Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor North.  Councillor Hayre was in attendance as the Conservative Substitute Member.

All Members who believe they have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to Part 3 Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore all Members with a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider, having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 4 of the Code, whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, consider whether it is appropriate to leave the meeting while the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code.  Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

No declarations were made at this point in the meeting.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 12 July 2018 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

The Committee did not receive any deputations.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman did not make any announcements to the meeting.

To receive a presentation providing an update on the work of the Hampshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

The Committee received a presentation from representatives of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust on Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) (Item 6 in the Minute Book).

The Committee were taken through the slides and key issues were highlighted.  It was heard that throughout 2016/17, the CAMHS service had seen a 20-25% increase in the number of referrals.  This year 8000 referrals have been received with the number of contacts offered totalling 79,114.  Members attention was drawn to the main successes which had arisen in the last year, which included an improvement in the vacancy rate which was now 4%, and the implementation of the Single Point of Access.  The Service was also running a yearlong campaign on suicide awareness with a focus on body image and self-esteem.  Members of the Committee were informed of the Fit Fest day events which consisted of workshops and information focussing on issues such as anxiety, body image and self esteem.  Parent and carer events (PACE) events were explained, which were designed to help families better understand the needs and difficulties that young people can face.

The Committee also heard about the challenges affecting the Service, and Members were concerned to hear the length of time that children and young people were waiting to access treatment, 34% of children wait longer than a year to access treatment which is only slightly higher than the national average.  Representatives from the Service highlighted the increasing levels of complexity presented by children with mental health and social needs, and the increasing pressure on the service’s workforce and challenges for clinical space.  The Service’s work with partner agencies was explained and the work with the Willow Team was highlighted.  It was noted that there had been a significant increase in the number of children and young people requiring autism assessments, which had led to challenges, and work was underway to ensure these were conducted in a timely way.  Attention was also drawn to the continuing priorities of the service, and the importance of a multi-agency approach, as well as addressing demand and capacity with resilience and the development of forecasting models going forward. 

In response to questions, Members heard:

·        That there were a number of children waiting an unacceptable length of time for treatment, and work was being undertaken to try and address this by working with commissioners and partner agencies.  Priority would always be given to children with more complex needs and whose needs had deteriorated.

·        A recent Care Quality Commission inspection of the service deemed the service good overall and outstanding in caring.

·        That engagement work with GP’s continued to promote awareness of the CAMHS service at GP forums and through training and support.  It was important to ensure that referral links were also effective.

·        That some children had to be transferred for inpatient treatment out of county as there were only a small number of specialist units available nationally which would be suitable for some individual children’s needs.  It was heard that the aim was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

To receive a report updating the Committee with progress since the implementation of the Hampshire Healthy Weight Strategy.  

The Committee received a report and presentation by Sian Davies, Consultant in Public Health on behalf of the Director of Public Health, providing an update on the Hampshire Healthy Weight Strategy (Item 7 in the Minute Book).

Members were taken through the presentation and it was explained that the healthy weight strategy was a key priority for Hampshire County Council, with the strategy focussing on families and the impact on healthy weight from wider influences in society such as social media.  The link between weight gain in children and young people and possible future health issues was also highlighted, and attention was drawn to the national programme of measuring the height and weight of school children in Year R and Year 6.  The results of the programme showed that 23% of children in Year R and 26% of children in Year 6 were overweight or obese, and the likelihood of weight gain continuing into adulthood was highlighted.

Links between increasing levels of weight and consequences for mental health and self-esteem were explained, as well as the possibility of developing Type 2 diabetes.  Members heard that the main cause of weight gain was too much sugar consumption, and at a wider level, Government obesity plans were seeking to address high fat, high sugar food marketing.

Officers explained how work with travel planning teams could make a difference in promoting travel to and from school in an active way rather then parents choosing to travel by car for the whole journey.  Work was also being undertaken with the County Council’s catering service to ensure sugar content was kept to a minimum in school meals.  The importance of encouraging children and parents to make healthy food choices was also highlighted.  The success of programmes designed to promote regular activity in children and young people such as Energise Me and the Golden Mile were outlined.

