Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence received.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Chadd and Cllr Porter. Cllr Warwick was in attendance in her role as Conservative Deputy.

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 the circumstances described in 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 Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting should consider whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 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 Non-Pecuniary interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 2 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.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The Minutes of the meeting of 31 January 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To receive any deputations notified under Standing Order 12.

No deputations were made at this meeting.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman advised members that due to the remit of the Panel they would benefit from undertaking a visit to the Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub, Swanwick Lodge and their local Children’s Home. Opportunities would be made available and the details of these would be circulated shortly.

The Chairman welcomed Cllr Edgar who was in attendance in his role of Executive Member for Education.

To receive a report from the Director of Transformation and Governance with a proposed update to the Terms of Reference for the Children and Families Advisory Panel.

The Panel received a report of the Director of Transformation and Governance (Item 6 in the Minute Book) regarding a proposed updated Terms of Reference for the Children and Families Advisory Panel. Following a brief discussion the Panel agreed the recommendation.

RESOLVED: That the Children and Families Advisory Panel support the update to the Terms of Reference for consideration and approval by the County Council.

To receive a presentation from the Director of Children’s Services with an overview and introduction to the work carried out within the Children and Families branch of Children’s Services.

The Panel received a presentation of the Director of Children’s Services covering an Introduction to Children and Families Branch (Item 7 in the Minute Book).

The presentation followed the journey of a child from Early Help through to Adoption and included information of the County Council’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub, Referral and Assessment, Children in Need, Children in Care, Fostering and Adoption Teams. The presentation also included a focus on Child Protection and the County Council’s Residential homes.

In response to questions members heard that;

·         There is an increased focus on trying to address issues with parents which can be the causes of problems in families. This is related to the Partners in Practise scheme that Hampshire has been invited to take part in with a view to innovating new services. One method planned is a Family Intervention Team to address adult’s issues and help achieve a multi-disciplinary service to focus on the parent and the child.

·         Neglect is a multifaceted area of Child Abuse but Children’s Services is working to create a toolkit that can be used by all practitioners to help identify it.

·         Technology is used in some instances to keep in contact with young people. Young People are given the contact details for their Social Worker and children at risk of absconding are given mobile phones.

RESOLVED: That the Children & Families Advisory Panel note the role of the Children and Families Branch.

To receive a report from the Director of Children’s Services detailing the creation and progress of the ‘Willow Team’ which is Hampshire Children’s Services specialist Missing, Exploited and Trafficked team.

The Panel received a report of the Director of Children’s Services (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on the Willow Team, specialist in Missing, Exploited and Trafficked (MET) children.

The Panel heard that the team was set up to support children at risk of MET through improved identification, support, awareness in the professional community and better quality of investigations. The team can also provide direct work with the child or parents/carers etc. alongside disruption of perpetrators and mentoring to other professionals. The Panel was told that the need to have a member of the team dedicated to Swanwick Lodge was identified due to the experiences of the high risk children who would be admitted there.

In response to questions members heard that;

·         The team would work with the Police on historic cases.

·         That funding from the team came from Health, and Hampshire County Council alongside some Government grants but this was not permanent.

RESOLVED: That the Children and Families Advisory Panel recognise the work undertaken by The Willow Team.

and

That the Willow Newsletter be distributed to Children and Families Advisory Panel members for future information.

To consider and approve the Children and Families Advisory Panel’s Forward Plan.

The Panel received suggestions from the Director of Children’s Services (Item 9 in the Minute Book) on possible future items for the Panel and made recommendations on topics for future Panel meetings.

RESOLVED: That the Children and Families Advisory Panel make recommendations for future items to be presented at the Panel.

To confirm the exempt minutes of the previous meeting.

The Exempt Minutes of the meeting of 31 January 2017 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.