Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Members are asked to declare any interest they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 January 2021 were confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 February 2021 were confirmed as a correct record.

The Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement (CMEA) introduced an interim report on the continuity and recovery in schools during Covid-19. She thanked the Borough’s schools and education settings for their tireless work over the past 12 months, to remain safely open for the children of critical workers and for vulnerable pupils. Whilst it was recognised that disadvantaged areas such as the Borough would be particularly affected by the pandemic and would take a long time to recover, she praised the strengthening of partnerships between schools, Children’s Social Care, Health, Community Solutions, the Police and the voluntary sector during the pandemic.

The Commissioning Director for Education (CD) and the Project Co-ordinator for the Step Up, Stay Safe (PC) programme presented the interim report, which provided a detailed narrative of the previous 12 months in relation to the continuity and recovery in schools during the pandemic. Much had been learnt about remote education and schools had carried out extensive work to remain in contact with, and to support their pupils. This had included mechanisms such as:

• The submitting of daily returns to the Department for Education (DfE) in relation to matters such as attendance;
• The tracking and brokering of support for vulnerable pupils;
• The establishment of new arrangements which had led to the creation of new multi-agency support structures, bringing together professionals from a wide range of areas such as Education, Social Care, Early Help, Health, the Youth Offending Service (YOS), the Youth at Risk Matrix (YARM), North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT) and the Police;
• Thrive London training, which provided parents, carers, teaching staff, youth workers, and medical experts with an integrated approach to understanding children’s behaviour;
• The development of over 170 videos which modelled activities for children by the Portage Service (a home visiting system for children with disabilities);
• The provision of devices for schools to distribute to vulnerable pupils, by both the Government and several local businesses;
• Early individual reviews for those with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and weekly network meetings to support SENCOs (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators); and
• The development of workstreams about race and discrimination, following the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

An update was also provided around the reopening of schools, the testing of school staff and pupils and the Holiday Activities and Food programme.

The Chair thanked the CD and the PC for their presentation and wished to relay the immense thanks of the Committee to all school staff within the Borough. Following the introduction provided by the CMEA, which had stated that several local businesses had kindly supported the provision of IT equipment for vulnerable pupils, the Chair suggested that the CMEA liaise further with the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Aspiration, to enquire as to whether this resource could be further utilised to support local families.

In response to a question from a Member, the CD stated that the Council had commissioned the Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Partnership (BDSIP) to lead work on its behalf in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration (CMSC) introduced a report on how the Council was supporting older residents during the pandemic and its plans for post-pandemic support. She praised the exemplary work that had been seen from staff in delivering services safely to the community at speed during the pandemic, as well as the strong partnership working in dealing with Covid-19.

The Operational Director for Adult’s Care and Support (OD) and the Lead Commissioner for Older People (LC) provided a brief outlook in regards to the demographic makeup of older people living within the Borough before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by a more detailed narrative in relation to the work that had been undertaken to provide support to older residents over the past 12 months. This had included mechanisms such as:

• Extensive work in relation to hospital discharges, such as the identification by BHR of designated settings (nursing homes) and one commissioned home care agency to deal only with positive cases, which had reduced transmission, and local authority brokered placements (rather than the CCG) to improve choice, cost and control;
• Utilising learning gained during the pandemic to look at the way in which staff could be used more effectively going forward, such as by moving the Joint Assessment and Discharge (JAD) team into the community;
• Supporting adult providers to provide high-class care for residents through means such as 7 day per week virtual support from the Council’s Public Health, Commissioning and Provider Quality teams, as well as through funding and uplifts to continue as businesses and to maintain the adult social care market;
• Supporting care homes to reduce isolation through Covid-safe visiting, funding and technology such as Breezie tablets (handheld devices performing functions such as enabling residents to connect virtually with relatives);
• Providing funding for the ‘Reconnections’ programme, to increase the social networks of older residents and to improve their health and wellbeing; and
• Providing support in relation to a number of issues via agencies such as the Council’s Community Solutions team, the Specialist Support Hub, BDCAN and the Central Food Hub.

The OD and LC also wished to publicly thank colleagues in BHRUT, NELFT and primary care, for their dedicated work in relation to rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine to the Borough’s care homes.

In response to several questions, the OD stated that:

• The Council had already been working towards a Home First model for quite some time, since the new hospital discharge guidance came in early 2020.

The aim of this model was to assess discharged residents, primarily older people, in their own homes, rather than the hospital and to improve resident health and social care outcomes by ensuring that a more realistic assessment of an individual’s needs took place in their home environment. This model had been working very well and as such, the Council was not expecting there to be any major issues with this going forward.

• There was no limit to the number of patients that a hospital  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.

The Chair informed Members of three changes that had been made to the Work Programme:

• Whilst the Committee had been due to receive a previously requested update on the ‘Working with residents affected by Capital Works’ item at this meeting, report authors had requested that this item be deferred to a later date, to allow time for the programme to ‘bed in’ as well as to develop new ways of engaging with residents to improve response levels. This item would now be presented in the new municipal year.
• The Committee had been due to receive an item around the Probation Services at its 12 May 2021 meeting; however, as the National Probation Service was currently undergoing a large restructuring programme and a lot would still be unknown by 12 May, this item had been postponed to the Autumn of 2021, after the restructuring programme was complete.
• The Committee had been due to receive items on the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) Annual Report and the Early Help update on the Ofsted Improvement Plan at its 12 May Committee. However, as Early Help was subject to an audit report and there would be a report on this presented to the Audit and Standards Committee on 12 July 2021, it was felt appropriate for the Committee to receive this item in the new municipal year to align matters.

Members stated that in some cases, the reasons provided for the postponements of certain reports needed further clarity than was being provided and that the Committee should not simply agree to their deferment as items may need to be challenged before further action was taken by officers. Members were also concerned about the number of changes that had been made to the Committee’s Work Programme. As such, the Council’s DSP suggested that when the Work Programme is presented to the Committee, a short covering report be provided going forward, in which the relevant department requesting the change provide a short paragraph about why the change was being requested. This would help with transparency and accountability, and the Committee could then also decide to agree the change or ask further questions around why the change was being requested.

The Committee also requested that the Work Programme include an update from the Enforcement team in relation to footway parking, as many of the roads within the Borough were narrow and if footway parking was not permitted, it would prevent vehicles from entering and exiting the roads safely. 

The changes to the Work Programme were noted.