Councillor Henry, Chair, presided.

Councillors Henry and Bibby (Renfrewshire Council); K Miller, Engage Renfrewshire; N Burns, Police Scotland; M Ferguson, Renfrewshire Health & Social Care Partnership; D Hawthorn, S Graham and S Glasgow (all Renfrewshire Council); M Gilligan, Skills Development Scotland; and S Graham, West College Scotland.

B Davidson, Developing Young Workforce; Y Farquhar and C MacDonald (both Renfrewshire Council); and L Devine and N McIntosh, Stronger Communities.

The meeting was opened by Stephanie Graham, Vice Principal Educational Leadership, West College Scotland who welcomed everyone to West College Scotland.  She gave a brief overview of the positive developments since the merger of Clydebank College, Reid Kerr College and James Watt College and advised that the College now had a clear agenda for future action to improve and enhance quality. Councillor Henry thanked West College Scotland on behalf of the Board for hosting the meeting.

Councillor McCartin, Renfrewshire Council; L O'Brien, Barnardos; R Ritchie, Children 1st; A Lowe, Renfrewshire Child Protection Committee; J Melrose, Area Support Team; P MacLeod, G McKinlay, J Trainer and S Bell (all Renfrewshire Council); and J Divers, Scottish Fire and Rescue Services.

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

There was submitted the Minutes of the Children & Young People Thematic Board held on 4 February 2016.
 
DECIDED: That the Minutes be approved.

The Rolling Action Log was submitted for approval.

DECIDED:

(a) That it be agreed that completed actions within C&YP.24.02.15(8) and C&YP.11.06.14 (4) would be removed from the Action Log; and

(b)  That the Action Log be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to an update on the progress being made against Outcome 3 of the Integrated Children's Services Improvement Plan.

During discussion it was agreed that Outcome 4 of the Integrated Children's Services Plan would be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.

DECIDED: 

(a)  That it be agreed that Outcome 4 be submitted to the next meeting of the Board; and

(b)  That the report be noted.

B Davidson gave a presentation on the development of the West Regional Developing Young Workforce.  He gave a brief overview of the programme; detailed the agencies, stakeholders, Board and Team involved; highlighted the focus of the programme; advised on the changing job market; indicated what they were hoping to achieve and the strategies that were being put in place.

DECIDED:  That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the National Missing Persons Steering Group which was currently developing good practice guidance to support the provision of return interviews across Scotland.  Each Community Planning Partnership (CPP) had been asked to co-ordinate a survey response to gather information about current practice and a copy of Renfrewshire CPP’s response was attached as an appendix to the report.

DECIDED:  That the Community Planning Partnership response to the Provision of Return Interviews survey be noted.

L Devine and N McIntosh gave a presentation relative to the Stronger Communities project.  The presentation gave a brief overview of the project; highlighted the goals for Glenburn; detailed what stage the project had reached and their goals; and the vision and idea for the future of Stronger Communities in Renfrewshire.

A general discussion followed and it was intimated that the project was trying to get refunded but required match funding.  Y Farquhar advised that she would contact the Project Officer to facilitate discussions with relevant CPP Board Members.

DECIDED:

(a)  That contact be made with the Project Officer to facilitate discussions with relevant CPP Board Members; and

(b)  That the presentation be noted.

There was submitted a report by the Director of Children's Services relative to the establishment of the Children & Young People Participation Group. 

The report advised that in response to the recommendation of the Children’s Services Inspection and to ensure a co-ordinated partnership approach to participation, it was recommended that a multi agency partnership group be established.   The Children and Young People Participation Group would be responsible for reviewing the Participation Strategy and developing a Participation Action Plan. The group would also play a key role in coordinating the planning and reporting around Children’s Rights as detailed within the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.



DECIDED:

(a)  That it be agreed that a Children and Young People Participation Group be established; and

(b)  That it be agreed that a role and remit of the group be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.

There was submitted a report by the Senior Officer (GIRFEC) relative to the Getting It Right For Every Child Information Sharing Practitioner Guidance.

The report indicated that the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 provided a framework for information sharing between professionals to support the functions of the Named Person and the operation of the Child’s Plan. The current information Sharing Practitioners Guidance was approved in 2014 with a view to further update and review as part of the full implementation of the information sharing duties from 31st August 2016. Feedback from practitioners and the Children’s Services Inspection Report indicated that this was valuable guidance for staff.  The updated Information Sharing Practitioner Guidance was attached as an appendix to the report. Additional content would be added to the Guidance with detailed information about contact details of the Named Person Service when it was finalised in the near future.

A general discussion followed relating to the wording within the guidance.  It was agreed that the wording within paragraph 4.13 of the Practitioner's Guidance would be revised and an updated version would be submitted to a future meeting of the Board.

DECIDED:

(a)  That the updated Information Sharing Practitioner Guidance for implementation from 31st August 2016 be approved, subject to the revisions to the wording at paragraph 4.13 being made:

(b)  That the minor amendments to the Guidance once specific contact details on the Named Person service are available be agreed; and

(c)  That a revised update of the Guidance be submitted to a future meeting of the Board.