Issue - meetings

The report provides an update of Children in Care National Indicators and other key performance information at the end of November 10. In addition it provides details of outturns for 2010 and targets for 2010/11.

The Committee considered the performance management monitoring data for the Children and Families service for October and November which included Children in Care (CiC) national indicators.

It was advised that some recent stabilisation of CiC levels had been observed, with a pattern of more children leaving care than entering over the last few months. A question was raised on the reason for the disparity shown in rates of CiC across nearest statistical neighbour boroughs, with Haringey showing a higher than average level. It was advised that feedback received from Ofsted reaffirmed that the Council were looking after the right children and that Haringey’s rate had historically been higher than most statistical neighbours even pre Baby P. There was some anecdotal evidence this might be due to the placement of large families although this wasn’t routinely monitored to allow benchmarking across boroughs.  

It was advised that review work was ongoing in relation to placement stability as a key factor detrimentally impacting on LACs. In order to provide the Committee with further information, it was proposed that a Senior Independent Review Officer be invited to give a presentation to a future meeting setting out their role and outlining changes to be introduced from April including the requirement to produce an annual report. 

The Committee requested an update on adoption and permanency performance at a future meeting and the reason for associated delays in the process.

It was commented that performance in relation to young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) appeared to have plateaued over time. It was advised that targeted work was planned in this area including a joint project with Spurs, a number of employers and other boroughs to provide a focussed, collective approach to reducing the level of NEETs. It was also noted that the Southwark Judgement had impacted on the number of young people in this cohort.