Agenda and draft minutes

There were no items of business where the press and public were to be excluded from the meeting.

There were no declarations made.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 7^th December 2023, agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

(A period not exceeding 20 minutes for statements from up to 5 members of the public on matters within the Panel’s remit, proposing action(s) which may be considered or contribute towards the future development of the Panel’s work programme).

There were no public statements made.

The Assistant Director for Childrens Social Care presented a report relating to the demand and impact of child neglect at both a national and local level. 

It was outlined and recognised there was a continued increase in demand in childrens social care and early help intervention.  The Assistant Director stated that as a strategic partnership to support growing demand, awareness of the issues associated with impact of neglect in Doncaster against national figures, was imperative, to address and put in place required support whether it be early help or child protection.  The parental factor, including activities they could be suffering from or associating themselves with, could contribute to child neglect, was explained.  It was stressed that the difficulties some families faced would have been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis, unemployment and the Covid pandemic.

With regard to the data set provided the Assistant Director explained that the children protection numbers for Doncaster were positive and identified where the local authority sat in comparison to all local authorities.

The following areas were addressed by the Panel in detail:

Locality of family hubs – In response to a question relating to how the sites were chosen it was explained that a mapping, need and resource exercise was undertaken to establish locations that would best support communities’ need.  It was recognised that a number of family hubs were well established and embedded within the local authority’s communities.  A Member thanked the Assistant Director for the hard work undertaken through the family hubs.

Deprivation rankings – it was highlighted by the Panel that Doncaster ranked 41 in the deprivation ranking and questioned whether this was a percentile or 41^st of all local authorities across the country.  It was explained that it was dependent on which report the figures were identified in as there were different ways this number was utilised.  For this report the figure provided was 41 out of the broader national authorities.  The Panel was asked to air caution with the data provided because the figure used was from 2019 and due for refresh.

Children experiencing homelessness and not in affordable housing – It was explained that for children in care the local authority had a robust homeless protocol with St Leger Homes of Doncaster, particularly if young people aged 16 and 17 were at risk within their family, they could be provided a placement through St Leger Homes or assisted living.  It was acknowledged that some vulnerable young people would not access this support until they had “sofa surfed”.  It was stressed that the local authority worked with partner organisations to ensure a housing offer was available to young people if required and over the last 12 months 7 young people had sought housing provision support.

When a young person was provided a housing placement they were provided tenancy support, depending on the level of need or assessment it could be a personal visit at their home.  Initially a young person was provided with high support, with some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

The Senior Governance Officer presented the Scrutiny Work Plan and Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decisions to the Panel for it’s consideration.  She also requested that if Members were aware of any areas they wished to give consideration to in the new Civic Year, to inform both the Scrutiny Team and the Chair ahead of the Panel’s work planning meeting.

RESOLVED:  That the report, be noted.

Chair:  ________________________________

Dated:  ___________