Agenda item

Agenda item

Lyndene - Re-modelling and Next Steps

Report of the Strategic Director for Children and Education Services

 

The report provides an overview of plans for Lyndene Children’s Home to be repurposed to provide outreach help and support alongside a short break package; thus enabling children and young people to remain within or move back to their family environments (parents or foster care) as well as providing close family support during this time.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided an overview of plans for Lyndene Children’s Home to be repurposed to provide outreach help and support alongside a short break package; thus enabling children and young people to remain within or move back to their family environments (parents or foster care) as well as providing close family support during this time.

 

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

 

·         Proposed funding model;

·         Needs of children and their families/carers;

·         Service model;

·         Proposed timeline; and

·         Progress.

 

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

 

·         Governance arrangements, including the importance of families being part of the governance structure and how Councillors could be involved;

·         The challenges for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) transitioning to adult services and plans to support this group; and

·         Would Lyndene be subject to Regulation 44 visits.

 

In response to a Member’s question on placement figures, the Executive Member for Children and Schools advised that the Corporate Parenting Panel received regular reports on this but that updates on this could be provided to a future meeting of this Committee, to which the Chair agreed.

 

The Deputy Director of Children’s Services informed the Committee that children and young people and their families had been involved in the design of this service and that the Council was committed to them continuing to have a voice in the running of the service.  He advised that the service would be subject to regular scrutiny, including political scrutiny through this Committee scrutinising the service’s effectiveness.  He informed Members that his service was working with adult services to improve transitions and recognised that planning for children and young people should not end at a certain age and that planning should include considerations about transition to services for adults.  He suggested that the Committee might want to consider a report on the work to improve transitions for young people who would continue to require support into adulthood at a future meeting.

 

The Strategic Commissioning Lead (Children’s Services) informed the Committee that work was taking place to commission accommodation for young people aged 17 and over to support their transition to adult services.  She reported that a listening workshop was also being held to understand some of the issues that arose with the transition to adult services.

 

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services advised that the provision at Lyndene would be registered with and regulated through Ofsted and would receive Regulation 44 visits.  He reported that his service would be recruiting Regulation 44 visitors, including Councillors, to carry out this role.  He advised that Lyndene was part of the Council’s SEND Offer and its performance would also be monitored through the SEND Board.

 

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Education confirmed that there had previously been proposals for a similar provision at the Grange School’s site but that there had been a number of challenges regarding this, in particular registering the site to provide that offer when it was also a school, and that the space was now being well used as a sixth form provision for the Grange, which included training in living independently.

 

A Member who was on the panel for the Lyndene Project, as a member of the Manchester Parent Carer Forum, reported that parents of children with SEND felt strongly that they wanted their children to be supported within the city, in preference to a residential placement outside of Manchester.  She advised that the work on Lyndene had been a co-production, involving parents, and that, as long as families continued to be involved in this way, this project would continue to move in the right direction.  She thanked the Strategic Commissioning Lead and her team for their work.

 

Decisions

 

1.            To request that figures on placements for Our Children be included in a future report.

 

2.            To receive a further report on Lyndene in 12 months’ time.

 

[Ms Barnwell declared a personal interest as she was on the panel for the Lyndene Project, as a member of the Manchester Parent Carer Forum.]

Supporting documents: