Minute of meeting of 20 June 2025
Perth and Kinross Council · 12 November 2025
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 12 November 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Children, Young People and Families’ Partnership Minute of meeting of the Children, Young People, and Families Partnership held on Friday 20 June 2025 at 10.00am in Council Chambers, 2 High Street, Perth. Present: Councillor L Barrett. Councillor M Frampton T Glen, Chief Executive, PKC A Singh, Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice, PKC J Menzies, HSCP Z Pullar, NHS Tayside L Sutherland, Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration In Attendance: S Halcrow, NHS Tayside (item 1), S Jeffrey, Children’s Hearing Scotland; E Harper; NHS Tayside; S Laing; CAMHS; B Atkinson, J Chiles, S Cooper, L Johnston, C McAuley, S Turner, A McConnachie and K Molley (all PKC). Apologies: Councillor C Shiers; M Devlin, Third Sector; G Burns, Police Scotland; J Hutton, Independent Advocacy P&K; E Cruickshank, NHS Tayside; D Macluskey and D Stokoe, Perth and Kinross Council. A Singh in the Chair The Group agreed to vary the order of business at this point. 1. NHS Tayside Health Profile There was submitted a report (G/25/80) and slide-based presentation by S Halcrow on the NHS Tayside Child Health Profile 2024. Councillor M Frampton thanked S Halcrow for the report. Councillor M Frampton suggested that the term ‘spontaneous abortion’ be removed from the Health Profile as it could be distressing for women to read. S Halcrow confirmed that the language used would be removed. Z Pullar advised that she link in with the Director of Midwifery and would share the appropriate terminology with S Halcrow.
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Councillor L Barret referred to the referrals to school nurses and the lower numbers for 16 – 18s and given that young people may have left school, L Barrett suggested that the data be presented more accurately through the percentage of the cohort instead. Councillor M Frampton queried if the low levels of vaccinations could be caused by misinformation to new parents. Z Pullar referred to the work of the Child Immunisation Uptake Group and the slight increase in levels. Z Pullar added that teams visiting families are fully informed and are able to answer questions and signpost appropriately. Z Pullar confirmed that an update would be brought back to the Partnership. S Halcrow advised that the Tayside Health Profile would be produced every two years. The Chair thanked S Halcrow for his informative presentation. S Halcrow left the meeting at this point. 2. Welcome and Apologies The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were noted as above. The Chair also raised the issue of attendance at partnership meetings and asked if members could send substitutes to future meetings if they are unable to attend. 3. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest in terms of the relevant Codes of Conduct. 4. Minute of Previous Meeting The minute of the meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Partnership of 28 February 2025 was submitted and noted as a correct record. 5. Perth and Kinross Child Protection Committee Business Activity Report since 28 February 2025 There was submitted a report by Independent Chair of Perth and Kinross Child Protection Committee (G/25/81) providing a summary of the key business activities of the Perth and Kinross Child Protection Committee (CPC) since the last scheduled meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Partnership (CYPFP) on 28 February 2025. The Chair referred the CPC Training Needs Analysis and queried if engagement had occurred with the Third Sector. B Atkinson confirmed that there are some local and national organisations that are well engaged with the work of the CPCP but advised that there had been a real challenge to engage with some of the smaller groups. B Atkinson added that further work would be undertaken to help increase engagement across the third sector. C McAuley
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advised that Children Protection was a feature at the recent Practitioner Network and confirmed that there was a lot of third sector involvement which should help build engagement. The Chair referred to the engagement events held in the communities and recognised that participation levels had not been as high as hoped. The Chair quired what CPC feel the next steps should be in terms of engagement. B Atkinson confirmed that the exercise overall was a success and referred to the positive work with Letham4all in relation to the CPC’s involvement in the community. B Atkinson advised that next steps would include the focus on rural areas out with Perth and Kinross that have not engaged to try and build connections with the existing agencies working in the area. Councillor L Barrett suggested that it would be worth looking at areas such as Crieff, Auchterarder, Blairgowrie and Crieff where there would be a large school population and to help increase engagement with young people. The Chair referred to B Atkinson’s last meeting of the CYPFP. The Chair thanked Bill for his all his work in his role and involvement in the partnership over the years. The Chair wished B Atkinson well for the future. Resolved: The Partnership update from the CPC, be noted. 