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Meeting Details
Date: Thursday 17 October 2019
Time: 10:30–13:30
Venue: County Hall, Norfolk County Council, Martineau Lane, Norwich,
Norfolk, NR1 2DH
Agenda Item 1: Welcome and Introduction
1.1 Welcome and introductions made. Communication cards distributed, and their use explained. Directions to quiet rooms were given. No reasonable adjustments were requested. Members reported no
declaration of interest.
Agenda Item 2: Presentation: Autism Self-Assessment Focused Results with Jeremey Bone
2.1 Presentation on the key findings of the Norfolk autism self-assessment and consideration of future evidence gathering to support the partnership board. Overall picture is mixed, with areas of good and poor
performance. Norfolk has a high rate of adults with autism receiving social care support but appears to be
behind other counties on diagnosing autism. Noted that it is important to capture data from alternative
routes to diagnosis, e.g. private.
2.2 Board needs to consider what questions it needs to ask to ensure it is able to measure the success of the strategy.
2.3 It is possible that the data could allow autism training to be tailored around where individuals live.
2.4 Plans are in place to refresh the Data Working Group with Jeremy Bone to identify a resource. It will focus on drafting a new dashboard. An update on progress will be given at next Board meeting in January. Jeremy Bone agreed to act as a conduit for data questions involving children and young people with autism in first place.
Agenda Item 3: Presentation: Employment Service with Paul Scott
3.1 An introduction to the Employment Service. Service goals, structure, processes, and eligibility criteria for
service users explained. Data provided on currently supported clients and the methods by which autistic
clients are supported was outlined.
Ultimately it is hoped that up to 5-10% of people with learning disability, mental health and/or autism can be supported into employment to match national average.
3.2 Most employers working with the Service are from the retail sector, with some farms and horticultural
enterprises. Most clients report they want a range of jobs which often matches what is currently on offer.
The Service wants to develop a broader range of employers. There are early plans to set up a
workshop with the aim of broadening client’s options and creating more motivation.
3.3 The service can only be accessed by an individual who is care act eligible. People cannot self-refer or be
referred into the service from other agencies. As the Service has only been live for four months, adaptation
and development is ongoing. The Service wants to examine how it can expand to include health services
etc.
3.4 Sue Medley offered support to Paul Scott about obtaining experts by experience, as there is an
ongoing pilot program about accessible employment. Paul Scott agreed to get in contact.
Agenda Item 4: Presentation: SEND & EHCP Update with Lorraine Stephen
4.1 Lorraine Stephen gave a verbal update on SEND & EHCP for Maxine Blocksidge. She gave notice that
she would replace Maxine Blocksidge on a more permanent basis, which the Board accepted.
Lorraine Stephen updated the Board on the work undertaken to develop the SEND Strategy, including
work currently undertaken and planned. She outlined changes to the EHCP process and gave projections on how long it will take to clear the current backlog while working on new cases.
According to feedback the local offer webpage is not as user friendly as it could be; a review is being
undertaken. The EHCP process has been made more efficient and staff are comfortable using it. Next year parents will be able to track progress of their children’s EHCP through the entire process. Great progress has been made clearing backlog of annual reviews.
4.2 James Bullion requested a bullet point summary of good news be sent to the Autism Administrator to
capture and distribute. Lorraine Stephen will mark what information can be shared with the public.
Agenda Item 5 : Minutes of previous meeting (18/07/19) and matters arising not on the agenda.
5.1 Page 4, items 2.8 and 2.9 – this is being worked through with public health.
5.2 Page 6, item 3.2 – Maxine Blocksidge and Bruce Hubbard have met with Tracey Walton and have gone
through the plan. There needs to be more conversation about this as there is a lack of resource to
push action forward and smarter working needs to be developed to support it. Lorraine Stephens and Tracey Walton will meet and come to the next Board meeting with proposals.
5.3 Page 6, item 3.4 – this is a standing item and an update was provided at this meeting.
5.4 Pages 6-7, item 4.1 – actions completed. Nobody came forward in time to join the Board. Sue Medley will inform Tracey Walton and the Autism Administrator if there are any more opportunities for Easy Read training for Board members.
