.

 

The approach undertaken in this research would use: cross-section data, longitudinal data, proxy data and data directly taken from feedback from users.

 

Ivana La Valle explained that the next steps include the outcomes framework being ‘populated’ with some existing outcome indicators and they plan to test the outcomes framework and indicators with service users in local authorities, ADCS, Performance and Improvement Leads, DfE and Ofsted.

 

The new outcomes framework will be published in July 2019.

 

The following points took place in a discussion with members:

·         The importance of data to make it more meaningful was welcomed by all members as a step in the right direction in order to capture a more robust assessment of CSCS performance. Diane Hart explained that the biggest challenge is DfE still have data that they require and that they will have to take a more gradual approach in collecting this more meaningful data.

·         It was raised that many organisations discuss the complexity of these measurements, but these measurements already sit in the troubled families’ framework and therefore may provide a good starting point for issues regarding data sharing.

·         Regarding keeping record and tracking longitudinal data, it can pose an issue because of the length of time required for this type of study. Diane Hart said that they hoped this would be part of the next step of this project.

The Chair expressed her gratitude to Diane Hart and Ivana La Valle for speaking to the Board and urged members to feedback further comments or suggestions through officers to take back to the advisory group.

 

 

Decision:

 

The members noted the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Isos High Needs Funding Research- Presentation by Natalie Parish pdf icon PDF 120 KB

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Isos Director, Natalie Parish, to the meeting. Natalie provided the Board with a summary on the findings of the high needs funding research which was commissioned by the Local Government Association in July 2018.

 

Natalie outlined the aims of the research: Quantifying the current gap between high needs resources and actual spend (including how the high needs block has been supplemented by other funding sources); Understanding what is driving these trends and how local areas are responding; and developing an evidence base to inform discussions between central and local government on meeting the needs of young people with SEND.

The research was approached in three phases: phase one included a baseline review of published data, phase two included an online survey for councils on trends and phase three included detailed work with nine councils to understand pressures and responses in greater detail.

The research found that in the last five years, the number of children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)/SEND statements has risen by 35 percent, the number of children and young people educated in special schools and specialist colleges has grown by 24 percent and the number of permanent exclusions has increased by two thirds.

This means that the average spend is increasing at a faster rate than funding, and if the current trend continues, the average spend against high needs block budget is predicted to go up from £38 million in 2015 to £45 million total by 2019. This has meant that councils have topped-up the high needs block from other sources, but this is having an impact on authorities’ reserves and the net deficit continues to rise. The total deficit by the end of 2019 is predicted to be £450-500 million, excluding school transport.

Two reasons for the increased spend on high needs are: the extension of SEND support to 16-25 year olds and; the increased use of Independent Non-Maintained Special Schools (INMSS) and pressure on maintained special school capacity. Other factors included legislative changes, demographic trends and core funding pressures.

Policy decisions have also had an impact, with mainstream schools no longer being incentivised to be inclusive of children with high needs, while staffing cuts are also impacting on their ability to cater for children with SEND.

Natalie explained that the report makes recommendations on key areas for local attention to help alleviate pressures on councils, but it was also explained that all councils (including those in the best positions) are in danger of running out of resources for high needs spend. This is because councils are being prevented from being able to manage down expenditure, due to 85 percent of funding being spent on places and top-ups which are attached to individual children and young people with EHCPs.

The report sets out recommendations to national government, focussing on how to incentivise mainstream schools to take children with high needs, how to alleviate pressure on local maintained special schools and how the financial impact can be reduced.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Spending Review Update pdf icon PDF 141 KB

Minutes:

Ian Keating, Principal Policy Advisor, updated members on recent announcements on children services and education funding:

·         The Secretary of State for Education announced on the 16 December that an additional £350 million is to be made available to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

·         The LGA also responded to a DfE consultation on the implementation of new arrangements for reporting deficits of the dedicated schools grant. The key proposed change is that councils with a 1 percent deficit on their DSG will be required to notify DfE and provide a recovery plan to bring the budget back to balance. Previously a 2 percent deficit was the trigger, so council flexibility is being further reduced.

·         Little detail is known about the scope and timing of the forthcoming Spending Review, save that it will be ‘this year’.

 

Decision

 

Members noted the paper.

5.

Children and Young People's Mental Health pdf icon PDF 163 KB

Minutes:

Abigail Gallop, Senior Advisor, updated members on the Children and Young People’s Mental Health work programme and reminded members that the LGA is co-hosting an event with the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition on 29 January.

 

Abigail provided clarification over point 4 of the paper which refers to case studies going forward this year, and explained that colleagues are finding it challenging to identify areas of good practice regarding health and wellbeing boards and children’s mental health. As a result, the LGA will commission a bigger piece of work on the role of Health and Wellbeing Boards in children’s mental health.

 

The LGA will refresh the Bright Futures campaign on children’s mental health. Recommendations for the Board’s next steps were to focus on what the council’s role is, particularly looking at the 30-40 percent of children who do not have access to CAMHS either because they do not meet the clinical threshold to have treatment or due to capacity issues, and what is needed to support children when they first start experiencing mental health issues rather than waiting until they need NHS treatment.

 

A paper at a future board will be presented to focus on what areas more specifically can be driven forward, and welcomed members’ suggestions.

 

Members provided the following feedback:

 

·         There is a need to urge for further transparency of money allocated to CCGs, so we can all see where that money has gone, how it can be spent more efficiently and how health and wellbeing boards can be anchored into this funding and devolved to a local level.

·         Regarding prevention and escalation, members want an outline of the work undertaken so far to map out prevention plans.

·         Data on the prevalence of mental health disordersin children and young people has just been published, but had not been examined previously since 2004 and members are keen to look at trying to identify gaps.

 

Decision

 

Officers to incorporate members’ feedback and provide a progress update at the next board.

 

6.

Note of the Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 157 KB

Minutes:

The Chair thanked the members who attended the National Children and Adult Social Care Conference in Manchester, and thanked Cllr Dick Madden for presenting the LGA’s Bright Futures campaign to the Children’s Minister.

 

It was noted that the attendance would be amended to correctly show all members that attended.

 

Decision

 

The minutes of the last Board meeting 15 November 2018 were agreed.

7.

Confidential Appendix X

Minutes:

Officers updated the board on the LGA’s submission to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee on funding and provision of children’s services.

 

The Chair thanked officers for their work and for providing members with an update.

 

Decision

 

Members noted the report.