6. Whole Family Wellbeing Fund Update There was submitted a report by Strategic Lead Children, Families and Justice (G/25/82) providing a summary of the recent progress made in the development and implementation of the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF) and includes details of the steps taken to transform holistic, whole family support services across Perth and Kinross. Councillor L Barret thanked everyone for their involvement in supporting the families and victims of the tragic events of the fire on Scott Street / South Street junction on the weekend of 13 June 2025. Councillor L Barrett queried if it would be anticipated that the events would have an impact on the fund. C McAuley confirmed that there would not be a direct impact on the fund. C McAuley stressed the importance of raising awareness and offering support to access the variety of services that are available to those impacted by the events. The Chair asked for C McAuley to expand on the aspect of evaluation. C McAuley referred to the Annual Report, where data would be provided on the number of families being supported. C McAuley referred to an upcoming piece of work with poverty colleagues on preventative spend and advised that as part of the exercise they had been asked to submit projects that they would like evaluated to see if the long-term impact had been achieved through early intervention. J Menzies suggested that it would be worthwhile to strengthen the links between the whole system work programme and adult services. C McAuley
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welcomed J Menzies suggestion to help increase support to everyone in the family. Resolved: (i) The contents of the update report and proposed activities, be noted. (ii) The additional spending requests outlined in section 2.18 of Report G/25/82, be approved. 7. Thematic Approach to Performance Reporting There was submitted a report by the Strategic Lead, Children Families and Justice (G/25/83) (1) continuing the thematic plan for performance and outcome information focused on children, young people and families; and (2) setting out a suite of information, focused on the first of the themes, namely Health and Child Development, for consideration and scrutiny by the Partnership. The Chair suggested that the Corporate Parenting Sub-Group look at piece of work on the PKC unknown economic activity for carer leavers receiving aftercare in sustained employment, education or training. T Glen raised his concerns over the high level of unknown activity and asked if there could be anything the wider Council could do to support. The Chair advised that colleagues from employability services sit on the Promise Delivery Group and confirmed that an update from the Group would be brought to a future meeting of the Partnership. J Chiles advised that there could be further work done around employability, but overall Perth and Kinross statistics are positive. J Chiles added that the failure lies with systems and recording instead of a failure in delivery of support. The Chair also referred to audit of the child concern reports and the audit had shown there had been multiple duplications recorded on the system for the same child. The Chair added that the new system should be able to show data more accurately. Resolved: (i) The information set out in Appendix 1 of Report G/25/83, be considered. (ii) Guidance be provided to inform the future direction of thematic performance reporting. (There followed a short recess and the meeting reconvened at 11.45am) 8. Tayside Regional Improvement Collaborative – Report on Regional Children’s Services Partnership Planning There was submitted a report by the Strategic Lead - Children, Families and Justice (G/25/84) (1) providing the Partnership with an overview of Children’s Services planning arrangements over the last several years, which had been done on a Tayside basis; (2) outlining a number of challenges this has presented in taking forward identified priority areas across the region, which have resulted in local reporting of activity, with one exception; and (3) advocating for the future of Children’s Services planning to be focused and
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aligned on priorities from a strategic needs assessment of Perth and Kinross; with a move to developing a Perth and Kinross Integrated Children’s Services Plan. The Chair confirmed that the report would also be submitted to the Partnerships in Dundee and Angus for approval. Resolved: (i) Formally cease having a Tayside Children’s Plan from 31 March 2026. (ii) It be agreed to withdraw from the regional Tayside model and develop a working group to coordinate a local Perth and Kinross Children’s Integrated Services Plan covering the period 2026-2029. (iii) Regional/local partners be instructed to focus on developing plans based on local strategic needs assessments, which identify priorities as evidenced by data and consultation. 