Hampshire County Council Children and Young People Select Committee Meeting

Apologies were received from Cllr Mummalaneni.

Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest in any matter considered at the meeting they must declare that interest at the time of the relevant debate and, having regard to the circumstances described in Part 3, Paragraph 1.5 of the County Council's Members' Code of Conduct, leave the meeting while the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with Paragraph 1.6 of the Code. Furthermore Members were mindful that where they believed they had a Personal interest in a matter being considered at the meeting they considered whether such interest should be declared, and having regard to Part 5, Paragraph 5 of the Code, considered whether it was appropriate to leave the meeting whilst the matter was discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with the Code.

No declarations were made.

The Minutes of the previous meeting were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Committee did not receive any deputations.

The Chairman did not make any announcements to the meeting.

The Committee received a presentation from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board (ICB) on children and young people’s Autism Services Commissioning within Hampshire.

Officers from the ICB summarised the current status of Autism services within Hampshire noting:

·           a caseload of approximately 5,100 children and young people across two services (CAMHS & Psicon Ltd),

·           an average waiting time of 13 months,

·           demand exceeding funding by approximately 84%.

The Select Committee heard that if assessment demand increases then waiting lists will continue to grow, potentially resulting in risk to patient safety and/or deterioration in health and wellbeing.

In response to the current circumstances Officers set out how the ICB is recommissioning existing services with a focus on quality and safety. The ICB has established a system-wide ‘Improvement Oversight Group’ to drive forward transformation. This has led to an increase in Autism Assessment activity from an average of 600-700 assessments per year before 2020 to approximately 1,500 per year from 2021 onwards.

Furthermore, the committee heard how the ICB supported and improved engagement with professionals, patients and families to understand alternative options available to them. The ICB also noted that it had worked alongside HCC, Public Health and the Hampshire Autism Partnership to develop a new Local Authority Autism Strategy and Mental Health Wellbeing Strategy, to highlight Inequalities for Autistic people.

Officers concluded by setting out the service’s transformation plan, aiming to establish a co-designed, all age transformed pathway model to meet ongoing demand for ADHD and Autism Spectrum condition by 2026. The details of three workstreams to achieve this aim were provided to the committee.

In response to questions members found that:

·           while the average waiting time was 13 months, the actual waiting time could vary between 12 and 29 months.

·           once a child had been assessed as having Autism they would not be reassessed.

·           There are strong working links with the local authority allowing for joined up responses and the county council was represented on the ICB’s oversight group to engage with the transformation process.

RESOLVED:

That the Children and Young People Select Committee note the update from the Autism Assessment Services and that the Chairman write to the Chairman of the Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee, requesting they consider adding an item on Autism services for adults to their work programme.

The Committee received a report and presentation from Hampshire’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) providing their annual update to the Select Committee.

CAMHS Officers set out the service’s continued transformation to deliver an expansion of its core capacity alongside wider changes in its response to the increasing demand for children's mental health services. Officers also set out how the service continued to respond to national and local improvement priorities in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Members noted that Hampshire CAMHS will transfer out of Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust on 1 February 2024 to Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Services covered by Frimley Integrated Care System will transfer to Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust at the same time. Hampshire CAMHS will be a part of the new Community and Mental Health Trust from 1 April 2024, alongside services currently delivered by Solent NHS Trust and community and mental health services currently provided by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust. These organisational changes are being delivered through a programme called 'Project Fusion'.

The committee heard how there are more young people accessing support provided by NHS Commissioned mental health services as a result of investments made in Hampshire’s children and young people’s mental health offer, but demand continues to outstrip the capacity of the service.

In response to questions members found that:

·    There was a system of prioritisation for vulnerable groups, such as children looked after.

·    If a child’s situation deteriorates whilst they are on the waiting list there are interventions available including services for individuals in crisis.

·    The Mental Health Support Teams provide a bespoke offer for schools to support their Senior Leadership Team. Their impact has not yet been reported on however as they have only recently been established.

·    Multi-agency plans are created for individuals thought to be at risk of suicide which feature an initial assessment and follow up treatment.

·    CAMHS operates 9am-5pm, Monday – Friday, with some services available 8am-8pm. There is an out of hours service in addition to this alongside support from other agencies.

·    The service is developing methods to increase retention of staff and improve recruitment alongside creative ways to develop the workforce.

RESOLVED:

That the Children and Young People Select Committee considered the report and noted the work programme and priorities of the Hampshire Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service.

The Committee received a report and presentation from the Director of Children’s Services providing the annual safeguarding report for Children’s Services for 2022-23 for pre-scrutiny in advance submission to Cabinet.

Officers set out the key national developments and summarised the directorate’s performance and activity levels alongside details of key local developments and future priorities.

Officers assured members that whilst demand for children’s social care services continues to increase year on year, the response to the safeguarding of vulnerable children is both robust and timely. It was noted that emerging risks to children are identified and addressed collaboratively with partners and the wider transformation of children’s social care is delivering a modern social work service.

In response to questions members found that:

·         The directorate’s Modernising Placements Programme and Fostering recruitment campaign aim to increase Hampshire’s capacity for looked after children to continue to meet demand.

·         Meeting the cultural and religious needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children has proved to not be as big an issue for Foster Carers as previously thought.

·         Distances are measured from a child’s home rather than the County’s border for out of county placements as this provides a more accurate reflection of the impact on the child.

RESOLVED:

That the Children and Young People Select Committee note and support the recommendations being proposed to Cabinet in the attached report.

The Committee received a report from the Director of Children’s Services recommending the initiation of a Task & Finish Working Group to scrutinise the Children’s Services savings proposal subject to Stage 2 consultation, relating to a reduction in the annual expenditure on library stock.

RESOLVED:

That the Children and Young People’s Select Committee:

a. Set up a Task and Finish Working Group to oversee and scrutinise the approach and outcomes of the County Council’s stage 2 consultation relating to annual expenditure on library stock.

b. Agree the Terms of Reference for the Working Group as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

c. Agree the membership of the Working Group as follows

·         Conservative group

o   Cllr Briggs

o   Cllr Drew

o   Cllr Hayre

o   Cllr Henderson

o   Cllr Penman

·         Liberal Democrat group

o   Cllr Porter

o   Cllr Wade

·         Independent group

o   Cllr Tree

The Director of People and Organisation presented the Committee’s work programme.

RESOLVED:

That the Children and Young People Select Committee discussed and agreed potential items for the work programme that can be prioritised and allocated by the Chairman of the Children and Young People Select Committee in consultation with the Director of Children’s Services.