Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Joint Delivery Board minutes: February 2023

Attendees and apologies

• Hugh McAloon (HM), Scottish Government (Co-Chair)
• Nicola Dickie (ND) Cosla (Co-Chair)
• Angela Davidson (AD), Scottish Government
• Hannah Axon (HA), Cosla
• Angela Scott (AS), SOLACE
• Judy Thomson (JT), NHS Education for Scotland (NES)
• Michael Chalmers (MC), Director of Children and Families, Scottish Government
• Martin Dorchester (MD), Children in Scotland (CiS) Forum Representative
• Laura Meikle (LM), Improvement Attainment and Wellbeing, Learning Directorate, Scottish Government
• Rosy Burgess (RB), Scottish Youth Parliament (YP support)
• Carrie Lindsay, Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES)

Additional attendees

• Richmond Davies attending on behalf of Angela Leitch (RM)
• Minister for Mental Health and Social Care
• Councillor Tony Buchanan, East Renfrewshire Council  (TB)
• Councillor Paul Kelly, North Lanarkshire Council (PK)
• Jane Ford (JF) Public Health Scotland
• Fiona Myers (FM) Public Health Scotland

Support

• Maggie Fallon (MF), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• Ruth Christie (RC) Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• David Leitch (DL), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• Peter Innes (PI), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• Carolyn Wales (CW), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• Leon Young (LY), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• Eilidh Shearer (ES), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government
• Stephen McLeod (SM), Mental Health and Social Care Directorate, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Alison Sutherland (AS), Sponsor T and F group 6,  North Ayrshire Council
• Morven Graham, Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• Maureen McAteer, Sponsor T and F group 3, Barnardos
• Ruth Miller, Sponsor T and F group 3, Association of Scottish Principal Educational Psychologists (ASPEP)
• Paul Carberry (PC), Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) Forum representative
• Amanda Farquharson (AF), Integration Joint Board (IJB) Network
• Alison Taylor (AT), Deputy Director, Improvement Attainment and Wellbeing, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions ​​​​​​

ND chaired the meeting.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the final board meeting taking place during childrens mental health week, provided apologies and thanked board members for continued hard work throughout the duration of the board.

HM also reinforced the appreciation of the work of the board recognising the impact of lockdown and pandemic and the effects on children and young people.

HM recognised that there has been a shift in the support available to children and young people and this is down to people involved in the board and task and finish groups, grateful for everyone’s efforts.

CW provided an update on progress update which highlighted:

• the learning and sharing good practice event taking place on 14 March
• the final newsletter to be published at the end of March
• the early years Scotland report has now been published and the Insight report will be published shortly
• the final report of the work of the board and recommendations will also be published in spring 2023
• SG officials are continuing to work with children’s services planning strategic leads network in consideration of further embedding of children and young peoples mental health planning and reporting within local children’s services planning structures
• an engagement session is taking place with members of the scottish youth parliament to discuss the mental health and wellbeing strategy, this will also be an opportunity to discuss the boards recommendations

Outstanding tasks - Task and Finish group three 

Chair invited DL and ES to update on the progress made by this task and finish group following previous input from the Board. DL provided an overview of projects being progressed including practice principles to support the development of mental health pathways, aligned to the work of the Promise and an examples of good practice document. A video resource is also at an early stage of development.

 Chair invited the boards comments on the task and finish group’s recommendations. The following points were raised

• concerns on how to prioritise and plan future work
• further suggestions made on need for alignment with the national trauma training plan
• need for the findings/examples highlighted within the work to resonate with frontline experience. local, safe spaces have become increasingly important to the young people we work with
• concerns that there needs to be a stronger call for substantial funding
• concerns raised that we are missing the voices of unheard/unable to reach children and young people

Actions

• DL to update the principals paper to reflect comments and also consider most appropriate ways for dissemination
• the examples of practice document will be completed in line with the format and content outlined at the Board, with the final resource to be shared with the joint chairs prior to dissemination
• the video resource will be developed and brought back to the JDB successor for endorsement

Summary of actions

DL to progress the three areas of work and provide update to the current chairs/ the boards successor as indicated in the actions above.

Chair provided an overview on progress on task and finish group six . papers were circulated. Chair noted minor clarifications:

• NES will hold and update the education resources going forward
• recommendations refer to all staff working with children and young people in Scotland
• recommendations from both task and finish group three and task and finish group six have been considered in the final recommendations report

Main findings of the Public Health Scotland review

The chair welcomed JF and FM and invited them to provide an update on the Public Health Scotland review of the joint delivery board.

Feedback from the board included:

• report was welcomed by board members
• concerns were raised that the review did not fully reflect current funding pressures, the current cost of living crisis/rates of inflation
• due to the nature of the review, concerns that there may have been some areas that have been missed
• the review was a great opportunity to consider how to work collaboratively, the role of a new high level policy board as well as monitoring and evaluation of progress. However, it was acknowledged that the recommendations within the review stretch beyond the work of the board
• suggest third sector involved in considering the breadth of this work
• Public Health Scotland report to be utilised to inform next steps in mental health governance

Joint delivery board report and recommendations

HA provided input on the final recommendations from the board which were formulated taking account of key findings from the public health Scotland report and recommendations from across the task and finish groups, as well as comments from the board itself. Board members were asked to discuss and agree the final recommendations and provide any comment on the proposed approach to governance. Agreed recommendations will be incorporated into a final report from the board which will also cover progress made and engagement with children and young people.

Comments from the board included:

• concern was raised about progressing a further version of the board without allowing time and space for the implementation of the current board’s recommendations
• it was noted that, due to the wide range of the work undertaken, the board had produced a large number of positive recommendations. However, it is important to recognise the challenge larger numbers of recommendations poses for delivery and a need to ensure recommendations do not get lost
• it is important to ensure that the mechanisms for delivery/governance are both for the joint delivery board recommendations taken forward and for any future work undertaken. The joint delivery board recommendations, as currently presented, may not provide sufficient clarity on this for those expected to take the work forward
• integration into childrens services plan should be a key element going forward for the next iteration of the board. A working group will be set up shortly to draft a briefing note to support this
• the continued discussions on the introduction of a national care service remains a key tension

Actions

• board members supported the recommendations
• the board requested an exercise be undertaken to consider where the recommendations would be taken forward across practice/policy/strategy and legislation to support their progression, this will be shared via correspondence

A final report, incorporating the recommendations, will be produced for the board and be shared via correspondence.

Minster for Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care and COSLA spokespeople update

Chair welcomed the Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care and COSLA leaders to the meeting.

the Minister thanked all of those involved on the board for their work since it started in April 2021 and the continuation of progress in supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, along with the impacts from the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the consequences of the war in the Ukraine. The Minister recognised the work of the mmbers of the scottish youth parliament's on the evaluation of communities services and contributions on both the board and task and finish groups.

TB thanked the board for its work and highlighted the improvements of children and young people’s provisions both in school counselling and community-based support.

PK also thanked the board and acknowledged the boards progress and achievements and the forthcoming learning and sharing event on the 14 March, along with consideration of the joint delivery board report and recommendations and considering how Scottish Government and COSLA will jointly continue to progress this areas of work.

Any other business and close 

Chair highlighted that the final comments for the mental health and wellbeing strategy draft were due on the third February, a further draft will be shared in due course.

Chair thanked all for their attendance and commitment on the board.

Scottish Government

March 2023