Issue - meetings

The Chair stated his belief that the report should have been entitled ‘the impact of the response to Covid-19’.

The item was introduced by Chris Baird, who drew members’ attention to the three main topics that were summarised in the report. These were school attendance, missing education and attainment; mental health; and the children and families service, including social care. Chris Baird said it was important to recognise that schools had been open throughout the pandemic unless there had been staffing issues. However it was noted there were instances of attendance falling. Patterns of attendance – and the implications for children moving from an early years setting to an infant or primary school, or from primary to secondary – was outlined in the report. It was recognised there had been delays in development, or children were not at the level they would have been expected to be at had the pandemic not occurred. In particular it had been noted some children were behind in terms of language and vocabulary, as they had not been exposed to social and word-rich environments. However there had been additional impacts on a range of areas affecting how children performed at school and how they were learning. This was a position that had been reflected in national studies. Chris Baird said this had been recognised by schools, who were working through this with the help of services being supplied by the Council.

Helen Broughton told the Committee that there had been a significant impact on demand for mental health services for children. There had been an increase in incidents of self-harm, suicides and suicide attempts. Rates of self-harm were already high in Warwickshire before the pandemic, and figures suggested during 2021 it had been 33 per cent higher than the national average. The demand for services relating to eating disorders was also extremely high and there were issues around recruiting staff for specialise fields such as this. Helen Broughton said during the pandemic there had been issues relating to young people transitioning between services for children and those for adults. The RISE mental health service had managed to help by providing some services online during lockdowns and throughout the pandemic.

Helen Broughton said a strategy group had been formed to look at transforming services for children presenting in crisis, with a workshop bringing together various partnership organisations being held the previous week. Additional funding had been awarded for services relating to eating disorders, and to roll out the provision of Mental Health Support Teams into schools. Initially this would be taking place in the south of the county before a further rollout in Nuneaton and Bedworth and North Warwickshire. The final rollout in Rugby would take place next year. In regard to suicide prevention, Kooth had been commissioned to provide young people with support online including online counselling and peer support chats. A countywide Suicide Prevention Strategy was currently out for consultation. In relation to the transitions work, Helen Broughton said a working party had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6