Agenda item

Considered

A presentation by Heather Pearson, Chair of North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

Heather gave a summary of the report and presentation that had been included in the agenda papers. She thanked the partners for their contribution to the annual report. Members of the committee had a number of comments and questions:

88% of 2 to 4 year-olds are achieving the expected level of development – how does this compare to national figures?

North Yorkshire is above the national average.

Members expressed concern, especially around safeguarding, about the high number of children being elected home educated (EHE).

The council has a register of EHE children. The new Health and Wellbeing Bill for Children will give local authorities more power to insist that children with a child protection plan or children in need attend school.

Is there a breakdown of families choosing to home educate due to the children being SEND, and home education is considered as the only option?

There are a number of children with an EHCP who’s families have chosen to home educate, but it should be noted that families choose to home educate for a number of reasons, and not just due to their children having special educational needs.

There has been an 11% increase on the previous year of contacts to the Multi-Agency Screening Team (MAST) – do you think this trend will continue and if so, what provision do you have planned, such as recruiting additional staff?

It is anticipated that the figure will level out, and the council is committed to having the appropriate number of officers so that their workload is manageable. Social work is always difficult to recruit to, but North Yorkshire Council do better than other local authorities.

Members have concerns about the provision and long waiting lists to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

The Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning CAMHS services, not the council. CAMHS have previously attended a Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, and members may wish to consider inviting them again.

At what stage do schools decide to exclude a pupil?

The individual school, their governing body and trustees manage exclusions. The changes in national guidance and reporting systems will help the council gain a better understanding of the schools’ exclusion process and allow them to challenge if necessary.

The report outlines the priorities for 2024/2025. Will the council be looking at banning smartphones in schools?

It is important to look at the evidence and key findings coming out of smartphone ban initiatives and learn from these before making a decision.

Regarding criminal and sexual exploitation, a Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) review of MACE arrangements is currently underway.  A one-page guide was distributed at the last Designated Safeguarding Lead Conference, the aim is to upskill professionals to have the confidence to have discussions with parents/carers and young people around issues such as smartphone safety.

It was noted that the voluntary sector also does a lot of work to safeguard children, for example, training is provided to staff working on the FEAST programme. A campaign was produced in partnership with the voluntary, social and community enterprise sector produced key safeguarding messages and QR codes to access with further information.

It is shocking to hear that as 80% of young people are thriving, this means that 20% are not thriving.

It should be noted that this statistic is taken from just one single stream of information, taken at one moment in time. Another piece of research could produce different statistics.

Resolved

a)    That, the report and presentation are noted.

b)    That, the committee receives another annual update next year.