Cabinet Portfolio Holders and Directors are invited to provide any updates they have on issues within the remit of the Committee.
Minutes:
Councillor Sue Markham, Portfolio Holder for Children and Families provided an update on commissioning activity after a request from Councillor Sinclair. It was confirmed that short breaks and respite has now gone out to tender; Other projects will be put out for tender in April 2025 and updates will be provided to the committee when available and appropriate
In relation to Families First for Children’s Pathfinder, it was confirmed that it is an initiative aimed at transferring the way support is provided to children and families. It brings together key services to address challenges before they escalate and is tailored to the unique needs for each family to avoid crisis. Central to the Pathfinder approach is the focus on strengthening family resilience and ensuring children's voices, and lived experiences are at the heart of any decision making. The approach will foster trust among everyone.
The Pathfinder also promotes integrated working amongst professionals across health, education, social care, police and community organisations by sharing information, expertise and resources, the programme creates a holistic understanding of each family's needs. While sharing responsibility for the decision making..
Councillor Markham then provided an update in relation to the Warwickshire Safeguarding Childrens partnership which is fully embedded alongside family services, police and health services. Teams will be based in localities based on the five districts in borough areas with a real focus on delivering support in the communities, and this change will go live from the 2nd of January 2025. Events to share and explore the partnership work will be launched in January 2025.
It was confirmed that on the 18th November 2024, the Government announced their intentions about children's social care reform in a document called keeping Children Safe, helping families thrive. This is being closely monitored by officers to see what the next step will be; the committee will be kept updated.
The Chair thanked Councillor Markham, adding that it is encouraging to see that there is a team in place to support children and their families. Thank you for such a comprehensive report.
Councillor Kam Kaur, Portfolio Holder for Education gave an update to the committee in relation to the new Education Programme which went live in June 2024 and replaced the previous SEND inclusion and change programme. It now includes eleven projects that are at various stages of development.
It was confirmed that the resource provision project focuses on increasing the number of specialist resource provisions across the county. The committee noted that there are now sixty new places in the north, south and central Warwickshire and 5 inclusion mentors to offer support to staff and children. The project is on target in all areas for delivery.
It was noted that the project is trialling a framework to increase collaboration and peer-to-peer support between local schools to increase teaching and knowledge to meet the needs of children with send. It is currently focused on the areas of rugby Bedworth and Stratford and forty schools have been recruited to participate in the trail.
In relation to digital infrastructure, Councillor Kaur confirmed that there has been an enhancement to the case management system to improve the education business model.
In relation to early years performance and the new entitlements, the committee was pleased to note that Warwickshire continues to perform slightly above national average with 90% of places now filled. In addition, the admissions team has worked extremely hard to avoid late applications; targeting vulnerable families and 96% applications are now completed on line.
The education team has been developing a new model to reduce exclusions. At a meeting last week, it was confirmed that a new targeted approach will be in place from January 2025.