Agenda and draft minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone and led a round of introduction with attendance listed above.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Mercy Umeh. Councillor Trey Campbell-Simon and Nandini Ganesh attended remotely.

The Chair welcomed Councillor Trey Campbell-Simon who was attending the meeting for the first time.  She also thanked outgoing Councillor Lucy Richardson and Eleanor Allen for their past contributions.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter.  The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as an accurate record and note any outstanding actions.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 25 March 2024 were agreed to be an accurate record.

The presentation accompanying this report, which will be shared by our Youth Council, outlines the strategy for evidencing and implementing young people’s priorities. It highlights the support provided by key strategic leads across departments and partners organisations, details progress made and next steps.

Brenda Whinnett (Youth Voice Co-ordinator, Education & SEND) introduced the four young people and highlighted that they had done a lot of work together in the last one and a half years which were detailed in the report.

Ealaf Malnajar (Member, Youth Parliament representing Hammersmith and Fulham) said her time with the Youth Council had enabled her to develop herself personally while striving to make changes and strengthen impact on young people.  She said that the Youth Council had worked to ensure youth voices were heard and policy measures targeting at young people were co-produced to meet their needs. She then introduced the evidence-based inclusive research project.

Albi Fenner (Youth Mayor) was grateful for the opportunities to enhance the youth voice at the borough. He elaborated the multiple methods used under the evidence-based inclusive research including hosting events like Summer in the City and reaching out to young people at different places like schools. 

Precisa Getsevich (Deputy Youth Mayor) said through her role, she had come into a lot of different opportunities. She highlighted that in deciding the actions needed based on the inclusive research, they had held many meetings in a long and busy year with the strategic leads and drive forward the priorities for further actions. 

Mahika Chandrashekar (Member, Youth Council) shared her aspiration of being a member of the Youth Council and making changes to many young people’s lives in the borough.  She, Ealaf Malnajar and Albi Fenner outlined the priorities and identified actions in the areas of mental health, work readiness, life skills and staying safe, enlisting the respective leading departments, strategic leads and key partners. Precisa Getsevich then shared the key performance indicators for each of the priority areas, followed by the progress summary outlined by Mahika.

On planned next steps, Ealaf Malnajar highlighted, among others, the launch of the co-produced Youth Hub and the roll-out of the healthy relationship podcast event on 5 December and invited all interested members to join.  She added that the Youth Council had a very busy programme of events over the next few months which would involve as many young people as inclusively possible and help them make informed decisions.

The Chair appreciated their impressive presentation in particular the display of emotional maturity and creativity in problem-solving.  Councillor Daryl Brown echoed and said being a teacher, she was impressed by all of them who should continue these amazing abilities of being fantastic speakers even after leaving the roles.   Nadia Taylor added that they earned the praise and were inspirational to their peers in displaying much confidence in addressing a formal forum this evening.  She encouraged them to continue in the journey which might be the beginning of a worth-pursuing career.  Nadia also sent credits to Brenda Whinnett who had coached and helped them develop.  

Appreciating the young people’s lots of effort put in preparing the report and this meeting, Brenda Whinnett said she had witnessed the progression in the past one and half decade and now it became a Council-wide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The presentation accompanying this report sets out the positive outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across Hammersmith & Fulham local area. 

Peter Haylock (Operational Director for Education and SEND) updated the Committee on the positive outcomes for children and young people with SEND across Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F). He highlighted the key to SEND education was a strong local partnership. Local Area Partnership had recently after detailed surveys and research co-produced the SEND outcome framework with children and young people who identified a clear set of priorities. He then briefed members on some of the positive outcomes, such as the significant increase in new birth visits, a vibrant SENCO network for schools, and positive feedback in terms of support provided by the Educational Psychology services. He also referred to the Joint Communication Team (JCT) which had delivered training focusing on speech and language to over 140 early years and school employees during the summer term. JCT measured and rated pre- and post-intervention RAG scores which had revealed very positive outcomes. 

Natasha Patten (NWL ICB) outlined the consistent reduction in autism assessment waiting times, the “waiting well” offer to support families and the development of the child while awaiting assessment and enhanced mental health support for schools with positive feedback from children and young people, parents and carers.   Peter Haylock added that more positive outcomes could be seen in rates of absence, suspension and permanent exclusion.

