Agenda item

Update to the Committee on current and forthcoming issues in this portfolio.

4.1     Councillor Tim Barnes (Cabinet Member for Children’s Services), provided a briefing on key issues within his portfolio. The Committee also heard from Sarah Newman (Executive Director of Children’s Services) and Nicky Crouch (Director of Family Services).

4.2     The Committee received the update and held detailed discussions on the following topics:

·            Schools Reopening – The Committee was updated on school attendance during the Covid-19 pandemic and was advised that the current rates were slightly below the national average but above the London average. This was in line with expectations due to concerns centring on such issues as using public transport. Members noted the hard work undertaken by teaching staff to put in appropriate measures to ensure pupils felt schools were a safe learning environment.

The Committee held a detailed discussion on support provided to schools and pupils during the pandemic. An update was requested on what the take-up of Catch-Up funding had been from local schools. Members were also interested to learn that an additional order of 750 laptops had been placed which would be loaned out to those children identified for assistance. The Committee requested that the criteria used for allocating laptops be circulated for information.

·            Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Offer – It was recognised that the Covid-19 pandemic was having a detrimental impact on the emotional wellbeing and mental health of many children and young people. Information on the support and training provided to school staff was provided and the Committee was interested to learn how it focused on the resilience and wellbeing needs of children coming back to school after lockdown. The impact on school staff was also acknowledged and subsequently a variety of staff focused support was also being commissioned.

·            Outbreak Activities – Eleven schools in Westminster had experienced outbreaks of Covid-19 however none had resulted in any of the schools being closed for any prolonged period of time. The Committee was informed that schools now had the ability to order tests and where an outbreak in a school was confirmed, a mobile testing unit could be dispatched to test others who may have been in contact with the person who had tested positive. Testing would first focus on the person’s class, followed by their year group, then the whole school if necessary, in line with routine public health outbreak control practice.

·            Family Navigators – Details on the new role of the Family Navigator were provided and how they had been central both in terms of the integration of services that made up the Family Hub and in terms of supporting a family’s early access to services. The Committee was pleased to note that Westminster was elected for a virtual visit by Vicky Ford MP, the Minister for Children, having been identified as a beacon of excellence for family service provision.

·            Libraries – It was explained that whilst libraries had already offered a strong digital resource collection before lockdown work had been undertaken to enhance the online offer further to provide a seamless integrated offer. In addition to an extensive collection of ebooks and magazines for loan, Members were informed that digital resources such as reference materials, learning resources and business information were also available. In addition, an app had been created which allowed users to view the catalogue and reserve items.

4.3      The Committee also discussed the development of a substance misuse strategy, the work of the Integrated Gangs and Exploitation Unit, free school meals and home schooling. Finally, Members offered their congratulations to Max Haimendorf, Principal of King Solomon Academy, who had been made an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2020 for his services to education.