Councillor Henry, Chair, presided.

Councillors Henry and Bibby (Renfrewshire Council); L O'Brien, Barnardos; K Miller, Engage Renfrewshire; F MacKay and M Ferguson (both Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership); A Lowe, Renfrewshire Child Protection Committee; L King, Scottish Children's Reporter Administration; P MacLeod, D Hawthorn, G McKinlay and S Glasgow (all Renfrewshire Council); P Nelis, Scottish Fire and Rescue Services; M Gilligan, Skills Development Scotland; S Graham, West College Scotland; and M Dunn, University of the West of Scotland.

C Thomas, D Black and S Ahmed (all Active Communities); S King, Barnardos; N Matta and G Stewart (both NHS GGC&C); F Capaldi, Police Scotland; and A Armstrong-Walter and C MacDonald (both Renfrewshire Council).

The meeting was opened by Maurice Gilligan, Area Manager, Skills Development Scotland who welcomed everyone to the SDS offices.  He highlighted some of the current projects and thanked everyone for their support and partnership working.

Councillor Henry thanked SDS for hosting the event and also congratulated Professor Ross Deuchar, Assistant Dean (Research, Enterprise and International) of University of the West of Scotland's School of Education on being awarded a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence (SIR) scholarship.

M Dunn left the meeting.

Councillor McCartin, Renfrewshire Council; J Melrose, Renfrewshire Children's Panel; N Burns, Police Scotland; and J Trainer, Renfrewshire Council.

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to commencement of the meeting.

There was submitted the Minutes of the Children & Young People Thematic Board held on 17 November, 2015, and the Joint Meeting between Children & Young People Thematic Board and Economy & Jobs Thematic Board held on 17 November, 2015.

DECIDED:  That the Minutes be approved.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.

DECIDED: That the Rolling Action Log be approved.

A presentation was given by G Stewart and N Matta, NHS GG&C relative to Pre-Term Babies. The presentation indicated the importance of identifying the problems early and outlined the definition of a pre-term baby. It also highlighted the impact of prematurity on social life and education; looked at the gestational age at delivery and special education needs; detailed school performance and outcomes; highlighted the implications for learning; drew attention to prematurity and cognitive workload; and summarised the way forward.

Councillor Henry indicated that there was a requirement to look at the dispersal of information and use of the information between partners.  She also intimated that there were policy and procedure implications to be looked at and practice and research implications for both WCS and UWS as well as a requirement to work with Health Visitors.

After further discussion it was agreed that the Children's Services Partnership would scope out an action plan, draft a policy position and submit a report to a future meeting of the Board.

DECIDED:

(a)  That it be agreed that the Children's Services Partnership would scope out an action plan, draft a policy position and submit a report to a future meeting of the Board; and 

(b)  That the presentation be noted.

A joint report was submitted by F MacKay, Head of Strategic Planning and Health Improvement, Renfrewshire HSCP and Cheryl Thomas, Hearty Lives Renfrewshire Project Co-ordinator, Active Communities updating the Board on the implementation of peer mentoring in Renfrewshire schools to improve health and wellbeing.

The report outlined the success of the peer mentoring project which was funded in St Benedict's and Linwood High Schools.   It was intimated that the project aimed to reduce cardio-vascular risk factors of low physical activity levels, poor eating habits, smoking and low self esteem. D Black and S Ahmed outlined the benefits of the project.

It was noted that six schools, in addition to St Benedict's and Linwood, had expressed interest in developing peer mentoring and Active Communities would work with these schools and other partners to progress the initiative.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the positive progress made in St Benedict’s and Linwood High schools through the Hearty Lives project be noted; and

(b)  That the progress made in implementing peer mentoring across all Renfrewshire secondary schools with funding identified through the Poverty Action Plan be noted.

A presentation was given by L O'Brien and S King relative to the Paisley Threads partnership project.

The presentation gave a brief overview of the project; summarised the service delivery model; outlined the interventions and the "Five to Thrive" approach; detailed a snapshot of the statistics from April-December 2015; and outlined referral sources and service delivery.  A short video was shown which gave an insight into the project.

DECIDED:  That the presentation be noted.

A report was submitted by J Trainer, Acting Head of Early Years and Inclusion, Education Services relative to the a Corporate Parenting update, Scottish Care Leavers Covenant and Getting it Right for Looked After Children & Young People.

The report advised that The Corporate Parenting Group, chaired by the Acting Head of Early Years and Inclusion was reviewing how agencies in Renfrewshire were presently meeting their corporate parenting responsibilities. The Renfrewshire draft of the Corporate Parenting Plan would be prepared and consulted on over the next three months. It was noted that the Children’s Champions Board would be actively involved in the review, drafting and consultation process for the Renfrewshire Corporate Parenting Plan and the draft plan would be available for the meeting of the Board on 26 May 2016. A timeline for the review of corporate parenting and the production of the draft plan was attached at Appendix 1.
 
The Scottish Care Leavers Covenant (the Covenant) was co-produced by a wide range of organisations including Who Cares? Scotland, Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) and Barnardo’s Scotland.  Appendix 2 outlined the full membership including subgroups. The Covenant set out an ambitious agenda for agencies to ensure that outcomes for care leavers were improved. The Covenant was based on the principles of Getting it Right for Every Child and was structured in a way which would assist Corporate Parents to meet their responsibilities and duties under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the timescale for the review of corporate parenting in Renfrewshire, the consultation and engagement process for the draft Renfrewshire Corporate Parenting Plan as detailed in Appendix 1 be noted;

(b)  That it be noted that the publication of the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant, the planned review by the Corporate Parenting Group to map Renfrewshire’s practice against the aspiration of the Covenant and an update would be provided to the next meeting of the Thematic Board;

(c)  That it be noted that the Scottish Care Leavers Covenant, as contained in Appendix 3, be referred to the CPP Board for endorsement and that it be agreed that the Board aspire to meet the commitments contained in the Covenant; and
 
(d)  That the publication of Getting it Right for Looked After Children and Young People by the Scottish Government be noted and that it be noted that a report on progress in Renfrewshire would be provided to the next meeting of the Thematic Board.

There was submitted a report by D Hawthorn, Head of Child Care and Criminal Justice, Renfrewshire Council relative to the Joint Inspection of Services for Children and Young People in Renfrewshire.

The report advised that the inspection was part of a national programme of scrutiny and was the first time that all children’s services in Renfrewshire had been inspected jointly. The inspection had taken place between December 2014 and February 2015 and the findings had been published on 11 December 2015. The inspection measured progress against nine quality indicators marked against a six point scale.

Renfrewshire received six “very good”, two “good” and one “adequate” grades which was a very positive result given the scale of the inspection. This placed Renfrewshire in the top four of such inspections undertaken to date. The inspection recognised that the community planning partners and elected members were all highly committed to working together and had a compelling vision, value and aims, with meaningful ownership across the partnership to realise the vision collaboratively.

DECIDED:

(i) That the report be noted; and

(ii) That the actions undertaken to strengthen processes in response to Care Inspectorate feedback be noted.

Annabelle Armstrong-Walter gave a presentation relative to an update on the Tackling Poverty Strategy and Action Plan.

The presentation gave a brief overview of what had been achieved to date; outlined some key facts from the Tackling Poverty Programme; drew special attention to the Tackling Poverty outcomes and the significant progress towards the three key pledges; and highlighted the need for well-designed sustainable neighbourhoods and how organisations should work.

DECIDED:  That the presentation be noted.