Issue - meetings

An opportunity to question the Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Councillor Elin Weston, on developments within her portfolio.

Councillor Elin Weston, the Cabinet Member for Children and Families reported on key priorities from her portfolio as follows:

·         She was keen to build on the progress that had been outlined in the OFSTED inspection report of 2014 in services for Children in Need of Help and Protection, Looked After Children and Care Leavers.  It was important to ensure that services were safe and sustainable and able to progress to being rated as “good”.  She was pleased that a progress report on the issue had been included in the Panel’s work plan for the year.  There was a lot being done on this issue this would include work with Aspire, the borough’s children in care  council, to ensure the voice of the child was heard;

·         She wished to work towards the authority becoming a “child centred” Council and welcomed the Panel’s intention to undertake a review on the issue.  A key part of this would be ensuring that, where children and young people received help from the Children and Young People’s Service, their voice was heard and taken into account throughout.  The would also be about the Council, on a corporate basis, taking into account the needs of children in all areas of its work;

·         A new strategy for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities was to be developed;

·         The 30 hours free childcare offer for 3 and 4 year olds was due to implemented in 2017.  There was, as yet, no details of the funding arrangements and it was likely that a major piece of work would be required prior to its implementation; and

·         In respect of schools, the Government’s academisation agenda was still a major issue.  In addition, there was to be a change in the national funding formula in two years time which would affect schools significantly.  The specific details of the changes were not yet known but work would be needed to maintain strong and supportive links with schools and governors;

She responded to the Panel’s questions as follows;

·         There was considerable concern regarding the recent large increase in demand for social care.  The figures for May were double the number of contacts from the same month a year ago.  The precise reasons for the increase were not known and a lot of work was being undertaken with partners to establish them.  Contacts from the Police had gone up by 234% whilst those from schools had increased by 183%.  Jon Abbey, Director of Children’s Services, reported that similar increases had been experienced elsewhere and the work was focussing on getting a better understanding of demand.  It was noted that referrals were often very complex in nature and required a range of interventions with families.   A number were child protection referrals and had resulted in the need for care proceedings to be taken.  A temporary additional team of social workers was being brought in to alleviate the pressure.  It was hoped to have greater clarity on what action could be taken to alleviate demand by the next meeting  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30