Agenda a Chofnodion

Croesawu'r Aelodau a derbyn unrhyw ymddiheuriadau am absenoldeb

The Chair welcomed Members to the first meeting of the Children & Young People Scrutiny Committee for the Municipal Year 2021/2022. The Chair took the opportunity to thank non returning Members for the contribution they had made to the committee in the previous year and also welcome new Members to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee.

Apologies were received from County Borough Councillors A Calvert, S Evans, E Griffiths, G Stacey, D Owen Jones and Co-opted Voting Members Ms R Nicholls and Me L Patterson.

Derbyn datganiadau o fuddiannau personol gan Aelodau, yn unol â gofynion y Cod Ymddygiad.

Nodwch:

1.    Mae gofyn i Aelodau ddatgan rhif a phwnc yr agendwm mae eu buddiant yn ymwneud ag ef a mynegi natur y buddiant personol hwnnw; a

2.   Lle bo Aelodau'n ymneilltuo o'r cyfarfod o ganlyniad i ddatgelu buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu, rhaid iddyn nhw roi gwybod i'r Cadeirydd pan fyddan nhw'n gadael.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, there were no declarations made pertaining to the agenda.

Derbyn cofnodion o gyfarfodydd blaenorol y Pwyllgor Craffu – Plant a Phobl Ifainc a gynhaliwyd ar:

·         3 Mawrth 2021

·         24 Mawrth 2021

·         21Ebrill 2021

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the XXXX as an accurate reflection of the meeting.

Gwybodaeth mewn perthynas ag ymgynghoriadau perthnasol i'w hystyried gan y Pwyllgor.

The Senior Democratic Services Officer referenced the open consultation links that are available on both the Welsh Government website and reminded Members of the procedure that is in place to participate if they so wish.

Members RESOLVED to acknowledge the information

Trafod y Rhaglen Waith ar gyfer 2021-2022 a chytuno arni

The Service Director Democratic Services provided Members of the Children & Young People Scrutiny with the suggested Draft Work Programme for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

Members were reminded that the Scrutiny Work Programmes have a reduced number of meetings for this Municipal Year this enables the scrutiny committee to focus on key topics and create a more outcome focused way of working and to add value to the work of the Council. It also allows for more a more flexible approach to any items that may require a working group setting.

The Service Director continued to inform Members of the items set out out in the Work Programme which could be found at Appendix A of the report. The Officer explained that there had been agreement with the Chair the is one amendment that the Early Years Report will now come to December’s meeting. The Chair also explained to Members that the SHEP Report will come as an information report as there is strict criteria form Welsh Government which although a very important item it will be for information only.

The Chair welcomed comments from Members before finally looking for agreement of the Work Programme.

A Member asked for clarity in respect of the changes  in respect of available data for scrutiny to consider  at a strategic level, the member stated that he had concerns in respect of how the committee are were going to get some sense of what is going on from an education outcome prospective going forward.  In response officers explained that this is a concern form a scrutiny level especially with concerns raised from the pandemic, and this has been raised with Welsh Government and we are looking to put appropriate actions in place.

The Chair thanked the officer and took Members to the recommendations, Members RESOLVED to:

·         Agree the Children & Young People Scrutiny Work Programme for the Municipal Year 2021/ 22

·         Agree the Work Programme be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure the items identified for inclusion are relevant.

Trafod Adroddiad Blynyddol Drafft Cyfarwyddwr y Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol (Rhag-graffu)

The Group Director Community and Children’s Services thanked Members for the opportunity to present to them the Draft Director of Social Services Annual Report for 2020/2021 year. The Group Director explained that with the aide of a Power-Point both he and the Director of Children’s Services would present Members with the key areas. It was explained that Members are asked to consider the draft version of the report before going to public consultation and reminded Members that feedback from this meeting will be considered before the final report is presented to Cabinet for its approval.

Members were reminded that the Social Services and Well- being (Wales) Act 2014 includes in Part 8 A Code of Practice with regards to the role of the Director of Social Services. The Code of Practice states that the Director of Social Services must prepare and publish an annual report about the exercise of the Local Authority’s social services functions and that the annual report must be published as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of the financial year.

The Group Director gave an overview of the response to the COVID -19 Pandemic, graphs were presented to the Committee for consideration showing the rates of cases across the Authority. Members also consider the impact on the staff across the services throughout this time. Members took time to acknowledge the work that has been carried out by staff across the sector and asked for it to be recorded that Members thanked all staff for their hard work and resilience throughout these unprecedented times.

Officers explained that staff wellbeing has been at the forefront for the service and a new staff wellbeing model has been developed.  Members were presented with an overview of the community and wellbeing support that was delivered during the last twelve months.

The Group Director gave a summary of the financial support for the service, he also highlighted the ongoing work with partners such as Health etc.

The Director of Children’s Services gave an overview of the work throughout the last year within Children’s Services under the following headings:

·         Demand on the Service;

·         Child Protection Register;

·         Children Looked After;

·         Improving Performance , Working towards improvement;

·         Work of Children’s Services;

·         Future development

·         Challenges.

Finally the Group Director concluded by explaining to Members of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee that the service will continue to work towards strengthening family support, ensuring where possible that children looked after accommodation is brought as close to home as possible, listen to the voice of the young person when developing interventions and making early intervention and prevention key priority.

The Chair thanked the officers for a very informative report and opened up the meeting for Member’s questions and observations.

A Member asked a question on support for staff whilst working from home during the pandemic especially those single parents having to trying to adapt with our digital policy and could we have a look at the policy to take into account these situations. He also wanted  ...  view the full Cofnodion text for item 6.

