Agenda item

11.45 pm

 

The purpose of this agenda item is to evaluate, 12 months on from the Cabinet’s consideration of the review, what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations that were agreed. The review was undertaken by Councillors Anda Fitzgerald O’Connor, Carol Viney and David Turner, together with Ben Jackson, a former co-optee of the Committee.

 

Councillor David Turner, as lead member, has been tracking the review and he has been invited to attend.

 

Councillors Michael Waine and Louise Chapman have also been invited to attend to respond to any questions members of the Committee might have with regard to the tracking report, together with Children, Young People & Families officers Deborah Parkhouse and Hannah Farncombe.

 

Copies of the full review is attached at CH8(a), the Executive Summary at CH8(b) and the tracking report at CH8(c).

The purpose of this agenda item was to evaluate, 12 months on from the Cabinet’s consideration of the review, what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations that were agreed. The review was undertaken by Councillors Anda Fitzgerald O’Connor, Carol Viney and David Turner, together with Ben Jackson, a former co-optee of the Committee.

 

Councillor David Turner, as lead member, had been tracking the review and he has been invited to attend.

 

Councillors Michael Waine and Louise Chapman were also in attendance to respond to any questions members of the Committee might have had with regard to the tracking report, together with Children, Young People & Families officers Deborah Parkhouse and Hannah Farncombe.

 

Copies of the full review were attached at CH8(a), the Executive Summary at CH8(b) and the tracking report at CH8(c).

 

Various follow up questions were asked by Cllr Turner to those contained in the monitoring report, some of which, together with the responses received, are detailed below:

 

Recommendation 1

 

Q         Was Annex 2 circulated to all schools and why will the Action Plan relating to the work needed in schools not be developed until spring 2010?

R         The contents of Annex 2 was sent out to all schools in the County and the contents embedded in the Young Carers Strategy. In addition, the Strategy has gone out to all schools. A new School Development Worker post has been developed to work county wide. This person will come into post in January 2010 and will build on the work done to date.

 

Q         Couldn’t the Strategy have been sent out earlier than September 2009?

R         Much work was required to develop a Strategy with partners following the Cabinet meeting. Cllr Chapman commented that officers were able to embed a significant amount into the Strategy after consultation. The timing of the review was opportune, as officers were able to incorporate its recommendations into the Strategy. 

 

Recommendation 3

 

Q         How wide has the build up of non teaching support for young carers been? How  many single points of contact have been made in schools?

R         There have been some, but the situation is inconsistent. We have tried to develop it via integration with the Strategy.

 

Recommendation 5

 

Q         Has there been any improvement to access to support services for those young carers living in rural areas?

R         We have accessed voluntary drivers and other forms of community transport within some rural parts of the north and the south of the County. Also, Lord Williams’s School in Thame have done some work on the recognition of young carers in the area. We have supported the School with some of the issues including bullying. However, generally this still remains a challenge area.

 

Recommendation 6

 

Q         Have you managed to lobby the LGA to consider reviewing the legislative requirements around assessments for young carers?

R         Cllr Chapman – This issue has come up at various times. I have raised it locally with MPs and others.

 

 

Recommendation 7

 

Q         Has the budget gone up or down for young carers?

R         (Cllr Chapman) When the report came to Cabinet we were under the impression that we were getting more money for it via the LAA. We had, in fact, bid for it ourselves. We found that part of the agreement was that  we were unable to shift monies around into other services. However, we were able to increase funding into other services. This will be available for the next two years. We made a commitment by publicising the Strategy and we therefore found money for the required resources.

 

Recommendation 7

 

Q         Are young carers allowed to telephone home during school hours?

R         Young Carers are allowed to use mobile phones. This issue will be picked up by the development worker and the PCT in their protocols

 

Cllr Chapman commented that the Council can only encourage schools to allow this. Carole Thomson informed the Committee that the policy decision rested with the Governing Body.

 

Recommendation 8

 

Q         Are GPs sharing the information – one cannot make allowance for them if they are not disseminating the information?

R         (Cllr Waine) I have raised concerns about this. The school may have to take control when really it should be the task of other services. . We shall have to ensure that there is specific support for these young people.

 

Recommendation 10

 

Q         Why did the bid to become one of the authorities involved in the Children’s Society roll out of the development of the Key principles of Practice – Guidance for Practitioners and the Whole-Family Pathway, given the high levels of deprivation in pockets of Oxfordshire?

R         Although this authority was involved in the development of it, we were not successful in our bid to become a pilot authority. The Children’s Society were looking to other local authorities to do the pilots. However, we have implemented it anyway via the Children’s Strategy.

 

Recommendation 14

 

Q         When were the Princess Royal Trust for Carers approached?

R         October of this year. It has now been established.           

 

Q         Are you doing anything for young carers of primary school age?

 

R         We are doing something for the first time via new monies coming for a new service targeting young carers under the age of 8.

 

Q         How many of these children are there?

R         There are several within the County whom we know of. It is difficult to know if the numbers are rising or whether we are getting better at spotting them.

 

Councillor Turner and member of the Committee concluded by paying tribute to the work of young carers in the county who displayed a nobility and great maturity beyond their years.

 

The Committee thanked Councillor David Turner, Cllr Michael Waine, Cllr Louise Chapman, Deborah Parkhouse and Hannah Farncombe for their attendance and for responding to questions.

 

It was AGREED to thank all involved for a very thorough  and worthwhile piece of work and for the progress made with the recommendations.

 

Hannah Farncombe and Deborah Parkhouse undertook to send a copy of the document ‘Good Days/Bad Days’ to those members who were new to the Committee and who had therefore not received it previously.

 

The purpose of this agenda item is to evaluate, 12 months on from the Cabinet’s consideration of the review, what progress has been made in implementing the recommendations that were agreed. The review was undertaken by Councillors Anda Fitzgerald O’Connor, Carol Viney and David Turner, together with Ben Jackson, a former co-optee of the Committee.

 

Councillor David Turner, as lead member, has been tracking the review and he has been invited to attend.

 

Councillors Michael Waine and Louise Chapman have also been invited to attend to respond to any questions members of the Committee might have with regard to the tracking report, together with Children, Young People & Families officers Deborah Parkhouse and Hannah Farncombe.

 

Copies of the full review is attached at CH8(a), the Executive Summary at CH8(b) and the tracking report at CH8(c).