The Chair (Cllr Bramble) welcomed members to the Children and Young People Board meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Lucy Nethsingha with Cllr Dine Romero in attendance as substitute.

            No declarations of interest were made.

Members of the Children and Young People Board agreed the notes of the last Board meeting, held on Tuesday 8 June 2021.

The Chair introduced the report which outlined the terms of reference and membership for the LGA’s Children and Young People Board for the 2021/22 meeting cycle. The report also identified outside bodies to which the Board was asked to appoint for the 2021/22 meeting cycle.

Ian Keating, Principal Policy Adviser, informed the Board that Cllr Cory had expressed his interest to remain appointed to the National Youth Agency’s Board. The vacancy for this post would usually be reviewed on an annual basis and would go through each political group and lead members. The Chair confirmed that she was happy for Cllr Cory to continue in his post for the purposes of continuity.

Following the brief introduction, Members made the following comments:

·       Members agreed they were happy for Cllr Cory to remain on the National Youth Agency’s Board.

·       Members from the Conservative group expressed that they would like to nominate Cllr Sutton for the vacant position on the Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board. The Chair noted this nomination.

·       Cllr Fallon voiced her interest in remaining on the LGA’s Asylum, Migration and Refugee Task Group.

Decision:

Members of the Children and Young People Board:

1. Formally noted the membership of the Board for 2021/22 at Appendix A;

2. Agreed the appointments to Outside Bodies for 2021/22 at Appendix B;

3. Agreed the Board’s Terms of Reference for 2021/22 at Appendix C;

4. Formally noted the list of Board dates for 2021/22 at Appendix D;

5. Agreed the appointment of the Equalities Advocate for the Board; and

6. Agreed on members representing the Board on outside bodies over the previous meeting cycle.

            Action:

·       Officers to inform the Board on length of term for appointments to Outside Bodies.

The Chair introduced the report which outlined proposals for the Children and Young People Board’s priorities and work programme for 2021/22.

The Chair highlighted that it was important to consider emerging work that may come through in the municipal year, that local authorities were finding a challenge to meet.

Following the discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       Members proposed that lobbying government for more funding would be a challenge over the next few years due to pressures of COVID-19 and perhaps putting forward innovation projects would be better suited.

·       Members commented that they would like a review on role of regional school’s commissioner. In particular, the effectiveness, cost, impact, value and the relationship with local authorities. The Chair responded that she felt this was a much-needed review for the child-centred recovery programme within the education sector.

·       Members expressed that they would like to see the increase to the minimum age of criminal responsibility as a priority for funding to undertake research proposed in the report.

·       Members agreed the child-centred recovery programme was important to consider the impacts on young people as the COVID-19 pandemic hugely affected poorer residents.

·       Members raised dental health was still a huge issue, which was poor before the pandemic and was yet to improve, highlighting a clear lack of provision.

·       Members agreed that the Government’s review of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) was needed to bring about the system changes that are required.

            Decision:

Members of the Children and Young People Members agree the Board’s priorities and work programme for 2021/22.

Action:

·       Officers to consider members comments made during the discussion.

To present - Ian Dean, Director, Lisa McCrindle, Policy Advisor and Kairika Karsna, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer - Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse

The Chair introduced the report which highlighted the findings from The Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse (CSA Centre) and their recent “scale and nature of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)” report and provided information on the Centre’s current work to support councils and their partners.

The Chair welcomed Ian Dean, Director, Lisa McCrindle, Policy Advisor and Kairika Karsna, Senior Research and Evaluation Officer - Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse to introduce their presentation.

Kairika introduced the presentation and highlighted the following key points:

·       The CSA Centre was established 5 years ago with the first scoping report, Measuring the scale and changing nature of child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation.

·       Prior to the report there were no documents that brought together different pieces of evidence on the scale and nature of child sexual abuse.

·       In June 2021, the latest evidence published by the CSA Centre summarises what the centre currently does and doesn’t know on the scale and nature of child sexual abuse, drawing on:

o   the latest prevalent data and analysis

§  Crime survey England and Wales 2019

o   official agency data for 2019/20.

