Agenda and minutes

1.1 Apologies for absence were received from the following members of the Commission:

• Graham Hunter
• Ernell Watson
• Justine McDonald
• Michael Lobenstein
• Luisa Dorenelas
• Shuja Shaikh

1.2 Apologies for lateness were received from Annie Gammon.

2.1 There were no late items and the agenda was as published.

3.1 The following declarations were received by members of the Commission:

·  Cllr Peters was a governor at a local special school;

·  Cllr Chauhan was a member of NEU and a teacher at a school outside the borough;

·  Shabnum Hassan was a Parent Governor at a local primary school;

·  Jo McLeod was a Governor at a local school in Hackney and a parent of a child with special educational needs.

4.1 Support for children with SEND post 16 years of age was identified as a key area for further scrutiny as part of the work programme consultation with local stakeholders for 2019/20.   After scoping this item with officers, the Commission agreed it would focus its attention on assessing the Education and Training Pathways for children with SEND aged 16 years+. 

4.2 The current ‘Post 16 SEND strategy expires in 2020, so the Commission will aim to develop a number of high-level strategic recommendations which will guide and inform the refresh of this strategy.   The Commission had a number of objectives for this session:

1.  To assess current Post 16 education and training pathways for children with SEND post 16 and identify what is working well and identify areas of under provision. 

2.  Ascertain how well local services are working together to assess, commission and support post 16 education and training needs of young people with SEND; and

3.  To identify key local priorities to inform the new Post 16 SEND strategy.

4.3 In addition to the local SEND team, a wide range of local stakeholders were invited to participate at the meeting including representatives from local special schools, colleges and training providers and, health and social care services.  Contributors were asked to complete a proforma ahead of the meeting to help the Commission establish the following for post 16 provisions for CYP with SEND:

·  What was currently working well?

·  If there were any service gaps?

·  How local SEND partnerships were working?

·  Local priorities for the new post 16 SEND Strategy.

HLT – SEND Team

4.4 The SEND team welcomed the opportunity for local stakeholders to contribute to the process to refresh the Post 16 SEND Strategy.  A presentation was made to the Commission and those attending outlining the key aims and objectives of the new Post 16 SEND strategy.  A key aim of the strategy was to move more young people away from home into employment or other more purposeful activities.

4.5 There were a number of high-level issues which needed to be addressed when considering the Post 16 SEND Strategy.  These included:

·  Parental anxiety – many parents were worried what opportunities there would be for their child after the age 16;

·  Young people’s uncertainty – like other young people at this age, they were worried about the world of work and future opportunities for them;

·  Expectations from 2014 Act – the legislation clearly stated that where needs were identified then these need to be met;

·  Funding pressures – whilst the number of children with EHCPs had increased significantly, funding levels have been maintained at 2011 levels;

·  Definition of full-time – pre and post 16 definitions are different (former 5 days per week and the latter 3 days per week); 

·  Measuring progress – a young person with an EHCP is able to access education up to age of 25 if they are demonstrating progress, but there is a lack of consensus about what progress means for young people;

·  Increasing numbers  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

 5.1 The Cabinet Member for Early Years and Play attended to respond to questions covered within this portfolio. As per scrutiny protocol, the Commission had identified 3 policy areas on which they would like to direct questioning.

1. How is the council working to alleviate childhood poverty, and in particular childhood food poverty?

2. To update the Commission on the Troubled Families Programme; funding arrangements and plans to embed support locally.

3. To provide a brief update on children’s centres, what services they provide and who uses them?  How are vulnerable families supported by Children’s Centres? How will the Children’s Centre Engagement exercise guide and inform service provision - especially Stay and Play provision? 

Childhood Poverty

5.2 The Cabinet member noted that there was a manifesto commitment to develop a poverty reduction strategy.  This was particularly important as latest estimates suggest that as many as 48% of children and young people were living in poverty in Hackney (once housing costs are included).  This is the highest level of childhood poverty recorded for Hackney.

5.3 It was noted that there are three main drivers for increased childhood poverty in Hackney these being:

- Local housing pressures 

- Welfare reforms which have led to reduced level of financial assistance, and have caused financial hardship (e.g. Universal Credit)

- Changing nature of employment with greater prevalence of low paid unsecure jobs.

5.4 The council has taken a number of actions in response to growing levels of poverty:

- Inclusive Economy Strategy – this would aim to ensure that all sections of the community can benefit from economic growth in the borough;

- Housing & Homeless Strategy – there were provisions to limit evictions;

- Early Help Review – this was assessing how preventative interventions could help to reduce family poverty;

- Debt Advice - local services were commissioned to provide debt advice and support to families which are struggling financially (e.g. CAB, Law Centre);

- Council workforce – cheaper loans and salary advance to help staff to reduce debts.

5.5 In the recent budget agreed by the Council, £500k had been allocated to poverty reduction strategies which included funding for food poverty work, housing case work (£200k), early help pilots (£70k) and poverty proofing council polices.  In relation to food poverty, a number of initiatives were taking place:

- Increasing access to health start vouchers – to help parents obtain fresh fruit and vegetable as well as vitamins and baby milk;

- Increase take up of Alexander Rose vouchers which also offer help to buy healthy foods, but are also available to those families who have no recourse to public funds;

- Increase take up of free school meals, with the council exploring the possibility of extending this to all primary schools if a cost-effective option can be found;

- Improving the ‘holiday hunger’ response across the borough.

Questions

5.6 Are there any plans for emergency feeding of children and young people should the coronavirus take hold and children are off school for a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1 A number of amendments have been made to the work programme for the final meeting of the CYP Commission for 2019/20 which included:

May 12^th 2020 - the Commission will review a number of City & Hackney’s emerging children’s mental health strategies as part of pre-decision scrutiny:

• Emotional Health and Wellbeing Strategy; and
• Approach to Adverse Childhood Events.

7.1 Minutes for 15^th January, 27^th January and 11^th March were not available but would be presented at the next available meeting.

8.1 There was no other business. The meeting closed at 9.55pm.