Agenda, decisions and minutes

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2020 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting subject to the following addition:

The bullet point stating that: “There was a £30k grant to support volunteers working with refugees so this should be able to fund DBS checks if required” will have a clarification in brackets after it reading “Following the meeting it was clarified that £20k of grant funding had been made available to Lewisham Refugee Welcome for the voluntary support of refugees in Lewisham”.

1.1    RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2020 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting subject to the following addition:

The bullet point stating that: “There was a £30k grant to support volunteers working with refugees so this should be able to fund DBS checks if required” will have a clarification in brackets after it reading “Following the meeting it was clarified that £20k of grant funding had been made available to Lewisham Refugee Welcome for the voluntary support of refugees in Lewisham”.

RESOLVED: That the following declarations of interest be noted in relation to the Executive Question Time item on the agenda:

Cllr Jacq Paschoud – close relative is in receipt of a social care package from the Council.

Cllr John Paschoud – governor of a school attended by 4 or 5 Lewisham children; and declared his spouse’s interest as described above.

Cllr Luke Sorba – Member of the governing body of trustees for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Cllr Liz Johnston-Franklin - Non Executive Director for Youth First.

2.1    RESOLVED: That the following declarations of interest be noted in relation to the Executive Question Time item on the agenda:

Cllr Jacq Paschoud – close relative is in receipt of a social care package from the Council.

Cllr John Paschoud – governor of a school attended by 4 or 5 Lewisham children; and declared his spouse’s interest as described above.

Cllr Luke Sorba – Member of the governing body of trustees for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Cllr Liz Johnston-Franklin - Non Executive Director for Youth First.

RESOLVED: That the updates provided be noted.

3.1    The Chair of the Safer, Stronger Communities Select Committee reported that her committee had considered the proposals around the distribution of Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy monies the night before, and made a referral to Mayor and Cabinet outlining their concerns.

3.2    The Chair of the Housing Select Committee reminded those present that members of the Children and Young People Select Committee had been invited to the next meeting of his committee, on 12 March. The Committee would be looking at homelessness which was pertinent to the Children and Young People Select Committee’s review into the effect of temporary accommodation on children.

3.2    RESOLVED: That the updates provided be noted.

RESOLVED: That a referral to Mayor & Cabinet be made, outlining the further information requested by the Committee:

Safer Communities Portfolio

·         Athena – Can sex workers be confident that they will get non judgemental support?

·         Concern Hubs – Can a full range of statistics on useage be provided, including a breakdown of client ethnicity?

School Performance and Children's Services Portfolio

·         Schools in deficit – How many Lewisham schools are in deficit and can some further information on their situations be provided?

·         Hand sanitising gel / handwash – are any Lewisham schools experiencing difficulty in procuring these products as a result of shortages arising from the coronavirus outbreak?

·         School playing fields – can more information be provided on the current strategy including whether there are any plans to expand the number of school playing fields?

Health and Adult Social CarePortfolio

·         Air quality –Should the monitoring sites reveal that certain particulate levels are increasing, can further information be provided on what is being done to address this and improve air quality?

·         Youth support – Can more information be provided on the successful bid for funding to support youth support in two local accident and emergency departments?

·         Vaccinations – can more information on uptake be provided?

4.1    Cllr Dacres was questioned first. In response to questions from Members of the Committee, the following points were noted:

·           Athena would provide confidential and non-judgemental support to all Lewisham residents experiencing gender based violence.

·           The “public health approach to serious youth violence” strategy had been published and the approach was making a real difference, in particular the school immersive programme being piloted at Coopers Lane School and Sydenham Girls School. The approach was also making a difference in the home environment and leading to better engagement between parents and children.

·           22 people had been trained to hold community conversations and deliver community based engagement and officers could look to do something specific for parents (of victims and perpetrators). The support required by parents varied and it was important to be led by their wishes and arrange support on a case by case basis.

·           Police were receiving training on unconscious bias and were spending time with young people whilst training, which was having an impact on the way stop and search was being carried out. Work was also being undertaken to ensure that young people knew their rights in relation to stop and search; and there was also collaboration with the Racial Disparity Unit.

·           Three local community organisations had received central government funding to deliver projects to tackle hatred and intolerance in Lewisham. Key approaches included theatre programmes (Second Wave),  the provision of advocacy and accurate information, advice and guidance(African Advocacy Foundation) and using football as a hook (the Rio Ferdinand Foundation).

·           The concern hubs were dealing with 192 cases at present (136 male and 59 female) using a genuinely multi-disciplinary approach.

·           Deprivation was a key factor in violent crime, with 54% of violent incidents in Lewisham occurring in three wards.

·           A query about step free access to Bellingham Station would be referred to Councillor McGeevor.

4.2    Cllr Barnham was questioned second. In response to questions from Members of the Committee, the following points were noted:

·           There has been a recognition that previously, the Council had perhaps taken formal safeguarding action too readily and there was now a greater focus on the ‘front door’ and taking the correct action straight away using a robust risk management framework. In terms of the number of children on protection plans, Lewisham was still above its statistical neighbours, but improving. The planned stronger emphasis on early help would be beneficial.

·           There was a genuine will amongst schools to treat exclusion as a last resort. Fair Access Panels were used to ‘challenge’ headteachers seeking permanent exclusions to make sure there was no alternative.

·           The strategy for improving school attainment would be reviewed. There was a new director of Lewisham Learning and schools were now able to commission support from a wider range of places.

·           Because Lewisham exported more high attaining pupils at the secondary school phase than any other London borough, its schools were not truly comprehensive. Efforts were being made to attract the parents of all Lewisham pupils to Lewisham schools.

·           With regards  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

A referral was made in relation to the item on the agenda entitled “Executive Question Time”.

5.1    A referral was made in relation to the item on the agenda entitled “Executive Question Time”.