To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor B.F. Ashton (Chairman), Councillor N.J.J. Davies, Mr J.D. Griffin.

To receive details any details of Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

There were no named substitutes.

The Committee noted that Mr Alan Geach was in attendance and that he would be representing the Church of England at future meetings in lieu of Rev Ian Terry who would be retiring from this Committee following this meeting.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 16th December, 2005.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 16th December, 2005, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

No suggestions for areas of scrutiny were received from the public.

To advise Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee of the recommendations for improvement, following the Joint Area Review (JAR) and to indicate progress so far.

The Committee were advised of the recommendations for improvement following the Joint Area Review (JAR) and informed of progress to date.

Copies of the Joint Area Review – Herefordshire Children’s Services Authority Area inspection report had been previously issued to Members of the Committee.

The Director of Children’s Services reported that as a result of the JAR inspection report a JAR Improvement Plan had been sent to the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the Department of Education and Skills (DfES).  The outcome of their assessment of the Service’s capacity to improve as a result of the Improvement Plan was still awaited.

She reported that the first four recommendations in the JAR report were the most critical for improving on Staying Safe, and these were set out in the agenda report.  The judgement that Staying Safe was in adequate, identified in the JAR inspection report, was a serious concern for the Council and its partners.  This had led, alongside the Adult Social Care assessment, to a position of “0” star for Herefordshire for Social Care.  She emphasised that the necessary improvement must deliver confidence in the County that children were properly referred and assessed against revised criteria.

The JAR inspection report identified a number of recommendations which had been graded ‘for immediate action’; ‘action over the next six months’ and ‘action in the longer term’.  In relation to the ‘immediate’ recommendations the Director reported that recommendations 1 and 2 had been developed for implementation in March 2006.  Recommendation 3 was progressing to the agreed timetable and recommendation 4 had already been acted on.

She further reported that as a follow on from the JAR inspection, there would be a routine Annual Performance Assessment (APA) for Children’s Services in Herefordshire. This would be an opportunity for the Service to demonstrate and evidence the improvements made.

The Committee noted that the Strategic Monitoring Committee had indicated that they were keen to be engaged in the future monitoring of the Improvement Plan and therefore it would be important for both Chairs of Strategic Monitoring and this Committee to be properly briefed about the Plan as soon as the endorsement was forthcoming.

During the course of debate the following principal points were noted:

• That, in hindsight, the evidence used in compiling the JAR self-assessment may not have been sufficiently robust, however, it had been considered sound at the time.  The APA would demonstrate whether the Service had moved forward.
• The turnover of staff was not necessarily an indicator of staff morale.  On the whole Social Workers had done well from Job Evaluation.  However, the Service had 80% of its complement and recruitment was a common national problem.  At the time of the inspection the Service had lost a number of key officers due to death, retirement and relocation. The 3rd ‘immediate action’ recommendation (effective workforce strategy) would also be looked at during Staff Review & Development process.
• The criteria for referral at level 1 set out in the Child Concern Model (CCM) was being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To brief scrutiny members on the work undertaken by Children's Services and its partners to improve and maintain the health of children and young people in Herefordshire.

The Committee was briefed on the work undertaken by Children’s Services and its partners to improve and maintain the health of children and young people in Herefordshire.

The report outlined various aspects of work undertaken in the area of children and young peoples health including:

• National Healthy Schools Status (HHSS) – being a new holistic approach to the education of children and young people, fully in keeping with the five outcomes of Every Child Matters. The report detailed the five themes in the HHSS.
• Drug Education – as previously reported to the Committee.
• Sex and Relationship Education – including Herefordshire and the West Midlands teenage pregnancy rates and the work undertaken by the Herefordshire Healthy Schools Partnership (HHSP) to reduce the upward trend.
• Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) – including the work with schools, new teachers and via the Marches Consortium.
• Healthy Eating – including progressing schools towards the ‘Food in Schools Toolkit’
• Physical Activity – outlined the move away from Physical Education (PE) and team games to a broader provision of physical activity.

The Committee also received a short presentation on the work undertaken by the Herefordshire Healthy Schools Partnership highlighting:

• The National Healthy Schools Status.
• Inclusion and the encouragement of whole school and community working for long-term impact.
• The wider health issues – emphasising increases in: childhood obesity; diabetes; sexually transmitted infections and binge drinking.
• Healthy Eating and the new Schools Meals Policy.
• PSHE and the partners involved.
• The promotion of physical activity and the Emotional Health and Well-being of children.
• Current national initiatives.

During the course of debate the following principal points were noted:

• While all high schools have drop in-clinics, currently only 6 can dispense contraceptives. The clinics are required to abide by a strategic protocol.
• Unfortunately the statistics for teenage pregnancy (based on full-term and legal abortions) took some time to become available.  Data held by schools is restricted by the Human Rights Act.
• Pregnant teenage schoolgirls were given the option at 18 weeks to attend a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) until it was appropriate to integrate back into school life.  However, many preferred to stay in school with their peers.  The HHSP were aware that pregnancy hot spots were in the South Wye/Belmont area and work was ongoing to address this.
• Problems with a child’s or young person’s well-being could affect their self-esteem and develop into problems with bullying; smoking; drinking; drugs or sexual health problems.  It was therefore important to tackle these at an early stage and a number of procedures or protocols were in place to address these issues.  Prevention rather than cure was the intention.
• The Committee noted that Westfield School, Leominster, had already achieved Healthy School status.

RESOLVED: That the position set out in the report on the Health of Children and Young People in Herefordshire and subsequent comment during debate be noted.

The Vice-Chairman and Committee paid tribute to Mr Ted St. George, Head of School Effectiveness.

The Vice-Chairman reported that Mr St. George would be retiring at the end of the month after serving this authority since its inception in 1998 and having previously served for many years with the former Herefordshire and Worcestershire County Council.  The Committee appreciated Mr St. George’s commitment to education and the way he had lead his team to attain the many achievements for education in the County.