Agenda item

Lewisham Future Programme

Meeting of Children and Young People Select Committee, Wednesday, 14th September, 2016 7.00 pm (Item 3.)

Decision:

The Committee resolved to advise the Public Accounts Select Committee of the following responses to the following savings proposals:

Q6a-f: Developing Alternative Pathways

The Committee noted the savings and requested that should they be agreed by the Mayor and Cabinet, the Children and Young People Select Committee should receive feedback on progress post implementation so that the effect could be monitored and tracked.

Q7a and b: Redesign of Lewisham CAMHS

The Committee noted the savings but were concerned about the potential for negative impact on young people. The Committee requested that should these savings be agreed by the Mayor and Cabinet, the Children and Young People Select Committee should receive feedback on progress post implementation so that the effect could be monitored and tracked and any negative impacts could be mitigated.

Q8: Develop in-house fostering and specialist carers.

The Committee felt this proposal was positive and the initiative delivered an improvements to services as well as savings.

Q9: Enhance support for children on the edge of care.

The Committee felt this proposal was positive and the initiative would deliver an improvement to service as well as savings. The Committee requested that should this saving be agreed by the Mayor and Cabinet, the Children and Young People Select Committee should receive feedback on progress post implementation so that the effect could be monitored and tracked.

Q10: Enhance family finding capacity for step down.

The Committee noted the savings and requested that should this saving be agreed by the Mayor and Cabinet, the Children and Young People Select Committee should receive feedback on progress post implementation so that the effect could be monitored and tracked.

Q11a and b: Redesign of Meliot Centre

The Committee was concerned regarding the potential effects of changing staffing structures and requested that should this proposal be agreed by Mayor and Cabinet, the full report for Mayor and Cabinet on the proposed service change be provided to the Children and Young People Select Committee for scrutiny prior to it going to Mayor and Cabinet.

Minutes:

3.1 David Austin, Head of Corporate Resources gave an introduction to the Committee on the current financial situation outlining that the current 2016/17 General Fund budget was £236 million and there was a need for an additional £45 million ongoing savings in the next three years. This brought the total savings from 2010 to 2020 to £200 million. Additional appendices relating to savings proposal Q7 were handed round, a copy of which would be interleaved with the agenda. Following questions and challenge by members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· The reasons the savings listed in section Q “Early Intervention and Safeguarding” were focussed on 2017/18 was that it was important to thoroughly understand the effect of the 2017/18 savings before committing to future years.

· Children’s and Adult’s Social Care made up over 60% of the Council’s spend.

3.2 Sara Williams, Executive Director, Children and Young People, addressed the Committee. In her introduction and following questions and challenge from members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· It had been nearly one year since the Ofsted review of Children’s Social Care and there had been a wide range of service improvement work being undertaken.

· Making better use of budgets and more effective use of resources was a priority to improve and protect services to young people and families.

· The changes in service delivery were emulating models that were successful in other local authorities.

3.3 Stephen Kitchman, Director, Children’s Social Care presented savings proposals Q6a-f to the Committee. During his introduction and following questions and challenge from members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· There had been a strategic project to deliver savings and good outcomes for Care Leavers. There had previously been a reliance on expensive private housing providers and the proposal would develop an improved and cheaper in-house option by working with the colleagues in the Housing Team.

· The proposals would not have a negative impact on the protection of children, any effects would be neutral or positive.

· By working with young people at an earlier stage and before the age of 18, they could ensure every young person accessed housing benefit.

3.4 Warwick Tomsett, Head of Targeted Services and Joint Commissioning presented savings proposals Q7a and b. Councillor Jonathan Slater was also in attendance for this item in his capacity as Mental Health Champion. Following question and Challenge from members of the Committee the following key points were highlighted:

· The total funding for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Lewisham was £4.2 million, of which the Local Authority’s contribution was just over £1 million.

· By implementing the CAPA (Choice and Partnership Approach) model and ensuring a blended approach with early intervention support, access pathways would be improved and need considered at an earlier stage allowing young people to better access alternative sources of help. As much of the caseload previously did not meet thresholds for support the new model would represent an improvement for many people.

· Funding from the Pupil Premium Grant could be threatened in the future and it was therefore important to consider alternative options if this happened.

3.5 Stephen Kitchman presented savings proposal Q8 to the Committee. Following questions and challenge by members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· Section 7 of proposal Q8 listed the level of impact on corporate priorities as “neutral”. This should be amended to low to better reflect the proposal.

· The focus on increasing in-house capacity was welcomed. It could be useful to look at other local authorities who had done similar schemes and learn from their experiences. In particular a scheme where the Royal Borough of Greenwich had worked with Charlton Football Club was mentioned.

· The Fostering Strategy would go to the Children and Young People Select Committee for scrutiny once developed, prior to going to Mayor and Cabinet.

3.6 Stephen Kitchman presented savings proposal Q9 to the Committee. Following questions and challenge by members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· Improving the Family Intervention Project to provide a service more targeted at the most vulnerable groups including young people on the edge of care would produce positive outcomes for the most vulnerable young people and reduce the numbers of young people in care.

3.7 Stephen Kitchman presented savings proposal Q10 to the Committee. Following questions and challenge by members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· Enhanced Family Finding services were already being implemented at many other local authorities and had been shown to be very successful at finding timely well-matched placements.

3.8 Stephen Kitchman presented savings proposal Q11a and Q11b to the Committee. Following questions and challenge by members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

· Volumes of work of social workers would be closely monitored to ensure that the proposals did not have negative impacts.

· Family assessments were increasingly being carried out by social workers in other boroughs which reflected the courts reduction in requirements for external experts and increasingly seeing the social worker as the expert.

· Recruitment and retention of social workers was a priority and part of the workforce development strategy.

3.9 RESOLVED: