Issue - meetings

(Report of the Director Children and Young People’s Service – To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services): This report summarises the various options for the future of the residential provision provided for Looked After Children directly by the Council.

A report was received that summarised the various options for the future of the residential provision for Looked After Children directly by the Council.

Prior to consideration of the report a deputation was taken from Flora Onwukwe of Unison in opposition to the proposals.

Ms Onwukwe noted that within the Ofsted rating awarded to Home B the assessment of the quality of care element had been rated as ‘good’ and that the children care for there had indicated that they supported this. It was contended that the use of agency staff had contributed to a loss of consistency and a subsequent deterioration in the standard of care that the Homes were able to provide.

Ms Onwukwe suggested that private care providers would need to procure specialised services that the Council was able to access from in-house providers and that this would constitute an additional cost. In addition Ms Onwukwe contended that private providers might be selective with regard to the children that they took in order to preserve their Ofsted ratings.

It was noted that twenty-eight staff would be affected by the closure of the Homes and these staff faced with an uncertain future due to the lack of redeployment opportunities available to them. 

Ms Onwukwe concluded by noting that the properties were situated in desirable residential areas where property prices were high and she suggested that this consideration was being placed before the needs of the children living in the Homes.

The Chair thanked Ms Onwukwe for her deputation and invited Cabinet Members to put questions to her.

It was noted that the overall rating awarded to both Homes by Ofsted was ‘satisfactory’ and that when using private and voluntary sector providers the Council’s policy was to only use providers with a rating of ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.  In response Ms Onwukwe acknowledged this left room for improvement and reiterated that the quality of care had been assessed as ‘good’, which constituted an improvement in performance, achieved against a background of significant change and a loss of continuity due to an increase in the use of agency staff.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services responded to Ms Onwukwe and began by thanking her for attending the meeting. She noted that whist it was recognised that staff had been doing a good job in difficult circumstances, a rating of ‘satisfactory’ was not sufficient. As set out above the Council required all private and voluntary sector providers to be rated as ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ when procuring their services and this was what the Council aspired to achieve within all of the Homes that it placed children in.

In response to suggestions that private providers might exercise a degree of selection in order to preserve their Ofsted ratings she noted that there was no evidence to suggest that this was the case and that it was common practice for Local Authorities to work with private providers. 

With respect to concerns raised regarding the impact of potential disruption and continuity resulting from the closure  ...  view the full minutes text for item 124