Minute of meeting of 1 March 2024
Perth and Kinross Council · 28 August 2024
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 28 August 2024 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 1 March 2024 at 10.00am in the Council Chambers, Council Building, 2 High Street, Perth. Present: Councillor L Barrett Councillor M Frampton S Devlin, Strategic Lead – Education and Learning, PKC A Singh, Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice, PKC H Robertson, Head of Services for Children, Young People and Families, PKC B Atkinson, Independent Chair, Perth and Kinross Child Protection Committee J Cunningham, Scottish Childrens Reporter Administrator E Cruickshank, Child Health Commissioner, NHS Tayside Z Pullar (substituting for L Sharkey), NHS Tayside Apologies: Councillor C Shiers L Sharkey, NHS Tayside In Attendance: J Chiles, S Cooper, R Drummond, L Johnston, C McAuley, L Richards and D Williams (all PKC). S Devlin in the Chair 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE S Devlin welcomed everyone to the meeting. Apologies were noted as above. S Devlin formally welcomed Arun Singh, Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice, Perth and Kinross Council, as a member of the Partnership. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest in terms of the relevant Codes of Conduct. 3. MINUTE OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minute of the meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Partnership of 1 December 2023 was submitted and noted as a correct record.
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4. MATTERS ARISING There were no matters arising from the minute of the previous meeting. 5. PRESENTATION BY JOHN CUNNINGHAM AND LISA SUTHERLAND – SCOTTISH CHILDRENS REPORTERS ADMINISTRATION J Cunningham and L Sutherland, Scottish Childrens Reporters Administration (SCRA), delivered a slide-based presentation to the Partnership, with a copy of the slides attached as separate copy. In response to a query from H Robertson regarding what form the enhanced role of the Reporter would take, J Cunningham advised that there had been no indication from Scottish Government on what form this would take, SCRA would be looking to take this forward in the next year, with a view to pilots of an enhanced role taking place. 6. PERTH AND KINROSS LOCAL MENTAL HEALTH PATHWAY FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE L Johnson provided a verbal update to the Partnership on the Local Mental Health Pathway for Children and Young People. In presenting, L Johnston advised partners that at the meeting of the Partnership of 4 March 2022, it was agreed between partners in Perth and Kinross Council and NHS Tayside to create a digital resource for children and young people with regards to mental health. L Johnson advised members that, with the help of young people, this digital resource was now starting to take shape by way of an app, with the hope being that fewer young people would require mental health support from CAHMS. L Johnson further highlighted the use of the five ways to wellbeing approach, and that contact had been made from Dr Julie Smith in this regard. In response to a query from S Devlin regarding previous online resource through Togetherall, L Johnson advised that this resource had been for those aged over 16, whereas this resource was aimed at those younger. In response to further queries from S Devlin, L Johnson advised that it was hoped that there would be access to community mental health funding to help develop the app, and that there was a view to designating a mental health ambassador. In response to a query from A Singh, L Johnson advised that Dr Smith had been recommended through a number of professional bodies. 7. PERTH AND KINROSS CHILD PROTECTION COMMITTEE BUSINESS ACTIVITY REPORT SINCE 1 DECEMBER 2023 There was submitted a report by the Independent Chair of the Perth and Kinross Child Protection Committee (CPC) since the last meeting of the Children, Young People and Families Partnership on 1 December 2023.
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In presenting, B Atkinson highlighted the work between the CPC and the Child Poverty Action Group, with a workshop having taken place on 7 February 2024. The Partnership noted the contents of the Report. 8. CARERS STRATEGY 2023-26 FOR YOUNG AND ADULT CARERS There was submitted a report (G/24/10) by the Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice, providing an update to the Children, Young People and Families Partnership on the progress towards the identified outcomes in relation to supporting Young Carers in Perth and Kinross. In introducing the report, S Cooper advised that the report was an update on the past year, with a bit more of a focus on parent carers. S Cooper advised that there was a significant increase in the number of young carers presenting, with these being identified by PKAVS Young Carers and within schools. S Cooper added that a significant theme amongst Young Carers is mental health. H Robertson advised partners that the identification of young carers was a key part of the partnership with PKAVS, adding that over sixty schools in Perth and Kinross now had Young Carers Champions. E Cruickshank advised that work had also been ongoing between NHS Tayside and the Council. Councillor Barrett expressed her appreciation for the work being undertaken, and hailed the achievements outlined in the report. The Partnership noted the contents of the Report. THERE FOLLOWED A SHORT RECESS 9. WHOLE FAMILY WELLBEING FUND UPDATE There was submitted a report (G/24/11) by the Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice, providing a summary of recent progress in the development and implementation of the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (WFWF) and including details on the steps taken to transform holistic, whole family support services across Perth and Kinross. The Children, Young People and Families Partnership hold collective responsibility to build transformational capacity which will help keep commitments to The Promise and address child poverty. In presenting, C McAuley advised that there had been a slight change in structure, with a move from a steering group to workstreams, and the steering group in turn moving into more of an oversight role. C McAuley also advised that a communications strategy was being developed with the Council’s Communications Team, and that work had already been undertaken with the Council’s IT department.