Trafod y llythyr gan Arolygiaeth Gofal Cymru  yn amlinellu canfyddiadau'r gwiriad sicrhau ansawdd o ran Gwasanaethau Cymdeithasol y Cyngor.

The Group Director Community and Children’s Services explained to Members that the purpose of the report is to update the Committee on the Findings Letter from Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) in respect of their recent assurance checks of the Council’s Social Services.

The Group Director highlighted that the CIW assurance checks provides the Council with a high level of assurance regarding how well the Council is discharging its statutory duties in respect of social services and providing help and support to adults and children to protect safety and promote well-being. The Group Director continued to explain that this has been achieved during the extremely challenging times of the pandemic and thanked the workforce for their hard work and resilience during this time.

There had been many strengths and identified within the check along with a few areas for improvement which has been identified within the delivery plans and the action plans will be brought back to Members at a future meeting.

Member put forward further questions and observation and RESOLVED to acknowledge the report and agreed to receive an update against the action plans and consider any aspects the wish to scrutinise n great depth.

Derbyn adroddiad gan y Rheolwr Gwasanaethau i Blant a Phobl Ifainc

Members of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee received an overview of the support and provision carried out by the Youth Engagement and Participation Service (YEPs) during the Covid - 19 pandemic.

With the aide of a Power- Point presentation the Youth Service Manger explained that on the 23^rd March 2020, the YEPS suspended all face to face work with young people and colleagues as a direct result of the country entering lockdown. Members acknowledge the resilience of staff within the service to adapt to the fast changing situations and to ensure that young people’s needs were met.

The Officer continued to inform the Committee with an overview of activities during Covid- 19 some of which can be found below:

·         Referral work:

·         Mental health and wellbeing work work:

·         Wellbeing packs:

·         Reflective practice sessions:

·         Emergency childcare hubs:

·         School based support;

·         Summer holiday childcare:

·         Tacking youth homelessness:

·         Street –based youth work: and

·         Virtual youth offer along with many more provisions.  

The Youth Service Manger also present data on the impact of the service to data. It was explained that over the course of the year 2020/21 the service has provided targeted support to:

o   1035 individual young people on a 1:1 basis through its referral work which includes 784 new referrals accepted during the year. The number of referred open cases peaked at 504 in November 2020.

 The Officer continued an highlighted that the service has provided open access opportunities to young people to the level of:

o   250 exciting virtual activity programmes for young people to take part in during lockdown, totalling 708 individual sessions;

o   1,521 individual young people attended these sessions over the year;

o   124 street based sessions in the Autumn 2020 (the were not introduced until October 2020 and had to be suspended in December 2020) and during those sessions officers made contact with 2785 young people on the streets of RCT.

Members also considered the response of the consultation with young people in response to the pandemic along with staff feedback and explored the recovery planning and next step that the service aim to have in place.

The YEPS provided Members of the Children and Young People with a video which captured the work of the service and the interaction staff had with young people across the County Borough which was very humbling to see and Members congratulate the staff for some working with some very inventive ideas which made the young person’s experience during te pandemic a less frightening experience.

The Chair thanked the Youth Service Manager for an extremely comprehensive report and opened up the meeting for Members questions.

A Member wanted clarity in respect of the views of the young persons and asked various questions in relation to the demographics of youth services, and asked if young people across Rhondda Cynon Taf will be able to access a safe place to meet with friends without having to go back to an education setting. Along with provision for young people  ...  view the full Cofnodion text for item 8.

Trafod adroddiad y Cyfarwyddwr Addysg a Gwasanaethau Cynhwysiant.

The Officer provided Members with some contextual information on the most recent changes in Education during the summer term in response to the changing COVID -19 position.

Members were reminded that the local authority continues to work very closely with all schools and provides advice and guidance to school staff as well as regular updates to parents and carers. It was explained that operational guidance continues to be provided in relation to re-opening of schools and this is regularly updated to reflect the latest advice and announcements from Welsh Government. The Officer explained that guidance is also updated and shared in relation to the offer of lateral flow testing for all school staff and learners in Year 10 and above.   

 The Service Director provided Members with an update of the current position under the following headings:

·         Remote learning:

·         Digitally Excluded Learners (DELs):

·         Examinations:

·         Business Continuity Plans:

·         Health & Safety:

·         Managing Confirmed Cases:

·         Lateral Flow Testing:

·         Attendance:

·         Partnership working:

·         Free School Meal Provision:

·         Breakfast Club Provision: and

·         Childcare Settings

The Officer concluded her report and explained that any further changes will be brought forward to the Committee when appropriate.

The Chair thanked the Officer for a very informative report and invited Members to put forward their questions.

 A Member raised concerns in respect of the complexity of the WG guidance framework document and felt that this document should be made simpler for schools and governing bodies and commended the local authority officers for assisting the schools with the guidance..

 Members found the significant growth in the number of learners eligible for free school meals quite alarming and along with the extra pressures on IT provision for remote learning. Members wanted to know if these pressure have had any major impact on any other part of the service with regards to delivery and capacity and how was this going to be addressed.

Members were concerned that as the FSM figures were high that what additional support was made available to ensure that these pupils were well supported with their learning. The Council school improvement team in partnership with CSC are supporting Headteachers and learners with good practice and new strategies to support pupils and shared some examples. 

Members also raised questions in respect of examinations and central assessed grades, remote learning and attendance. Officers gave an overview of the work carried out amongst schools and the authority.

Further question were put forward and Members RESOLVED acknowledge the content of the report and receive further information when available

Adlewyrchu ar y cyfarfod a'r camau gweithredu i'w dwyn ymlaen.

The Chair thanked Members and Officers for a very productive meeting and advise that the next Meeting would be 22nd September 2021.