The official version of this document can be found via the PDF button.
The below content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost, therefore it should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments.
Review Panel – Care of Children in Jersey
Record of Meeting
Date: 18th October 2017
Present | Deputy S.Y. Mézec , Chairman Deputy T.A. Vallois, Vice-Chairman Senator S.C Ferguson Deputy J.A. Hilton |
Apologies |
|
Absent |
|
In attendance | Ms S. Devlin, Managing Director, Community and Social Services [item 3 only] Ms J. Gibney, Director of Children's Social Work [item 3 only] Mr A. Harris , Scrutiny Officer [item 3,7,8 and 9] Ms C. Tomlinson, Scrutiny Officer [item 1,2,4,5 and 6] |
Ref Back | Agenda matter | Action |
511/2/3 (9) | 1. Records of Meetings The Panel noted and approved the minutes of its meeting on Tuesday 5th September. The Chairman signed them accordingly. |
|
Item 2 04/10/17 511/2/3 (9) | 2. Conflict of Interest The Chairman noted that should the States Assembly approve P.84/2017 Elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the States Assembly: Selection and Appointment', the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) would be tasked with bringing forward the necessary legislative changes prior to the next election. The Chairman explained that as the proposition had been brought forward in light of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry (Care Inquiry) his membership of PPC could present a conflict in respect of the Review Panel. In the event that PPC was to undertake the work, the Chairman advised that he would resign from the Committee and remain with the Review Panel. Deputy J.A. Hilton noted that she was part of the Chief Minister's Social Policy group and the recommendations of the Care Inquiry had been discussed at a recent meeting. It was noted that the group was tasked with developing a new model for Social Policy, but clarification was needed over the role it played in relation to the recommendations put forward by the Care Inquiry. It was agreed that the Greffier should be consulted as to whether or not Deputy J.A. Hilton's membership of this group constituted a conflict of interest. She also advised that if there were such a conflict, she would resign from the Policy Group and remain with this Review Panel. | AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 3. Meeting with Managing Director, Community and Social Services The Panel received Ms S. Devlin, Managing Director, Community and Social Services and Ms J. Gibney, Director of Children's Social Work to discuss issues arising from the Care Inquiry in relation to the Children's |
|
| Service. The Panel discussed the adoption of a new Jersey Practice Model' and requested that a draft copy be provided for further discussion. | AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 4. Briefing Paper – Overview of Jersey Children's Service The Panel noted a briefing paper from the Officer on the services offered by the Jersey Children's Service. |
|
511/2/3 (9) | 5. Briefing Paper – Community Nursing in Jersey The Panel noted a briefing paper from the Officer on the services offered by Community Nursing in Jersey. |
|
Item 1 09/10/17 511/2/3 (9) | 6. Public Hearing with the Chief Minister The Panel agreed that the hearing was a success and agreed that it had provided a good base from which to begin further work. The Panel requested that further information be obtained as to whether or not members of the Corporate Management Board had read and filtered the recommendations of the IJCI Report throughout their respective departments. The Panel discussed further stakeholders that it would like to meet in order to gather further evidence on key issues arising from the hearing with the Chief Minister. The Panel agreed it would benefit from researching "what good looks like" in terms of looking at similar jurisdictions' child care arrangements, especially organisations which had initiated positive changes to their governance. The Panel agreed that preliminary research into Iceland's judiciary had revealed a mechanism by which consulting with children was built into the system. The Panel agreed that the Bailiff of Jersey should be asked how Jersey's judiciary currently enabled children's views to be sought, listened to and respected. It agreed that, in the early evidence-gathering stage of its scrutiny process, the Bailiff should be sent an open letter, requesting him to answer a set of questions relating to the current procedures. Subsequently, the Bailiff would be invited to attend a public hearing to advise what, if any, changes were being made so that the judiciary could better align with the recommendations of the IJCI in listening to, and respecting, children's views. The Panel agreed that it would look to gather evidence in relation to any changes the Honorary Police were considering in respect of the Care Inquiry. The Panel requested that a letter be sent to the Comité des Chef de Police and Honorary Police Association requesting this information. The Panel considered speaking with various agencies in order to understand the current processes in place for dealing with children and young people in the criminal justice system. It was agreed that evidence should be sought from the Honorary Police, Probation Department, the Chairman of the Comité de Connétable s, H.M. Attorney General and the Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police. A letter would be drafted for approval to send out to the various stakeholders. | AH AH AH AH AH |