§  Child protection

§  Police recorded crime and outcomes

§  Prosecutions and convictions

§  Sexual Assault Referral Centres and sexual health clinics

§  Helpline’s: NSPCC, Stop It Now!, Internet Watch Foundation

·       Based on national population estimates in mid-2019:

o   15% of girls and 5% of boys experience child sexual abuse before the age of 16.

·       Key trends before COVID showed that there was an overall decline in the number of identified child sexual abuse cases across all data sets.

·       England saw the largest drop in child protection plans for sexual abuse over 20219/20 at 12%, the steepest decline in 18 years.

·       There was a small decline in child sexual abuses offences reported to the police, with fewer cases proceeding to court. Prosecutions had fallen by a third with offenses investigated by police falling from 37% (2015) to 20% (2019/20).

·       Despite a significant increase in the number of people reporting abuse, fewer offences were being prosecuted and convicted in 2019/20 compared to 2016/17.

·       Large disparity in how different areas named, recorded and dealt with child sexual across the agencies.

·       In order to better protect children, the gap between the number of children who have experienced sexual abuse and the smaller number who were identified and supported by agencies needs to be addressed.

Lisa then outlined the following three recommendations:

·       Carrying out a dedicated national survey of child sexual abuse.

·       Encouraging local and national agencies to improve data recording of all concerns of child sexual abuse.

·       Providing dedicated training giving professionals the confidence to recognise the signs and indicators of child sexual abuse.

Following the discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       Members commented that some people were not able to identify child sexual exploitation and some schools were not identifying it at all. What could councillors do to ensure schools in their local authorities were supported, as the Ofsted inspection framework considered safeguarding within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Dame Andrea Leadsom DBE MP to attend

The Chair introduced the report which looked at The best start for life: a vision for the 1,001 critical days, which set out six key actions to improve health outcomes in the period between conception to two years of age.

The Chair welcomed Dame Andrea Leadsom MP, who is leading the review and attended the Board meeting to provide an update and hear from members about key areas of concern, areas of good practice, and how best to support councils with this agenda.

Dame Andrea Leadsom DBE MP informed the Board of the six key actions areas:

·       Seamless support for families: a coherent joined up Start for Life offer available to all families.

A welcoming hub for families: Family Hubs as a place for families to access Start for Life services.

·       The information families need when they need it: designing digital, virtual and telephone offers around the needs of the family, including digitising the personal child health record, commonly known as the ‘red book’.

·       An empowered Start for Life workforce: developing a modern skilled workforce to meet the changing needs of families.

·       Continually improving the Start for Life offer: improving data, evaluation, outcomes and proportionate inspection.

·       Leadership for change: ensuring local and national accountability and building the economic case.

The following question were put forward to the Board:

·       Were there any particular thoughts on what Start for Life could do to help local authorities in building their own Start for Life services?

·       How do families in your local authority’s access Start for Life services?

·       Who could be the single leader in your local authority responsible for Start for Life services?

·       Are there barriers to delivering support through digital channels?

·       How are you evaluating and inspecting Start for Life services in your area?

·       Do you offer birth registration outside of registry offices?

Following the presentation and discussion, Members made the following comments:

·       Members welcomed the digitalisation of the ‘red book’ and agreed that the lack of communication between professionals needed to be improved.

·       Members raised how non-traditional families would be catered for within the plan. Dame Andrea responded that non-traditional families were a core part of the review and specifically have tried to identify a range of family types.

·       Members commented if the funding for services would be ring fenced, as it was crucial to understand where the funding and resources were coming from. Also, the digitalisation of services included in the review needed to consider that during the COVID-19 pandemic digital connectivity especially within education highlighted that not all families had access to smart phones, tablets or laptops. Dame Andrea replied that within some councils people have said their local Sure Start hours weren’t convenient and wanted the convenience of being able to join virtual groups online to get support and advice. Ring fencing funding would be down to individual local authorities but would not be advised except where there might be a specific task e.g., publishing Start for Life offer.

·       Members asked  what  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.