Issue - meetings

This report provides an update summarising Children’s Services response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and to provide assurance as to how we will continue to work with partners to meet the needs of children, young people and their families during the course of the pandemic.

The Service Directors, Children’s Services, presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix B to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provided an update summarising Children’s Services response to the Covid-19 pandemic and aimed to provide assurance as to how they would continue to work with partners to meet the needs of children, young people and their families during the course of the pandemic.

The Committee discussed the Report and comments were made, including:

• In response to a query from a Youth Parliament Member regarding how Covid was affecting their peers especially those with exams next year.  It was highlighted there was anxiety amongst them about returning to school and how they will catch up. The Committee was reassured by the actions of the service to try and mitigate any concerns, which included resource sharing through the educational psychologist team with schools to help them deal with the transition.  It was also planned to offer an increased service to schools in September to help schools and pupils adjust and adapt to the new challenges the creation of a multi agency wraparound for teachers and pupils to ensure a collective of professionals were available to support those children.
• The Committee was advised that social services had been reviewing all care plans for its vulnerable children, including unaccompanied asylum seekers, who were subject to social care intervention, including working closely with foster carers and if the child was not in school, supporting them now and to assist in a return to school.
• In response to a query regarding the delay in the process of a child receiving an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the Committee was advised that due to the pandemic, there had been some immediate impacts on how the service had been able to manage its duties.  The reasons why the EHCP processes had been delayed were detailed including an inability to do face to face assessments and the redeployment of relevant professionals to front line services.  The Committee was advised that there had been a challenge ensuring all affected parents were communicated with regarding this and work was being undertaken to rectify this.
• In response to a query about the support being provided to children who were currently subject to an EHCP, it was highlighted that a multi-agency meeting had been arranged to consider how to manage the children getting back to school in September whilst considering social distancing rules. In addition, there would be catch up tutoring offered which schools would receive extra funding for
• In response to a statement that some children had thrived in a home learning environment, whilst acknowledging that most children were best suited to a school environment, it was hoped that this would be a good opportunity to consider a broader offer including more flexible curriculum delivery models
• In response to a concern regarding the low numbers of vulnerable children currently in school, the Committee was reassured  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78