a)

a full breakdown of the £43.5m revenue budget was provided to Members in the agenda paperwork; the budget was on target to deliver savings;

b)

the Government had given permission to Local Authorities to charge schools for the Education Services Grant funding gap; officers were currently working with the Schools’ Forum to discuss partnership working, specifically regarding statutory services;

c)

both the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People and Council Officers were lobbying Government regarding better funding for Plymouth schools; Plymouth had received increased funding amounting to £0.058m whereas Coventry had gained £3.6m;

d)

legacy pension costs were a significant portion of the school funding Education Services Grant; this pressure was increased in 1998 when the Council became a unitary authority and some schools within the area allowed headteachers and staff to take early retirement.

1.

a cross party motion on notice regarding school funding (high needs block) would be submitted to the 3 July 2017 City Council meeting;

2.

a five year projection of figures relating to the legacy pension costs associated with the schools funding budget would be provided to Members once available;

3.

a performance review report relating to Children’s Social Care would be submitted to the first meeting of the municipal year 2017/18 specifically including the management of contracts.

a)

28 children were placed in residential placement providers in care; of the 28 placements Ofsted rated 20 as good/ outstanding, four had not been graded as they were new provision, three required improvement and one was inadequate. Officers worked closely with all providers and were supporting  all to maintain their quality of provision or improve;

b)

for several years Officers had been working hard to increase the number and quality of residential provision in Plymouth whilst focusing on a model of care based on a family home; each provider had a car to enable children to meet friends, allow parents to visit and have friends over for tea putting great emphasis on normal life;

c)

a small number of Plymouth children requiring a residential placement were unable to be placed locally due to a variety of reasons however Officers worked closely with neighbouring authorities to share the scrutiny of placements;

d)

there had been an uplift in the placement budget ensuring that the package of care provided for children was right for their needs.

a)

the recommendations from the review had been raised with the Police and Crime Commissioner and an advocacy service to support victims had been set up;

b)

young people in Plymouth that had been subject to CSE were currently  required to travel to Truro or Exeter to be assessed; this was considered unacceptable and work was ongoing to try and find suitable premises in Plymouth;

c)

a National CSE Awareness Day was scheduled for 18 March highlighting issues surrounding CSE and encouraging everyone to unite against it.

1.

regular updates from the Safeguarding Assurance Board would be provided to Members as well as confirmation that these meetings were being held quarterly;

2.

Members of the Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee supported the Cabinet Member and Officers regarding the lack of an assessment centre for CSE in Plymouth;

3.

a progress report on actions required of current Cabinet Members would be provided to Members at the next committee meeting.

a)

four key priorities included in the CAMHS transformation submission included crisis response, early intervention, children in care and specific service response; focus had shifted towards prevention and early intervention;

b)

the third sector, schools and Livewell South West worked together to provide a variety of support to young people accessing the service;

c)

some young people were using self-harm as a form of communicating distress and a lot of work from a variety of sectors was required the support these young people manage stress in a different way.

1.

the number of children recorded as self-harming by the acute service team would be provided to Members as well as waiting time figures;

2.

the number of children self-harming in Plymouth compared to the surrounding area would be provided to Members;

3.

a Councillors guide to adolescent services and the process for dealing with CAMHS would be written and provided to Members to aid with relevant casework;

4.

the number of children recorded as accessing treatment would be provided to Members;

5.

Members would be provided with the Early Help Assessment Tool which enabled the holistic assessment of the needs of children.

·          

end of life care (select committee review);

·          

transition of young people services to adults (select committee review);

·          

GP procurement (select committee review);

·          

update on Childrens and Adults safeguarding;

·          

Healthwatch.