Agenda and minutes

None.

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Personal interests were declared as follows:

• Councillor Sheth – Lead Governor of Central and NWL NHS Foundation Trust and governor of a number of education settings detailed in the register of interest form
• Councillor Matin – employed by NHS
• Councillor Rajan-Seelan – spouse employed by NHS
• Councillor Collymore – member of palliative care and end of life steering groups
• Councillor Ethapemi – spouse employed by NHS
• Councillor Moeen – employed in a nursery in Brent, SEND governor for Sudbury primary school, safeguarding governor for high schools in Brent
• Smith – employed by NHS
• Simon Goulden – spouse governor of Sinai Primary School
• Alloysius Frederick – Chair of All Saints Trust and governor of a school in Brent

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

RESOLVED:-

that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 5 July 2022 be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

There were no matters arising.

To provide an overview of services for Brent children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and a summary of the SEND Review Green Paper and the new Ofsted / CQC inspection framework. The report sets out Brent’s readiness for the implementation of the Green Paper, the new Inspection Framework, the current position of High Needs Block funding for children with SEND, and potential future funding implications in light of future national policy directions.

Councillor Gwen Grahl (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools) introduced the item, explaining that the report was in response to the recently published Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Green Paper, which was released in March 2022 as a response to the recent increase in the SEND cohort nationally. In terms of the Green Paper, she felt that the paper offered some positive improvements around standardisation and digitisation of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), as well as acknowledgement that place-led funding of alternative provision had become unworkable and was causing problems for young people with SEND. However, the report also emphasised academisation and did not include information on any additional resources that might be going forward into the specialist provision for SEND, mental health and behaviour. She felt this may introduce challenges for local authorities. The report presented to the Committee responded to those challenges, and highlighted that the department were likely to face an increasing deficit projected to be over £14m by 2026. Despite those challenges, the local authority were likely to be inspected by Ofsted over the coming years and the council’s preparedness for that would be essential in demonstrating it had been able to make the changes and continued to provide very good services for children and young people with SEND.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children and Young People, Brent Council) made the point that the 2015 SEND Code of Practice was broadly a positive statement around the importance of integrating education, health and social care for children. The 2015 Code of Practice had given more of a voice for parents and carers and was very ambitious, promoted integration and preparing for adult life. The unforeseen implications of the Code of Practice, which had been experienced in Brent, across London and nationally, had been a large increase in demand. In Brent, there had been a 50% increase in the number of children with EHCPs compared to 5 years ago. This created a strain to the system. As a result of the national challenge, the government had put forward the Green Paper to better manage the issues. The Green Paper did not necessarily change the direction of policy or position, as the sector agreed that the ambitions of the original 2015 reforms were still meaningful.

In terms of Brent specifically, the Committee were advised that the local authority was last inspected by Ofsted and CQC in 2019, where the services being provided were judged to be operating at an effective standard.  In addition, 97% of schools in Brent were judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, and therefore the department felt confident in the local system. The department had been particularly proud of the encouraging growth of the Parent Carer Forum where there were over 500 parents involved, who provided both challenge and support. As a result, a lot of co-production work had been done with parents and carers which was integral to the work being done locally. The challenges that were being faced were the demand in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide a progress update since the establishment of Family Wellbeing Centres (FWC); to outline current service delivery arrangements and examples of the outcomes and impact achieved for families and to update on the proposed wider changes to the Early Help service to align with the new FWC delivery model and the government’s new ‘Best Start for Life’ programme.

