A period of 30 minutes has been set aside for members of the public to ask questions on the agenda for tonight’s meeting.
Minutes:
There were two members of the public in attendance at the meeting.
The first question was asked by Mr Hagen; My wife and I are foster carers and have been for over 20 years for Bury Council. Yesterday we renewed our contract with the foster team, not that we agreed with it, but because we believe in the children receiving the love, care and attention and the change to grow up as a decent human being; especially disabled children who need so much positive attention and some 24-hour care. They are special to carers and the carers are special to them. I was not going to mention money, but I must, the fee is 80 pence per hour, some carers get less. I am also concerned about foster carers who work for the Council but work privately and I just wonder why they refuse to work for Bury Council. We the present foster carers will not be here forever. The minimum wage will be going up soon as the Government stated to £10.40 per hour. My question today is, would you take a job with Bury Council for a 24-hour job at 80 pence per hour.
Councillor Boles thanked all who attended this evening and advised a training session has recently taken place that highlighted the importance of lived experience at Scrutiny.
Councillor Quinn,Deputy Cabinet Member for Children and Young People advised that we are aware of the essential roles you play and the financial issues currently and these will be addressed under the foster carer item later in the agenda. In addition, Linda Evans, Interim Director of Social Care Practice advised that Bury Council is a Foster Friendly Employer. Linda advised she will seek to find out how many employees of Bury Council are also foster carers. Councillor Thorpe, Deputy Cabinet Member for Children and Young People also advised the Corporate Parenting Board no has a standing item of Foster Carers and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on them at meetings.
Ms Delaney asked the next question; working in co-production with parents to inform plans is a separate issue to the one I raised. Education Health and Care Plans in Bury lack the specifics needed for young people and children to achieve good outcomes. Also, lack of specificity compromises the legal enforceability of the provision in the plan. A lack of specificity and you may risk not being able to enforce the provision in your child’s Education Health and Care Plan under section 42.2 of the Children and Families act 2014. The existing case law and code of practice all support that Education Health and Care plans are required to be quantified and specific. Children and Young People should be central to this process, their views and that of there parents are of the highest importance but the specifics of a plan and the provision that support to quantify to make the plans to be legally compliant should not be left to parents. After all, if you do not know the legal documents that are there to protect you and your family you have no chance. Please can you inform us today how will this happen with limited permanent staff available on the SEND team?
Isobel Booler, Director of Education and Skills advised that improving the quality of Education Health and Care Plans has been a key piece of work that Michael Kemp, Strategic Lead - Inclusion & Special Educational Needs & Disabilities is now leading. Regarding the enhanced Education Health and Care Plan Team you are quite right, some of those colleagues are on fixed term contracts as they are partly funded through the additional transformation monies. We are in the process of taking the second phase of the Children’s Services restructure of which the Team are part of. Bury are currently an outlier in the amount of Education Health and Care assessments and requests that take place, in Bury there have been 1.6% of the population where there have been requests, 1.3% of the population where there have been assessments, in comparison in the Northwest it has been 0.6% so there is a noticeable difference. We are trying to work with parents to re-establish the trust that has broken down. Some of our plans and parents experience is that because some plans are so specific some schools are struggling to meet need. There is a consultation about increasing capacity and we are committed to improve the quality of the plans and EHCP Plan writing training with parents present from the DfE