Agenda item

The Children & Young People Sub-Committee will be provided with a presentation from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Learning, Councillor Alisa Flemming, on the services within her portfolio.

This will be followed by an opportunity for the Sub-Committee to ask questions on the information provided.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning introduced the item and outlined the details in the presentation.

Following the presentation, Members had the opportunity to ask questions.

A Member had asked a question in relation to historic pressures on Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) and the concerns on the possible arrival of Ukrainian children and others bringing more pressures in this area. The Cabinet Member responded that Croydon had a higher proportion of care experience leavers than any other London boroughs, and the impact of the current situation in Ukraine was in focus, where the Council’s responsibility was to be a borough of sanctuary and support children and families and focus on balance and fair funding. The role of the Council was to ensure that children and young people had the opportunity to access emotional support and education, and support residents in this too. The Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education added that though support given to UASC was good, with lessons learned, those residents who would open their home would also require support in supporting USAC families, and this included a lot of funding.

A Member had asked a question in relation to the Council’s finances as Children’s Services had the largest budget spend and how officers were held to account for delivering current and future budget. The Cabinet Member responded that there were various ways the budget was reviewed, which included regular meetings with the Director of Social Care, Corporate Director for Children and Young People, Cabinet meetings, the Assurance Panel, and Children’s Commissioning, where a line of sight and discussions of recruitment, retention, reviewing pressures and forecasting, spot purchasing and a sustainable model of delivering services were regularly reviewed. Additionally, meeting with social workers and EMPIRE (who have a standing invitation to the Corporate Parenting Panels) the Cabinet Member would listen and understand the impact of decisions and changes made; the front door and Early Help services were also recognised as working closely with partners ensured appropriate measures were taken.

A Member had a question in relation to the task and finishing group and the highest risk areas which may affect the budget that could be reviewed by the new Sub-Committee in the new municipal year. The Cabinet Member responded that the issues of county lines, exclusion rates, serious youth violence, and adultification were amongst issues to be addressed, as well as the impact of the covid-19 pandemic affecting mental harm and trauma, sexual exploitation, the impact of social media relating to bullying and safe usage and supporting traveller families in accessing education. The Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education added that the post pandemic hidden harm was an area where there was a rise in demand with significant pressures has yet to come.

A Member had asked a question in relation to the disproportional impact of black families with poverty and exclusion of all forms and the impact of covid-19 pandemic which shown a light of widened inequalities. The educational, health and poverty gap was enormous, what could be done to lessen and minimise the impact and what programmes could be put in place. The Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education responded that schools had been working with families continuously throughout the pandemic and thus experienced to address any arising problem. There was always learning to capitalise on to be ahead. In terms of disproportionality issues, this had been heightened since Child Q, and comments raised had been acknowledged. A lot of the work had made attempts to address the issue which was a challenge as the aim was to be ahead instead of reacting to an issue, and that a contingency was in place for what was to come. The Cabinet Member added that children had often said ‘nobody cares’, although unbeknown to them were people in higher position who would stand up for them, and thus for children, families and young people to see that people were held to account would help see the work and change in place.

A Member had asked a question in relation to the decline in numbers of children coming into the system, falling school rolls and schools with vacant places. There was a worry that schools were kept open or that there were too many vacancies, and this was not being addressed. The Cabinet Member responded that this shared concern had been a focus in discussions and highlighted that it was difficult to reduce the number of school places when the numbers of children in Croydon continue to increase. The Director of Education added that this focus had seen briefings shared at Cabinet meeting which looked at options, and there had also been discussion with schools to support in decision making. It was also noted that this issue was national and not just a Croydon issue.

A Member had made a comment addressing that a child should be legally represented on life impact situations in relation to loosing education. The Cabinet Member responded addressing the importance of having an appropriate adult and how support young people were supported. Though it was difficult to always have legal representation, it was acknowledged that children and families would benefit from strengthened provision that gave them a voice and having someone to liaise on their behalf, in addition to making families aware of support at an earliest time.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning thanked the Sub-Committee for the last four years in addressing the challenges and reflection in a firm and robust scrutiny, which had welcomed growth within her role. Benefits of constructive challenges had been welcomed by the Sub-committee and the openness and challenges were also applauded. This had set better support to making a difference to children’s lives.