Agenda and minutes

There were no discloseable pecuniary interests.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 25^th February, 2016

b)  Matters Arising

The minutes of the meetings held on 25^th February, 2016 were approved.

The Scrutiny Board discussed Matters Arising from the last meeting and noted that further to minute 56/15 ‘Children’s Services Workforce Development Strategy’ Members had received further information about the Family Drug and Alcohol Court.

Report of the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board

The Scrutiny Board considered a briefing note of the Serious Case Review Co-ordinator for Adult and Children Safeguarding Boards, which detailed the outcome of the Serious Case Review (SCR) relating to Child C, which was appended to the briefing note.  A SCR was undertaken where the abuse or neglect of a child was known or suspected and the child had died.  The briefing note highlighted that the primary aim of a SCR was to help agencies learn lessons from these events, and to use this experience to improve practice.

Each agency may make recommendations to support improvements in practice within their organisation. The on-going implementation and monitoring of these actions was the responsibility of the individual agency. Evidence of progress was regularly provided for the LCSB. This process enabled the LSCB to fulfil its responsibility for monitoring progress, and to be assured that the recommendations had been delivered in practice.  Recommendations that were multi-agency were the responsibility of the LSCB, and an action plan to address these recommendations was currently being progressed.

Following the death of Child C in April 2014, the Independent Chair of Coventry Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) at that time, agreed this case should be the subject of a Serious Case Review.  Child C died at the age of 11 months after being left unsupervised in the bath with Sibling 1, aged two years.  The review was not able to establish the reason for the circumstances that led to the death of Child C and concluded that the sad death could not have been predicted or prevented by the professionals involved.

Janet Mokades, current Independent Chair of the LSCB attended the meeting and presented the recommendations and discussed the action plan.

The Scrutiny Board noted the background to the case which, in summary, was that when professionals visited the family home they observed a mother and, at times, a father who provided appropriate care and attention for their children, despite significant difficulties and disadvantages.  The review was unable to establish the reason for the circumstances that led to the death of Child C.  What had emerged was a concerning but familiar picture of the early stages of poor parental mental health, issues of domestic abuse and cannabis misuse.  The report noted that this had been recognised as a common theme in reviews locally and nationally.  There was evidence that the right referrals were being made and by the right people but the information was sometimes lost, incomplete or not acted upon.  The failure to explore maternal wellbeing meant the impact on the family and relationships was not well understood.  This, together with a lack of assessment of the couple’s cannabis use and limited reporting of the domestic abuse, meant that the level of risk was not recognised.  A poor referral and assessment process hindered the identification of the potential risks and needs of both the children and adults.

The report included details of methodology, process, chronology of the professional involvement with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63.

Briefing Note of the Executive Director for People

The Scrutiny Board considered a briefing note and a presentation from the Coventry Voices of Care Council regarding the positive impact the Voices of Care had and an update on the ‘Pledge’.  The ‘Pledge’ was created by Young People and Members and was a list of promises made by Coventry City Council as Corporate Parents to the Looked After Children and Care Leavers of Coventry.

The Chair of the Voices of Care Council reported on the importance of the Voices of Care and the various projects that they were involved in.  Young People had been consulted on the Pledge and the findings provided a snapshot of how children and young people view the care system in Coventry.  The Pledge questionnaire responses were appended to the presentation.

The Ofsted inspection 2014 had stated “The Children in Care Council (Voices of Care Council) is a model of good practice and there are many examples of children and young people shaping and influencing services, leading to real change and improvements which have made a demonstrable difference to children’s lives”.

The Board questioned the Chair of the Voices of Care Council and officers on aspects of the presentation including:

·  Responses to the consultation with young people and support from ‘Route 21’

·  The number of responses that had run away or gone missing

·  Work with Universities

Councillors were really supportive of the positive impact the Voices of Care had, especially their work with Universities and City Council Social Care teams.  Councillors were also encouraged by the high percentages of young people responding that they had hobbies and felt healthy.

Sheila Bates, Children’s Champion reported that there was an Action Plan to improve areas of concern following the consultation and that some questions would be more specific for the next questionnaire.

RESOLVED that the Board thank the Voices of Care for the report and request regular updates from Young People

Briefing Note of the Executive Director for People

The Scrutiny Board considered a report which updated Members on the recent changes to the library service in the City that were part of the Connecting Communities Programme.

The report noted that on 23^rd February 2016 Cabinet (their minute 121/15 refers) had agreed to implement a series of proposals of which the following changes to Library Services in the City were included:

a)  To end delivery of library services from the Arena Park Library facility by not renewing the lease and to continue engagement with Holbrooks Community Care Association (HCCA) about the potential delivery of a reduced library service to be provided in the HCCA building by September 2016.

b)  To end delivery of library services by not renewing the lease from the current Willenhall Library facility and to continue engagement about the potential delivery of a reduced library service to be provided in the Hagard Centre building by September 2016.

c)  To end the mobile library service by 1 June 2016.

d)  To cut the library media fund of £658,000 to £558,000 with effect from 1 April 2016.

e)  For Central Library to continue to open seven days per week, but to close one hour earlier on weekdays – closing at 7pm instead of 8pm by September 2016.

f)  To close Caludon Castle, Earlsdon and Foleshill libraries on Wednesdays and close Stoke and Tile Hill on Sundays by September 2016. To agree in principle that Bell Green, Earlsdon and Foleshill libraries remain open on Sundays provided that officers were satisfied as to the viability of a mix of paid staff and volunteers operating the libraries on these days. In the event officers were not satisfied the question of whether the libraries should remain open on Sundays be referred back to the Cabinet Member for Education.

These changes were part of Connecting Communities, an ambitious and wide reaching approach to radically redesign services through co-production and collaboration with local communities.  The approach focused on how services might be delivered differently in the future in the communities and neighbourhoods where there was most need, and within the resources available.  This might include joining services together to reduce the number of buildings and staff that the Council and other statutory organisations require to deliver services.

Officers provided detail about the current library offer and usage and the challenges over the next few months.

The Scrutiny Board questioned the Cabinet Member for Education and officers on the following:

·  changing the location of libraries in the city

·  briefing Ward Councillors

·  a ‘reduced service’ at the Hagard

·  volunteers

The Cabinet Member for Education indicated that he was happy to enter discussions with as many people in communities as possible, including head teachers and other partners to try to prevent library closures.

RESOLVED that

1)  The Scrutiny Board note the report and thank officers for hosting the meeting at Central Library

2)  The Scrutiny Board request that Ward Councillors be involved in discussions regarding any changes or proposals affecting their communities

Briefing Note of the Executive Director for People

Further to Minute 57/15 the Scrutiny Board noted a joint briefing note which detailed progress on the Children’s Services Improvement Plan, reported to the Children’s Services Improvement Board on 17^th February, 2016 based on data from January, 2016.  The next Improvement Board would be held on 30^th March, 2016.

The progress Report included an update on the six themes aligned to the Department for Education (DfE) Improvement Notice including an update on the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board.

Members noted that they had been invited to a Seminar regarding Children’s Services Improvement on 21^st March, 2016 and that the action plan resulting from the audit of re-referrals would be available for the next meeting.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator

The Scrutiny Board noted the work programme.

Any other items of business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of business.