In response to questions, Members heard:

·        That food choices are complex, and research has shown that people may feel constrained with food choices depending on life circumstances.  It was noted that research also indicated that people may not make healthy food choices that were likely to be rejected by children when budgets were tight.

·        That it was felt that a shift in culture was needed to ensure that unhealthy sweets and treats were not used as ‘rewards’ for children.

·        That money from the sugar tax levy had transferred to the County Council in July, and Public Health has worked with County Council colleagues to prioritise primary schools in the county to receive funding from this.

·        That a nutritionist from Public Health is working with providers of school meals to provide support and assist with planning healthy and nutritious school meals.

·        That activities in schools such as the Golden Mile/Daily Mile at the start of the school day, have proven to increase levels of children’s concentration for the rest of the school day as well as increase physical activity levels.

·        That the density of takeaways and fast food outlets is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 79.

To receive an update on children’s safeguarding in Hampshire.

The Committee received the annual safeguarding report for Children’s Services from the Director of Children’s Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book).

Members were taken through the report and attention was drawn to key issues such as the outcomes of Ofsted inspections of Hampshire Children’s Services as detailed in Section 3 of the report.  Section 4 of the report highlighted child exploitation which was also an area of national concern, and ‘County Lines’ remained an area of emerging concern for Hampshire’s Children’s Services and other agencies concerned with children.  The work of the Willow team was explained which was a multi agency team consisting of specialist social workers and health professionals, working with Hampshire constabulary to protect the highest risk children.  It was noted that there had been an increase in exploitation of children to become involved in the dealing of class A substances, and work was continuing to work with children involved to recognise the situation as exploitation.

Section 4 of the report also highlighted work with unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC), and it was heard that the port of Portsmouth was a main point of entry for these children with a knock on effect as children seek asylum in Hampshire.  The report detailed the number of UASC looked after by Hampshire and also highlighted proposed new local safeguarding arrangements between partners as set out in paragraph 4.14 of the report, and it was heard that work was being undertaken to develop new arrangements in Hampshire.

Members noted the figures relating to contacts, referrals and safeguarding activity as set out in the table in paragraph 5.2 of the report, and it was noted that there had been an increase in the number of contacts in 2017/18.  It was heard that the majority of referrals were predominantly from the police and education service.  In relation to Section 47 investigations going to ICPC, it was explained that this had remained at around 45% over the last five years, and this was seen to reinforce that thresholds were being consistently applied.

Officers highlighted Child Protection Plans and Members were taken through the figures relating to these in paragraph 5.7 of the report, and attention was drawn to the percentage rise in the number of children subject to a plan for neglect.    It was also heard that the rise in the number of new UASC has attributed to the overall rise in children becoming looked after by Hampshire.  The costs of placements was also rising, with national demand outstripping supply and causing increasing pressures on budgets.

Section 6 of the report highlighted a key issue of recruitment and retention of social workers.  Where there were issues with recruitment, it was heard that suitably qualified agency workers were needed to fill these posts.  Members heard that the establishment of an agency by the County Council in partnership with Kent County Council, would look to source and supply social workers, with a view to these becoming permanent employees over time.  The social work graduate entry  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80.

To consider and approve the Children and Young People Select Committee Work Programme.

The Director of Transformation and Governance presented the Committee’s work programme (see Item 9 in the Minute Book).

Councillor Bolton requested that an item be placed on the work programme on Autism work in relation to children and young people, and it was noted that an update on this work by the new provider of this service would be brought to a future meeting of the Select Committee.

Councillor Porter requested that an item be placed on the work programme on the impact of the Equality Act and Special Educational Needs (SEN) offers.  It was noted that this would be included in the SEN update and overview item for the May 2019 Select Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the work programme, subject to any amendments made during the meeting, is agreed.