This meeting included two major topics for discussion - the Solihull Mental Health Delivery Plan and the development of a Birmingham and Solihull Children and Young People's Mental Health Transformation Programme.

Solihull Mental Health Delivery Plan

The Board will be asked to note the progress of the Solihull Mental Health Delivery Plan 2024/25, which aims to support the delivery of ‘good mental health’ as part of the Solihull Outcomes Framework and supporting increased life expectancy .

The report details activities to take forward against six key priority areas, they are:

• Strengthening positive mental health and wellbeing, acting early to prevent mental health conditions by increasing activities and approaches to encourage and support people to be mentally well.
• Improve access and outcomes for people with mental health needs in primary care settings by transforming community based mental health services to improve access to mental health and ensure people can move more easily between services.
• Develop the 0-25 mental health offer by extending the breadth of services from prevention to crisis for all children and young people, including 18-25 year olds with a focus on transition to adult services and support for young people with additional vulnerabilities.
• Increase and improve access to perinatal and parenting support for children of any age by improving access to parenting support and perinatal mental health and ensure workforce can identify and sign post appropriately.
• Increase and improve crisis support by working with the community transformation programme to reduce need for crisis support, enhance access through response vehicles, training and ensuring treatment is provided as close to home as possible.
• Increase and improve support for rehabilitation by enhancing the support available in Solihull and work with housing providers to ensure sufficient house with support is available.

Progress on the plan is summarised in the report, and all six priorities are said to be either completed or on track.

The Board will also be asked to note the road map for the development of a new All Age Mental Health Strategy for Birmingham & Solihull, which will be underpinned with a Solihull Implementation Plan. The strategy will be co-produced with stakeholders, and is due to be in place from April 2025.

Birmingham & Solihull Children & Young People's Mental Health Transformation Programme

The report pack says that the BSOL Mental Health Provider Collaborative will provide a detailed update on their Children & Young People’s (CYP) Transformation Programme. The programme was initiated in February 2024 with the aim of:

To increase access to care and deliver improved outcomes for all children and young people, enabling them to be healthy, fulfilled and achieve their full potential by preventing mental ill health, supporting early intervention and enabling them to thrive into adulthood.

The report pack describes the programme as ambitious and innovative and says it will review national and international best practice to transform services to meet the changing needs of children and young people.

It goes on to say that A Clinical Reference Group was established including clinicians from across both Birmingham and Solihull and a draft model of care has been developed . The model of care has been published on the ICB website for public comment, with a closing date of 20 December 2024, after which all feedback will be reviewed and help shape and inform the final model of care .

The Board will be asked to review and acknowledge the draft Children & Young People’s model of care for Birmingham & Solihull.

The report pack includes the minutes from the previous meeting of the Scrutiny Board on 5 November 2024. They record that the Board agreed to hold an additional meeting before the new calendar year to discuss a deferred item on the Mental Health Delivery Plan. It was deferred to allow NHS England to send a representative to the meeting. In the minutes of the previous meeting, Councillor Ken Hawkins, the Lead Member for Children & Education, noted that she endorsed the scoping of what would be involved in becoming a UNICEF-identified child-friendly borough.¹

The minutes also detail a verbal update from Councillor Alison Rolf on the Recruitment and Retention of Social Workers Task and Finish Group. It is anticipated that the Group will bring their findings and recommendations to the Scrutiny Board meeting scheduled for 7th January 2025.

The report pack contains the Board's work programme, which details all of the topics the Board is scheduled to discuss in 2024/25. The Work Programme includes items on the SEND Transformation Plan, the work of School Engagement Officers and the Education Inclusion Service, and a report from Ofsted following their visit to Solihull in October 2024. The Work Programme also schedules discussion of a report from the Solihull Parent Carer Voice Forum on the parental views of the services provided by SMBC to Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities.

The report pack also contains an action tracker, detailing the actions agreed at the previous meeting of the Scrutiny Board. The action tracker records that the Assistant Director of Children's Services has circulated a chart containing the details of all ASYEs² and apprentices to the members of the Board.