Addressing Nandini Ganesh’s concerns

• about the rating of the RAG scores, Peter Haylock explained that a progression tool assessing speech and language skills was used to show how SEND students performed across the different assessment.  The chart (p.29) showed progression after intervention, with a 6% less students remaining weak (Red) and 40% more becoming relatively strong (Green).
• about the delivery of mental health support in schools, Natasha Patten noted that the clinical appointments referenced in the report were delivered by Hammersmith, Fulham, Ealing and Hounslow MIND and did not include appointments seen through CAMHS. The Mental Health Support Teams worked closely with CAMHS which had referred cases requiring more expertise invention, so a graduated approach was adopted to support children and young people according to their needs.
• about the outcomes of mental health intervention and their measurement, Natasha Patten understood that surveys were conducted with service users including children and young people before and after the workshops.  She added that the upskilling workshop helped parents and school staff to know how to manage mental health needs which was really important in early identification and early intervention. 

Nandini Ganesh said she was impressed by the employment figures and asked about their makeup. Peter Haylock replied that they were a combination of young people on the supported internships and those who were new to the working world.

Councillor Aliya Afzal-Khan enquired about the number of EHCP applications received in a year and the time needed to deliver a final decision on them. Peter Haylock noted that out of the 226 applications received from schools and parents last year, 83% were delivered within the national benchmark of twenty weeks. Those requiring longer time were complex cases or due to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the progress of the Family Hubs since its launch in April 2024. It provides an overview of the Family Hub launches, coproduction and marketing, explains the services available through the Family Hub offer and evaluates initial feedback from residents, identifying areas of improvement moving forward.

Alistair Ayres (Head of Programmes, Children’s Services) briefed members on the report which provided an update on the progress of the Family Hubs since its launch in April 2024. It also provided an overview of the Family Hub launches, coproduction and marketing, explained the services available through the Family Hub offer and evaluated initial feedback from residents, identifying areas of improvement moving forward.

In response to Nandini Ganesh’s question, Alistair Ayres confirmed that housing officer support was available in the hubs on a regular basis to provide advice and guidance.  If necessary, the Family Navigator would help link the residents with the housing officers. On the format of services provided, Alistair noted that services were delivered in mixed modes depending on the need, for example, some were more front-facing like CAMHS, 1:1 health visit by midwives, or services providing information and advice.

Noting that 26% of people visiting the hubs were new attendees, the Chair asked about ways in stepping up marketing and promotion of the Family Hubs say by words of mouth. Alistair Ayres responded that in the long term, the recently created Family Hubs PowerApp would help collect and analyse the attendance data to allow improvement. Meanwhile, a lot of promotion was done by words of mouth through GPs, schools, Youth Council and youth clubs, and parents’ groups. The work had led to footfall increase month on month.  He added that to market the Hubs further, social media pages were being built to appeal to younger residents who did not visit traditional websites or read leaflets.  Officers were also pushing the Family Hubs constantly during their meetings with external partners. 

On the expected outcomes a year after launching in next June, Alistair Ayres referred to the outcome framework which was being finalised at the moment. While the Family Hubs would work to better the attendance figures over time, they would also seek at the next stage to fill the gaps in the evenings.  There were opportunities for different community groups and third sector organisations to deliver services for the communities at the Hubs after 5 pm.  

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted the report.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the Summer in The City 2024 programme. It provides an overview of the programme and outlines its impact using attendance data and feedback from providers, parents and carers, and young people.

Peter Haylock (Operational Director for Education and SEND) provided an overview on the Summer in The City 2024 programme. He highlighted it was a success again and activities held were linked to the Council’s commitment around climate emergency, young people’s mental health needs, Olympics, and STEM in terms of future inventors. He was pleased to see the activities had engaged several young people with SEND.  There were also a very high percentage of young people were on free school meals and from the south of the borough.

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted the report.

To note the following dates of future meetings:

·       28 January 2025

·       22 April 2025

The Committee noted the following dates of future meetings:

• 28 January 2025
• 22 April 2025