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C McAuley further advised that a workshop was to be held at the end of March 2024 around messaging, and that notification of funding had been received from Scottish Government, allowing spending plans to be firmed up for the next two years, with a number of areas for spending identified. In response to a query from Councillor Barrett regarding whether four meetings of the steering group per year was sufficient, C McAuley advised that the workstreams would be meeting more frequently. In response to a query from E Cruickshank as to whether the directory of services was live, C McAuley confirmed that it was, but at this stage mainly to test and that it had not been published. C McAuley added that work was ongoing with the Council’s Communications Team in order to produce posters for various settings, and QR codes were being developed to take users to the directory. The Partnership noted the contents of the Report. 10. CORPORATE PARENTING UPDATE There was submitted a report (G/24/12) by the Strategic Lead – Children, Families and Justice, regarding the progress of the actions contained within the Perth and Kinross Corporate Parenting Plan 2021-2024, which was submitted to full Council on 9 March 2022. The Perth and Kinross Corporate Parenting Plan 2021-2024: Our Promise to You and Our Action Plan 2021- 2024 (Progress Report) were appended to this report. In presenting, L Richards advised that this was the last update for the current plan, and was linked to the Promise Plan. L Richards advised that the next Promise Plan would be longer term, and consultation was presently ongoing. L Richards advised that this was a positive report and the plan was well- monitored, with no exclusions in the time of this report for care-experienced young people. L Richards highlighted the importance of who is important in a young person’s life to keep in contact with, and a large aspect of The Promise was to accommodate brothers and sisters together. L Richards advised that a good partnership with the Council’s Housing department had been established around suitability of housing, and S Devlin added that work was ongoing with former care-experienced young people, highlighting work ongoing on Community Futures Funding. The Partnership noted the contents of the Report. 11. GIRFEC UPDATE S Devlin delivered a verbal update on GIRFEC. S Devlin advised partners that following the retirement of S Johnston, she had taken over as Chair of the GIRFEC refresh steering group, alongside A Rhind.
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S Devlin advised partners that she would provide a further update at the next meeting of the Partnership. 12. THEMATIC APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE REPORTING There was submitted a report (G/24/13) by Strategic Lead – Education and Learning, continuing the thematic reporting plan for performance and outcome information focused on children, young people and families. The report sets out a suite of information the first of the themes, for consideration and scrutiny by the Partnership. With reference to the report, E Cruickshank highlighted the ongoing plan around Tayside to promote and increase immunisations, with Z Pullar adding that there had been a significant rise in the number of measles cases in England, adding that she hoped to see more national messaging in this regard. S Devlin advised that work was ongoing on a range of issues around children who had not taken the usual route into P1, including work around speech, language and social skills. The Partnership: (i) Considered and commented on the information set out in Appendix 1. (ii) Provided guidance to inform the future direction of thematic performance reporting. 13. ANY OTHER COMPETENT BUSINESS S Devlin paid tribute to Ross Drummond upon his retirement, thanking Ross for all his work over many years, and on behalf of the Partnership wishing him well for the future. Ross thanked the Partnership for the support he had received over the past fifteen years, and offered specific thanks to S Devlin, B Atkinson and H Robertson. S Devlin also paid tribute to Hazel Robertson upon her retirement, thanking her for her work over the years, wishing her the best for the future on behalf of the Partnership, paying tribute to her dedication to children, young people and families, and also her dedication to her colleagues. Hazel thanked S Devlin for her kind words, and thanked the Partnership for all their support over the years. 14. DATE OF NEXT MEETING 14 June 2024