| The Panel agreed that following discussion with Officers of the Care Commission at the Safeguarding Partnership Board Conference, it would organise a briefing with the Care Commissioner and his Officers to discuss the role in relation to the recommendations in the Care Inquiry. | AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 7. Review of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry Report The Panel received a copy of the draft response to the Care Inquiry that was due to be put forward to the Council of Ministers. The Panel agreed to address each recommendation and identify key stakeholders and evidence that it would collect in respect of the response from the Council of Ministers. The Panel agreed to defer discussion on recommendations five, six, seven and eight until its next meeting on Wednesday 8th November 2017. | AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 8. Recommendation 1 – A Commissioner for Children The Panel discussed the executive response to recommendation one of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry. The Panel noted that the Chief Minister had provided evidence at the public hearing on 9th October 2017 in relation to the timescale for appointing the Commissioner. The Panel agreed to write to the Chief Minister to ask if any primary law was being considered for the Children's Commissioner prior to their appointment and also to understand if the authority of the Commissioner will retain independence when undertaking investigations. The Panel agreed to defer any further work on this recommendation until such time as a Commissioner was appointed. | AH AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 9. Recommendation 2 – Giving Children and Young People a Voice The Panel discussed the executive response to recommendation two of the Care Inquiry, giving children and young people a voice. The Panel agreed to undertake the following actions in order to gather further evidence on this area:
voice | AH |
|
|
|
511/2/3 (9) | 10. Recommendation 3 – Inspection of Services The Panel discussed the executive response to recommendation three of the Care Inquiry, Inspection of Services. The Panel discussed the former independent care visitors that were tasked with inspecting services for young people at Greenfields and agreed to identify who they reported to. The Panel requested a copy of the Care Commissions Terms of Reference for inspecting Children's Services. The Panel noted a version of the Regulation of Care Regulations that had been submitted for consultation earlier in the year. The Officer advised that a further draft was likely to be lodged later in the year with changes as a result of the consultation. The Panel noted that it was not clear in the regulations whether or not foster carers would be included within them and agreed to ascertain if the regulations applied. The Panel noted it had previously agreed to meet with the Care Commissioner and agreed that it would ask further questions on this recommendation at that meeting. | AH AH AH AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 11. Recommendation 4 – Building a Sustainable Workforce The Panel discussed the executive response to recommendation four of the Care Inquiry, building a sustainable workforce. It was noted that consideration in the executive response had mainly been given to the recruitment and retention of staff within social services. The Panel agreed to write to the Chief Minister asking why no consideration had been given in the executive response to wider issues in the Human Resources management of the States of Jersey. The Panel also agreed to inform the Chief Minister that should no consideration be given to this then it would bring a proposition seeking an external review of the States of Jersey Human Resources structure. | AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 12. States Questions The Panel noted relevant questions which had been asked in the States Assembly since the publication of the Care Inquiry. The Panel agreed to compare the responses to the questions with the executive response in order to identify any fundamental differences. The Panel requested that the outcome of the meeting of the Council of Ministers where the executive response was due to be discussed, be requested from the Director of Children's Policy. | AH AH |
511/2/3 (9) | 13. Future Meetings The Panel noted that its next meeting was scheduled for 9:30am on Wednesday 8th November 2017 in the Le Capelain Room, States Building. It was agreed that the meeting would be extended until 5:00pm to allow for further discussion on the recommendations. | AH |