NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
MINUTE OF THE INTEGRATED CHILDREN'S SERVICES RESPONSIBLE GROUP MEETING
Meeting Room 1, 2nd Floor
Aberdeen Community Health & Care Village, Frederick Street, Aberdeen
1pm on Thursday 21 January 2016
Members Present:
Kevin Wallace (KW), Police Chief Inspector, Partnerships (Chair)
Darren Mills (DM), Police Sergeant, Partnership Development (Minute)
Gail Walker (GW), Police Scotland, YJMU Manager
Elizabeth Templeton (ET), SCRA, Locality Reporter Manager
Sandy Kelman (SK), Aberdeen City ADP, Team Leader
Tracy Mackie (TM), SACRO, Service Manager
Joanne Larsen (JL), ACC Community Safety Partnership, Service Manager
Nicola Williams (NW), Barnardos, Service Manager
Kathleen Singer (KS), Aberdeen Foyer, Operations Manager
Apologies:
Rob Simpson, ACC, Citywide Manager
Louise Beaton, ACC, Principal Planning Officer
Craig Singer, ACC Lifelong Learning, Development Manager
Malcolm MacBean, Victim Support Scotland, Operations Manager
Maggie Hepburn, ACVO
Colin Johnston, Scottish Government
Liz Murdoch, Scottish Government
1. INTRODUCTIONS AND APOLOGIES
1.1. KW opened the meeting and thanked those present for their attendance. DM conveyed the apologies received.
2. PREVIOUS MINUTE
2.1. The Minute from the previous meeting on 19 November 2015 was discussed and accepted as a true account of what had been discussed.
3. TASK UPDATES
3.1. KW led the discussion on the Tasks currently open, with updates made being recorded on the Task Log document.
4. ICS BOARD AND IMPROVEMENT & PERFORMANCE GROUP FEEDBACK
4.1. KW advised that the last ICS Board meeting discussed Stretch Targets, accepting his submission from the Responsible Group to reduce youth offences by 50% over 5 years. He added that Action Plans had also been discussed, with guidance being offered to various groups.
4.2. KW advised that he could not attend yesterday's Improvement & Performance Group but understands that Stretch Targets were discussed and that the Child Protection Committee circulated their understanding of what constitutes a 'Looked After Child'.
5. OPERATIONAL GROUP UPDATE (provided by NW)
5.1. At the last Operational Group meeting on Friday 20 November 2015 Crisis Respite was discussed, with Roz Clark to ask Graeme Gardner, ACC Housing Support, if he could identify a suitable property.
5.2. Roz Clark had reported that a Service Manager had still to be identified to lead on ISS, and that an ISS Development Day would be held to reconnect with all partners involved.
5.3. SACRO updated the meeting on the Smallwood project to address youth antisocial behaviour in Torry.
5.4. It was discussed that the increased review period from 72 hours to 10 days for our young people placed outwith the City will certainly help.
5.4.1. At this juncture, KW advised the Responsible Group that he believed that a Police Officer from elsewhere in Scotland has been seconded to work at HMYOI Polmont. He will endeavour to establish the Police Officer's role and contact details, and whether they have capacity for any joint working with our partners regarding young people from Aberdeen City at that location.
6. ACTION PLANS AND RELATED UPDATES
6.1. KW explained that in addition to the Responsible Group's own Action Plan, at the last ICS Board meeting Dave Bliss presented an overarching Action Plan detailing progress by all ICS Groups. KW provided copies and added that in broad terms, the Responsible Group's Actions not yet complete are either on track or mostly on track, however the following observations were made.
6.1.1. Improving the wellbeing of children & young people
· NW advised that the SCRA website would offer comparison of trends and benchmarking against comparator authorities and national performance.
6.1.2. Planning for individual children & young people
· The meeting discussed that the ongoing restructure of Social Work was leading to service delivery issues with ISS. KW undertook to try and obtain a current positional statement around ISS (new Task raised).
6.1.3. TM reminded the Group of the half-day event being hosted by Scottish Government on Wednesday 27 January 2016 at Woodhill House, Aberdeen concerning the refreshed National Youth Justice Strategy. She added that she would welcome a local strategy linked directly into the national one, which the Operational Group could then work to, rather than the current Action Plans format. TM and NW added that SACRO and Barnardos will each have personnel who will be at the Woodhill House event and the next Operational Group meeting, so they could canvass the thoughts of the Operational Group then.
7. PERFORMANCE STATISTICS
7.1. KW talked the meeting through the performance statistics presented, which had been adapted following suggestions at the previous meeting. However, queries were raised about the accuracy of the high number of Disposal - Non Age figures as well as the Male and Female figures being identical under Crime Type by Gender. KW undertook to check these points (new Task raised).
8. TARGET MATRICES AND DATA COLLECTION
8.1. KW took the opportunity to encourage all partners to submit some form of data, which the Group could then decide if it was useful to continue with.
9. CONTEST
9.1. KW gave those present an insight into CONTEST, the UK Government's Counter Terrorism strategy, and how this is implemented locally by Police. He undertook to circulate a Briefing Paper containing up-to-date guidance and details of relevant awareness and training products (new Task raised).
10. PARTNER UPDATES
10.1. GW advised that the YJMU still have a sizeable backlog and that undoubtedly opportunities for EEI are being lost. She predicted an increase in referrals to SCRA as alternatives to reporting were not as available as before.
10.2. JL advised that early discussions are being had for a diversionary project to address youth annoyance with motorcycles and vehicles.
10.3. NW advised that Barnardos are hoping to recruit a Team Manager soon and that their Northern Star recruit has now started work at Heathryburn School.
10.4. KW advised that the Police's Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire & Moray Divisions had merged at the start of January to form a North East Division, led by Chief Superintendent Campbell Thomson.
11. TASK REVIEW
11.1. Completed by DM.
12. AOCB
12.1. There being no AOCB, KW brought the meeting to a close and thanked those present for their attendance and participation. He confirmed the next meeting to be at 1pm on Thursday 17 March 2016 within the 5th Floor Conference Room at Queen Street Police Office, Aberdeen.
NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED
Page 4 of 4