Apologies for absence were submitted by Cllr Emma Dent Coad, Estella Gomez and Kathleen Williams.

Cllr Preety Hudd submitted apologies for lateness.

Any member of the Council who has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting is reminded to disclose the interest to the meeting and to leave the Chamber while any discussion or vote on the matter takes place.

Members are also reminded that if they have any other significant interest in a matter to be considered at the meeting, which they feel should be declared in the public interest, such interests should be declared to the meeting. In such circumstances Members should consider whether their continued participation, in the matter relating to the interest, would be reasonable in the circumstances, particularly if the interest may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interests, or whether they should leave the Chamber while any discussion or vote on the matter takes place.

Cllr Abdullahi Nur declared an interest in relation to Agenda item 7 as a founding member of commissioned voluntary sector provider Baraka Community Association.

The minutes of the meeting of held on 5 December 2024 are submitted for confirmation.

The minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2024 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair introduced the item and invited members of the public in attendance to share their views on the proposed delivery of the Social Justice Archive. The following points were raised:

1.          Plans to use North Kensington Library as an access point to the Archive were welcomed and it was hoped that the Library could serve as a location for the archive in the long-term, though there were concerns that it was not big enough.

2.          The Archive should serve as an educational resource for the community and by the community, with input and use from local people, schools and businesses.

3.          A key responsibility of the archivist should be to go out to the community to educate local people and encourage development of individual archives.

4.          A decentralised approach should be taken to digital collections management, with infrastructure available to allow local people to contribute to the archive digitally.

5.          Satellite spaces or facilities could be set up for the archive to operate at various locations in north Kensington for community access.

The Chair thanked residents for their input and invited the Lead Member for Employment, Culture and Economy and officers to comment on the report. The Lead Member reiterated thanks to the residents in attendance who had been the driving force for the development of the project. Officers explained there had been significant consultation in the discovery phase with young people, including the Youth Council and students at Kensington Aldridge Academy, and outlined the main findings of the Discovery Phase Report. Officers also advised the second phase of the project would include budget and ongoing costs for the project and would be mapped out upon conclusion of phase one.

The Chair invited comments or questions from the Committee. Members of the Committee:

6.          Sought clarity on who would have decision making power under the proposed governance model. Officers advised that the community steering board would have decision making power, but the RBKC-employed archivist would have a seat on the steering board, ensuring decisions would be made in partnership between the local community and the Council.

7.          Asked how the steering board would be appointed. Officers stated that expressions of interest would be sought, with the Council working with the local community to ensure existing community groups were involved in the process.

8.          Called on the Council to ensure community engagement beyond North Kensington, especially North Kensington community members that no longer live in North Kensington.

9.          Discussed the suggestion for a digital collection system to be procured as part of the wider RBKC archive digital provision. The Lead Member cautioned that the cost of procuring and implementing such a system could be prohibitively expensive, but noted digital access to the Archive was important to the project’s success. Officers added that a digital system would also better enable preservation of materials and the Council would conduct a thorough process to understand the technical requirements of a digital archive, noting the distinction between ensuring digital access and fully digitising the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair introduced the item and welcomed Aileen Buckton, Chair and independent scrutineer of the Partnership, and Jane Humphreys, Children’s Improvement Advisor at the LGA to the meeting, before inviting Ms Buckton to present the report.

Ms Buckton raised the following points:

1.          The Partnership’s work during the year 2023-24 was focused on ongoing pandemic recovery, particularly responding to concerns shared by Partnership agencies coming out of the pandemic.

2.          An increase in referrals to Children’s social care services was to be expected given lower referral rates during and immediately following the pandemic, and broadly in line with the national picture.

3.          Significant work had been undertaken by agencies working together in education settings to improve school attendance and student welfare to ensure effective learning was possible.

4.          The Partnership was constantly seeking to embed learning and reflection from multi-agency training across agencies.

5.          Work had been undertaken to strengthen the Partnership’s relationship with the voluntary sector in order to better disseminate safeguarding messages across the community.

6.          Governance arrangements for the partnership had changed in response to new statutory guidance, with new arrangements in place to ensure key strategic bodies were taking responsibility for safeguarding.

The Chair invited comments or questions from the Committee. Members of the Committee:

7.          Asked how the LSCP monitored the effectiveness of the joining up of early help and universal services. Ms Buckton advised the LSCP regularly brought together senior members of early help services at the partnership to provide assurance to the board and ensure learning was embedded across services. Early help and joint services had also been a particular focus for the partnership’s work in recent years. Council officers added that the Council had a well-integrated early help service with a range of multi-agency professionals feeding in. The recent Ofsted inspection of the Council’s Children’s Services showed interventions for families was happening at the right time.

8.          Asked whether the LSCP received any assurances in relation to those children and young people and families in temporary accommodation. Ms Buckton stated the partnership looked at housing issues more broadly, including ensuring homes were safe from damp and mould, and providing additional safeguarding training for housing providers. Officers added that the Council commissioned an outreach service to undertake needs assessments for families placed in bed and breakfasts, in addition to direct outreach with contingency hotels to ensure they knew how to identify and report safeguarding issues.

9.          Asked if any improvements could be made to the Partnership’s arrangements to ensure education settings were adequately involved in the Partnership’s work, particularly in light of the revised partnership Arrangements Document. Attendees were confident that all schools and education providers were sufficiently integrated into the partnership, with regular meetings with Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) and headteachers providing assurance that safeguarding work was being carried out. It was anticipated that education settings would be added as a fourth statutory partner in the future. The revised Partnership Arrangements Document could be circulated after the meeting.

Action: Local Safeguarding Children  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Chair introduced the item and invited the Lead Member for Family and Children’s Services to present the report. The Lead Member congratulated the directorate staff and summarised the key findings of the report.

The Chair invited the Committee to comment on the report or ask questions of the Lead Member and the Director for Family Services. The Committee:

1.          Congratulated the Lead Member, officers and all department staff for the outstanding result of the inspection.

2.          Asked what action would be taken to address the areas identified for improvement in the inspection. Officers advised that the target areas would inform the directorate’s annual self-assessment and an action plan would be created in response.

3.          Called on the directorate to ensure the inspection findings would inform policy and service development and continuous improvement practices.

4.          Asked officers to reflect on what factors were driving the excellent service provision. Officers responded that the following factors were significant: investment in the workforce; locality model; robust early help arrangements; safe working environment.

The Chair introduced the item and invited questions or comments from members of the Committee. The Committee:

1.          Asked if any additional datasets could be included in the performance information to ensure a more comprehensive report. Officers suggested statistics on the duration of time children were in care proceedings would be a prudent addition due to the vulnerability of those children and its far-reaching implications across the service.

2.          Noted performance information in future may need to change in response to planned reform to children’s social care. The Committee requested the directorate report back on changes to the service.

3.          Emphasised the importance of the performance data guiding policy development and service provision.

The Chair introduced the item and invited questions or comments from members of the Committee. The Committee:

1.          Discussed how best to progress the 0-18 project and whether to organise an opportunity for public comment. It was suggested that engagement with schools would be most appropriate.

2.          Requested a briefing on complex needs spending.