To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2021.

Decision

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 10 March 2021.

Report of Independent Person Dr Henri Giller

This report details the strategic priorities and what MSP has achieved, reports on its annual assurance activity and what has been learnt from practice reviews undertaken where there was a serious incident.

The Committee received a report of Dr Henri Giller, Independent Chair of the MSP, which detailed the strategic priorities and what MSP had achieved, reported on its annual assurance activity and what had been learnt from practice reviews undertaken where there was a serious incident.

Dr Henri Giller referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:

• The Partnership Strategic Priorities and the action taken in relation to these;
• The Assurance Function;
• Learning from Practice Review and Improvement exercises; and
• Scrutinising the new MSP arrangements.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• Mental health and suicide prevention;
• Training for Members, including on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and on understanding exploitation;
• The importance of a joined-up approach between adult and children’s services, where vulnerable adults were parents; and
• How the experiences of minoritorised communities was embedded into the work of MSP.

Dr Giller advised that mental health was a priority area for MSP and that significant improvements had been put in place over the past 12 months to better meet the mental health needs of children and young people, citing the M Thrive and i-Thrive initiatives.  He reported that one of the potential strengths of the new safeguarding arrangements was that they brought children’s and adults’ safeguarding under the same partnership and he advised that representatives of the Children’s Executive Group and the Adult Executive Group were meeting together and discussing joint strategies and areas of common interest, such as the transition from children’s to adult services and complex safeguarding.  He outlined some of the challenges, such as the different legislative basis for children’s and adults’ safeguarding, the capacity of services to meet needs into adulthood and the level of continuity of support over time but he advised that there was an awareness of these issues and a commitment to working to improve them.

Dr Giller reported that there was an operational infrastructure behind the strategic groups referred to in the report and that this engaged with communities to understand the likely impact of proposals and changes.  In response to a Member’s question, he assured the Committee that work had taken place to look at the impact of the pandemic on working practices and that this learning would be taken forward.

In response to a question from the Chair, Dr Giller reported that the initial self-evaluation exercise had been intended to raise awareness of changes needed and for work with the organisations on how they could make and embed those changes.  He advised that the next self-assessment would be followed by an audit of the changes that organisations had committed themselves to.  In response to a further question, he reported that different organisations were subject to different regulatory mechanisms, further assurance structures would be available through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and that MSP was keen to explore additional options such as peer reviews.

The Executive Member for Children and Schools advised that he and the Strategic Director  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Report of the Deputy Director of Children’s Services

This report details the impact and consequence management of COVID-19 across the Children’s and Education Directorate, with a particular focus on the delivery arrangements and performance of children’s services.

The Committee received a report of the Deputy Director of Children’s Services which detailed the impact and consequence management of COVID-19 across the Children’s and Education Directorate. The report had a particular focus on the delivery arrangements and performance of children’s services. Acknowledging the requirement to view the support to children as a partnership endeavour, the report also provided an update on schools and CAMHS’s ongoing response to the pandemic.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report, which included:

·         Schools update, including school attendance and Ofsted monitoring visits;

·         Early Years update;

·         Children’s Services, including working practices during the pandemic, contacts with Children’s Services, performance management and quality assurance;

·         Early Help; and

·         Managing the impact of COVID-19 on well-being and mental health.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• That individual schools were adopting different practices in response to the current situation;
• Reasons for the variations in school attendance levels;
• Concern that lockdown and learning at home had widened the gap between children from more and less advantaged backgrounds;
• The impact of the pandemic on babies’ development; and
• How the Council would support schools if the Indian Variant spread within the city.

The Director of Education informed the Committee that all schools had initially completed risk assessments for COVID-19 which had been reviewed by the Council’s Health and Safety Team.  She advised that, despite recent changes in national guidelines, the Council was still strongly advising schools to keep the measures from their risk assessments in place, although they did not have any powers to enforce this.  In response to a Member’s question, she outlined some of the support being offered to Early Years settings and through additional activities to assist children with reaching developmental milestones, noting the impact that the pandemic would have had on the development of many young children, not only those who would have otherwise been identified as having Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).  In response to another question, she advised that the strategy for supporting pupils with SEND had remained the same, although there had been a particular focus on school attendance during the pandemic.

The Deputy Director of Children’s Services acknowledged the challenges facing new parents during the pandemic, highlighting the information in the report about some of the difficulties they were experiencing.  He advised of the importance of providing socialisation opportunities for children and opening Early Years settings, noting that the city’s figures were good for this.  He informed Members of a new evidence-based approach to supporting vulnerable people who were new parents or soon to become parents, recognising that having been isolated from support services during the pandemic would have added to their vulnerabilities.

The Executive Member for Children and Schools informed the Committee that, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, the Council remained ambitious for the city’s children.  He informed Members about plans for a “Year of the Child” in 2022 and proposed that the Committee receive a report about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.

This will be an oral report.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services highlighted the Directorate’s priorities for the forthcoming year, which were set within the context of the previous year and the impact of the pandemic.  He highlighted the impact of the pandemic on children and young people, while recognising the resilience they had demonstrated, in particular the educational gap between more and less fortunate pupils, the anxiety felt by some young people, the risk of school exclusions as pupils returned to school, the long-term job opportunities for young people and support for children with additional needs.  He also referred to the learning opportunities from the ways of working that had been adopted and the way the service has responded during the pandemic.  He advised Members that other areas of focus for the forthcoming year were inequality, including the role of climate change, the voice of children and young people, the strengths of the school system, recovering from lost learning, reducing the number of young people Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET), Think Family work in collaboration with the Local Care Organisation, support for children with SEND and the transition of young people to adulthood or adult services.  He reported that the Directorate was expecting an Ofsted inspection of its statutory children’s services within the next year and was looking at its quality assurance framework, including what was being learnt from auditing activity, how that learning was being taken forward and informing practice and looking at the feedback from children and families.  He advised that there would also be a focus on the impact of Troubled families and Early Help and that the service would be contributing to work on family poverty, homeless families and youth violence.

In response to a Member’s question, the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services advised that the service had made progress since its last full Ofsted inspection and he proposed that he bring the Directorate’s self-assessment of its statutory services to a future meeting.  He also recognised the hard work of both Children’s Services staff and schools staff during the pandemic.  The Chair proposed that the Ofsted Subgroup consider the information in relation to the forthcoming Ofsted inspection.  She noted that Members would be having a work programming session at the rise of this meeting where they would discuss further the areas which they wanted to scrutinise over the next year.

Decision

To note the oral report.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

This report provides the Committee with details of key decisions that fall within the Committee’s remit and an update on actions resulting from the Committee’s recommendations. The report alsoincludes the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee is asked to amend as appropriate and agree.

A report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit was submitted. The overview report contained key decisions within the Committee’s remit, responses to previous recommendations and the Committee’s work programme, which the Committee was asked to approve.

Decision

To note the report.

The officers consider that the following item contains exempt information as provided for in the Local Government Access to Information Act and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee is recommended to agree the necessary resolutions excluding the public from the meeting during consideration of this item.

Decision

To exclude the public during consideration of the following item which involved consideration of exempt information relating to the financial or business affairs of particular persons and public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer

This report provides an overview of how cross-cutting themes in the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 reset document are covered by the Council’s Scrutiny Committees during the 2021/22 municipal year.

The report is to form part of the Work Programming session at the rise of this meeting for Committee Members only.

The Committee considered the report of the Deputy Chief Executive and City Treasurer that provided an overview of how cross-cutting themes in the Our Manchester Strategy – Forward to 2025 reset document were to be covered by the scrutiny committees during the 2021/22 municipal year.

Decision

To note the report.