Councillor Gwen Grahl (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Schools) introduced the report, which looked at the impact of Brent’s 8 Family Wellbeing Centres (FWCs) and detailed some of the results they had on the lives of young people across Brent. She highlighted that the scheme had been pioneered to protect some of the services offered by Children’s Centres, and the transition to FWCs took place between 2019-2021. In terms of their impact, she highlighted that they had been an essential component in delivering early help, and had been involved in the provision of the holiday and activities programme. The FWCs had played a crucial role in children’s health and wellbeing as well as school improvements.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children & Young People, Brent Council) added that the creation of 8 FWCs out of 17 Children’s Centres had been an imperative of a saving requirement for the Council, but rather than cut services the Council had decided to create something new and created FWCs. This had meant the Council was now ahead of the national debate on the issue as it was the direction of travel coming out of central government for the creation of ‘Family Hubs’. The FWCs were only one year into operation, so some outcome measures were in development rather than fully formed, and FWCs were still gaining new registrations. He concluded by highlighting that the Best Start for Life Programme was coming onstream and the Council was hopeful that by using that model it would be better able to integrate work with health, using FWCs as a place based locality model.

The Chair thanked officers for the introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:

The Committee asked whether there was a difference between the Family Hubs model and FWCs, and were advised that they were the same type of service. The name ‘Family Wellbeing Centres’ had arisen following discussions with parents, carers and members of the community who felt that the name meant more to families.

The Committee asked what steps were being taken to identify and ensure those most at need for the service were able to access it. Teni Awoyemi (Head of Early Help, Brent Council) advised the Committee that Community Outreach Workers were in place within FWCs who would go into communities to meet families, into schools, and into different settings to promote FWCs. Officers also worked closely with other partners including schools, health and public health. Within FWCs it was not only Council workers based there but other partners such as the 0-19 service, midwifery, and Speech and Language Therapy. She felt they were well placed for families within communities to know about the services FWCs provided, and the centres were supported by local steering groups made up of parents, community leaders and other professionals.

The Committee asked what outreach work had been done to reach difficult to reach communities. They were advised that each centre had a triage worker who engaged with the local  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To enable the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee to establish a scrutiny task and finish group to review social prescribing in Brent.

Councillor Ketan Sheth introduced the report, which proposed that the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee established a Task and Finish Group to review social prescribing in Brent. He highlighted that the pandemic had highlighted health inequalities, which many in Brent had known about for a long time. Social prescribing had also been developing for a while amongst the NHS, sometimes referred to as ‘community referral’. The scheme enabled health and care professionals to refer people to a range of local, non-clinical services and recognised that health was determined primarily by a range of social, economic and environmental factors. As such, he highlighted that social prescribing sought to address needs in a holistic way, and aimed to support individuals to take greater control of their own health. This could involve a variety of activities, typically provided by voluntary and community sector organisations such as volunteering, arts and crafts, group learning, gardening, befriending, cookery, healthy eating advice and sports. With the emergence of the Integrated Care System (ICS), social services, public health, the NHS and the voluntary sector were coming together and working together, and therefore it was felt to be a good time to look at social prescribing to see what benefits could be had from working closer together and harnessing those relationships for better outcomes for residents.

Following his introduction, Councillor Ketan Sheth invited Councillor Neil Nerva, as Cabinet Member of Public Health and Adult Social Care, to address the Committee in relation to the task group.  Councillor Nerva felt that the task group represented a good opportunity for the whole of Brent, including the local authority, NHS and voluntary sector. He highlighted that, to have effective social prescribing, there needed to be a thriving third sector as a provider of activities to improve the wellbeing of residents, and therefore it was important to consider the capacity in the voluntary sector for social prescribing. He added that it was important to recognise there were different behaviours in GP practices across the borough and it would be important to understand the awareness GPs had of social prescribing. At the end of the task group, he hoped for a consistent approach from all Brent GPs to social prescribing and for the recommendations to be taken to the Health and Wellbeing Board for endorsement.

Dr Melanie Smith (Director of Public Health, Brent Council) also welcomed the task group and felt it had potential to address health inequalities. She noted that, traditionally, social prescribing had been seen as falling within the remit of GPs and other health professionals, but she was aware there was an appetite from colleagues in Social Care for Social Workers to be able to do social prescribing, and asked the task group to consider looking at that. She concluded by highlighting the value of involving elected members would be in their ability to scrutinise whether the offer for social prescribing across the borough was equitable, acceptable, and accessible to all Brent communities.

The Chair thanked colleagues for their input, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or his representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.