Children & Young People's Strategic Partnership Minutes

Agenda Items covered in this meeting include:
1. Minutes of Last Meeting
2. Matters Arising
3. Children’s Trusts
4. Preventative Strategy
5. DAT Developments
6. Workshop at Ramside Hall, 14th April
7. Dales Seminar
8. AOB
9. Agenda for next meeting – 20th May 2003

Present: Debbie Jones, DCC SSD, David Shipman, DCC SSD, Mark Gurney, DCC SSD, Lynne Gregory, DCC Education, Susan Forster, Easington PCT, Carole Payne, DCC SSD, Frank Firth, DCC Education, Brian Brown, Sure Start Easington, David Landes, Durham Dales PCT, Sharon Pickering, CDDPST, Harry Cronin, CDDPST, Fiona Callaghan, Sure Start Wear Valley East, Janice Bray, Connexions County Durham, Gill Eshelby, Co Durham YOS, Christina Blythe, Co Durham YOS, Maggie Bosanquet, DCC E&TS, Claire Hartley, Durham & Tees Valley SHA, Clare Beighton, CDDPST, Mark Cain, CDDPST CAMHS.

Apologies: Judith Latheron, Barnardos, Isobel Porter, NSPCC, Margaret Senior, Paul Salter, Children North East, Tricia Cresswell , Durham & Chester-le-Street PCT, Sue Everton, Teenage Pregnancy Coordinator, Neil Bellerby, Centrepoint, Kath Vasey, Sedgefield PCT, Moria Luccock, NCH, Denis Robinson, NCH, Malcolm Pitt, Sure Start Stanley,Liam Cairns, Investing in Children.

1. Minutes of Last Meeting

• Amendments Page 1, Brian Brown, Sure Start; Sharon Pickering (not Sandra).
• Final version of Terms of Reference to be circulated (CSP replaced by Preventative Strategy) Page 2.

2. Matters Arising

• CAMHS Strategy Review held. About 80 people attended, information being written up.
• PCT Local Delivery Plans are now being scrutinised by the Strategic Health Authority.
• Children’s NSF has been put on hold due to the war in Iraq!
• Maggie Bosanquet raised the issue of the link between the Partnership and the development of the Vision for County Durham (work ongoing). DS clarified that the Partnership had been approached regarding consultation on the Draft Strategic Vision. Due to timescales it was not possible for the Draft to be presented to a Partnership meeting but a copy would be circulated to all Partnership members (enclosed) and any feedback from individual/service/agency / locality perspectives should be sent to David Shipman by no later than 1st May. Collated responses will then be fed back to the overarching County Durham Strategic Partnership.

3. Children’s Trusts

• A report was circulated for information to Partnership members, which was presented to Cabinet and endorsed on 25/3.
• The meeting acknowledged the lack of communication between the different Government Departments, especially in relation to Youth Offending Services. Debbie Jones clarified that in the Children’s Trust Prospectus, YOS and Police were explicitly excluded, but that was acknowledged as illogical.
• Meeting acknowledged the overall direction and strategic imperatives re: the future move to Children’s Trusts in the longer term, clarifying that whilst the view was that such a move was not appropriate at this stage, it would be pursued subsequently. Discussion ensued re: possible service areas for such trusts and the model/rationale was welcomed.
• Claire Hartley highlighted the fact that Tees and Darlington will be applying for Trust Pilot status, so it will be possible to learn from that experience.
• A further network re: developments will be through “Serving Children Well” which Debbie Jones and Tricia Cresswell are attending in early April. Invitations were extended to other agencies to also attend.
• Frank Firth highlighted the forthcoming Children’s Centre initiative, their likely impact and potential for development and learning re: Trusts.
• Roger Bolas raised the importance of proactive learning required to get the shape of the partnership right for future developments, preparing the groundwork etc to facilitate partnership and integration and the subsequent development of Children’s Trusts.

4. Preventative Strategy

• Interim Assessment Template - assessment has now been completed and submitted to GONE. Document will be circulated to partnership members. Further discussion will ensue with GONE.
• IRT Draft Job Description -Mark Gurney circulated a draft job description and asked for comments by the end of March. Mark asked for representation to establish a wider IRT sub group, membership will be confirmed subsequently.
• The IRT post will be advertised at the end of April, if possible.
• The meeting discussed the crucial link between this post and the development of the Preventative Strategy, the data sharing issues, targeting/definition of Children at Risk and the need for further discussion and clarification of these as work begins on the Preventative Strategy. A wide ranging discussion on data sharing ensued and the existence of a multi-agency protocol was acknowledged.
• Feedback re: Interim Guidance - further comments to be sent to David Shipman by the end of March.
• GONE Seminar - the partnership was extremely well represented, lack of detailed guidance from CYPU in a number of areas was acknowledged by those attending. Notes / briefing papers will be circulated when provided by GONE.

5. DAT Developments

• Roger Bolas asked the notional question of how the DAT could best serve this partnership. He outlined the purpose of DAT:
  1) To reduce availability of illegal drugs.
  2) To reduce crime and fear of crime.
  3) To improve access to treatment.

and also highlighted some of the tensions in County Durham.

• A Young People’s Plan has been developed, though agencies have had variable opportunity to engage with the process. Tensions re: role & function of the DAT, membership and partnership links, the Adult / Young People split, commissioning processes, competing priorities and funding streams for DAT work were outlined, along with the need to improve and develop relationships between the DAT and key partners.
• Roger asked for comments/feedback/questions in writing from partnership representatives.
• The meeting acknowledged the fact that Substance Misuse is a key priority for all agencies. Discussion ensued re: significance of drugs other than Class A and prevalence of alcohol abuse. Action to increase activity at service level, for example, in relation to young people and to children of drug abusers, was requested. Clarification was requested re: how the partnership could influence DAT processes and how a broader, holistic preventative approach could be taken to drug issues, linking into the development of the Local Preventative Strategy. The need for engagement across all agencies/strategies was very evident in the discussion. It was agreed that David Cliff would be invited to join the Partnership.

6. Workshop at Ramside Hall, 14th April 2003

• Invitations have been sent out, the importance of local representation was emphasised.

7. Dales Seminar

• David Landes described the process followed in the Dales, where about 35 people attended a PCT seminar on children and family services. Issues emerging included transport, service location, accessibility, leisure provision, safe environments, engagement with young people.
• The event provided an opportunity for cross-agency information sharing and concluded that engagement with young people will be crucial for success in the future.

8. AOB

• Children’s NSF has been delayed due to the war.

9. Agenda for Next Meeting – 20th May 2003

• Agenda will include: Children’s Centre / GONE, YOS Preventative Strategy, Serving Children Well.
• The agenda will be circulated prior to the next meeting. Partnership members please contact David Shipman if they wish to place items on the agenda.