9. Local Mental Health Pathway Resource - Update There was submitted a report by the Strategic Lead – Education and Learning (G/25/85) updating on the work of the mental health pathway resource, designed to give information on local, early intervention and support services along with key self-help messages and therefore prevent unnecessary clinical referrals; and (2) providing an update of the work achieved to date since the previous report at CYP&FP on 14 June 2024. L Johnston shared a short video providing an overview of the parent portal and E Harper delivered a short slide-based presentation on the usage statistics of the site. The Chair thanked officers for their informative presentation. Councillor M Frampton advised that she understood the reason to build a website rather than an App but raised concerns over young people feeling that they are not being listened to. Councillor M Frampton also queried if young people use websites / apps to access the services they need. L Johnston advised that the feedback received from young people confirmed that they did not want to download several apps for each of the different aspects. L Johnston confirmed that the website created for young people includes different sections for different audiences so families, professionals or guidance teachers would be able to go through the content of the website with the young person. L Johnston agreed with Councillor M Frampton and advised that it was vital to be honest with young people at the engagement sessions to advise that the App would not be the most suitable option at this stage in light of the functionality required. S Cooper raised concerns that individuals looking to access the website may struggle if they do not have an email address. E Harper advised that there had not been an option to have the functionality of the website without creating an account. E Harper added that she hoped that professionals would be able to support young people if they were struggling to access the website. E Harper suggested that if an individual contacts the service to say that they
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do not have an email address, they could be sent a code to access the website instead. S Cooper suggested that it would be beneficial to see a breakdown of data in the number of users. E Harper confirmed that work would be undertaken to promote, raise awareness and highlight the benefits of the website. Resolved: (i) The progress to date be noted and it be requested that the Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Programme Manager purchases a WordPress website. (ii) It be requested that the Strategic Lead – Education and Learning provides an annual update to the CYP&FP at the meeting in June 2026. 10. Counselling in Schools Programme There was submitted a report by the Strategic Lead – Education and Learning (G/25/86) providing an overview of the Perth and Kinross Council Counselling in Schools programme for financial year 2024/25 to highlight key features of the programme, the evaluative feedback, and the pilot work undertaken over the reporting period. Councillor M Frampton queried if the statistics on social media bullying had been broken down into during school times and out with school times. S Laing confirmed that the data on the location of bullying had not been collected. S Laing added that those presenting issues would come from a member of school staff recording on a referral form or from an assessment session with a counsellor. S Laing confirmed that work would be undertaken with schools across Perth and Kinross to tackle the issues of social media bullying. The Chair raised concerns that 2/3 of referrals are female and queried if work had been underway to reach out further to males. S Turner confirmed that the area had been raised as part of discussions with Lighthouse and should form part of the Strategic Mental Health Planning. S Turner advised that a male perception of risk coping behaviour could be very different to a female and therefore a different response would be required. S Turner confirmed that as part of the groupwork with young people, a focus had been to try and make counselling feel more acceptable and accessible. S Laing added that following at visit to one of the schools last year, she received feedback from children who had participated in the intervention. S Laing confirmed that some of the young boys had commented on how they felt more comfortable to talk. S Turner confirmed that work had been underway with a provider event to ensure that counsellors in schools are not working in isolation and that they are part of the wider partnership approach. S Turner added that the next steps would include working with schools further on when counselling would be the correct course of action and at what point.
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Resolved: (i) The proposals be considered and reviewed. (ii) The Strategic Lead – Education and Learning bring back future ‘Counselling in Schools’ programme reports for Scottish Government on an annual basis. 11. Carers Strategy 2023-2026 For Young and Adult Carers - Update There was submitted a report by the Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice (G/25/87) providing an update on the progress towards the identified outcomes in relation to supporting young carers in Perth and Kinross. Resolved: (i) The progress made towards supporting young carers to achieve their potential in Perth and Kinross, be noted. (ii) The progress towards supporting parent carers in Perth and Kinross, be noted. 12. Children, Young People and Families Partnership – Terms of Reference – For Noting The Chair provided an updated version of the current Children, Young People and Families Partnership Terms of Reference (G/25/88) following feedback from members. The Chair suggested that future partnership meetings be held for three hours due to the increasing size of the agenda. The Chair also reminded members that the next meeting of the Partnership in September would be held in person. Resolved: The contents of the remit, be noted. 13. Third Sector Update – For noting There was submitted a report for noting by M Devlin (G/25/103) on the work of the Third Sector.