5.5 Page 7, item 4.2 – update provided today.
5.6 Page 8, item 4.4 – update provided today
5.7 Pages 8-9, item 4.5 – action underway.
5.8 Page 10, item 5.4 –issue resolved via the Workforce Development Working Group. Action resolved.
5.9 Page 10, item 6.2 – booking problems for the next meeting have been resolved.
Agenda Item 6 : Autism Strategy “My Autism, Our Lives, Our Norfolk” and Partnership Plans with Tracey Walton
6.1 Noted that the local Autism strategy was approved by Cabinet in August. Amendments referred to and
agreed. Planned an officially launched on 7 November. The Board needs to decide how to deliver
a partnership plan. Tracey Walton suggested Board members discussed within their organisations and ask
how they are implementing the strategy. Members should then bring their findings back to the next NAPB.
6.2 All involved organisations have statutory responsibilities to meet the strategy, but specific
response will vary based on the responsibilities of the organisation in question.
6.3 There was discussion about how best to support the strategy. The following actions were agreed:
-A simple response framework will be developed for partnership members to answer how they are
meeting the strategy’s main points.
-Framework and mind map will be disseminated with a plan delivered by March.
-Progress update will be given at the next NAPB in January.
Agenda Item 7 : Update on the National Autistic Society Coproduction Event (10/09/19), Terms of Reference, NAPG rebrand, Buddy Scheme
7.1 Summary of activities given. As a result of the event and the independent review it was decided that
separate Terms of Reference documents were required for the Board, Working Groups and Forum rather than one singular ToR.
Those who attended the forums, consistently complained that the Board naming scheme was confusing, making communication difficult. To resolve this, it was suggested the public Norfolk Autism Partnership Group (NAPG) will be renamed to the Autism Norfolk Forum (ANF). Agreed with full consensus.
7.2 Tracey McLean asked if Working Groups would be changing to become priority work streams. Tracey
Walton advised that this approach may fix the work stream to specific points in the strategy and some
working groups cover a much wider range of topics. Following discussion, decided that mooted change from Working Groups to priority work streams would be revisited at March NAPB.
7.3 Discussion about new NAPB Membership forms and sign-up method. To resolve persistent NAPG problems and complaints and to facilitate an inclusive approach it was agreed that meetings will now be open to members rather than the general public and that attendees will be asked to agree to a code of conduct.
Confirmed that it will be possible to sign up for membership on the day of a meeting and existing
NAPB members will be asked to sign up to the new system. The NAPB Engagement Working Group will review the application based on NAPB feedback received.
7.4 The NAPB Buddy Scheme and associated documents were unanimously approved by the Board. Work will begin on rolling it out.
7.5 Unanimous approval for reports by Working Group leads to the Board include a summary of their actions, which will then be used to update the NAPB webpage. Tracey Walton will disseminate this to the NAPB Working Group leads.
Agenda Item 8 : Updates on Independent Review with Tracey Walton and Lee Gibbons
8.1 Brief update on the progress made to date on implementing the Independent Review’s
recommendations. The NAPB Engagement Working Group is keeping oversight of the Independent Review’s actions.
Anything flagged by the Working Group will be brought to the next NAPB meeting.
Agenda Item 9 : Questions on Working Group Reports
9.1 Update on the NAPB Engagement Working Group report.
Autism questionnaire delayed due to the need to coordinate media response (CCG & NCC). The NAPB Engagement Working Group requests
volunteers to get involved in media campaign and state:
-How they have contributed to the running of the Board.
-Share their experience of completing the Autism Questionnaire.
9.2 A one-page summary of the comms plan will be developed and distributed to the Board so that it can be shared with different services. This is currently being worked on by Oliver Cruickshank and Sue Starling.
9.3 To aid efficient and effective communications all members agreed to clearly mark communications for
action or for information purposes.
9.4 Update on the NAPB Workforce Development Working
Group and current progress of autism training. Members asked to go back to their organisations to
check what autism eLearning is available and share gaps with the NAPB workforce development working
group via autism@norfolk.gov.uk.
9.5 Tracey McLean will link with Tom Bassett, Workforce Development Working Group lead, to explore ways to enable eLearning.
9.6 Reports from NAPB Data, Diagnosis and Education Working Groups accepted and agreed.
9.7 Rosemary Boutet questioned whether she is still a member of the Diagnosis Working Group. This was
confirmed.
Date, time and location of next meeting
-Wednesday 29th January 2020, 10:00am-1:00pm. Costessey Centre, Longwater Lane
-Thursday 16th April 2020, 10:30am-1:30pm. Edwards Room, County Hall
-Thursday 16th July 2020, 10:30am-13:30pm. Edwards Room, County Hall
-Thursday 15th October 2020, 10:30am-13:30pm. Edwards Room, County Hall