Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence was  received from Cllr Alexander, Cllr Hare would be substituting   for this meeting. There were also apologies for absence from the independent member , Hilary Corrick and Marion Wheeler, Assistant Director of Children and Young People’s service.

The Chair will consider the admission of late items of urgent business. Late items will be considered under the agenda item they appear. New items will be dealt with at Item 12 &15 below.

There were no items of urgent  business added to the agenda.

 There were no declarations of interest put forward.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 30^th April 2013.

 The minutes of the meeting  held on the 30^th April were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

The Committee welcomed Lisa Redfern to the meeting Lisa would be taking up the role of Assistant Director for Commissioning in the Children and People’s service.

To note the terms of reference  for this Committee  agreed by Cabinet on 18^th June 2013.

The Committee considered the report on its terms of reference, as agreed by Cabinet on 18^th June 2013.

New members of the Committee sought clarification about the nature of the work of the Committee as from initial observations the functions of the Committee were similar to scrutiny.

The Chair explained the work of the Committee which was assisted by the independent member Hilary Corrick’s contribution, advice and qualitative audits.  The Children’s Safeguarding Policy and Practice Committee was constructed to work  in parallel to the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee  and had duties  for overseeing the Council’s responsibility for children in need, particularly focussing  on safeguarding. This included children who would come into contact with safeguarding policies. The Committee would examine areas of safeguarding practice, consider issues arising from the performance reports and identify issues which required further investigation and attention. The Committee would commission the Independent Member to complete qualitative audits into specific safeguarding practices and areas where they had concerns. For example, Hilary had completed an audit on how contacts received by the First Response team (Following the Judicial Review) are screened.  The Committee had also examined the findings of audit to understand how expediently referrals had progressed through safeguarding and support services, looked in particular at cases where domestic violence was a factor.

 Comment was made about the Committee’s prior knowledge of the complaint   made against Children and Young People’s Service  in 2011  which culminated in  the recent  Judicial Review  and subsequent  judgement against the council for  completing an unlawful  section 47  investigation. It was noted that, this was a complaint that had been made against the Children and Young People’s Service in 2011 and it was not usually practice, for the Committee, to be kept updated on complaints against the service .However, the judgement had implications for how contacts made with the First Response team, concerning the welfare of children, are screened and how permissions are sought for information to be shared in the MASH (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub). This concerns the Committee’s remit, as information sharing is a  vital part of the safeguarding process  because it enables a crucial  understanding of the risks that the child could be subject to, in turn ,  informing  the level of action to be taken by partners to help the family/child.

Since March, the Committee had been kept informed of the changes to the information sharing protocol between partners in the MASH. The Committee had commissioned the  Independent Member to  complete an audit of the  contacts received by the  First Response to understand if the updated information sharing protocols were being applied and appropriate  parental consent was being sought( a  criticism was that parental consent  had not been obtained to seek information from partners in the judgement) when required to  share information. They would also monitor if the  information sharing protocols  had  an impact on safeguarding activity as the Committee were clear that there was a need to ensure that  social workers  and  local stakeholders that are in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 151.

This report sets out performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to: Children and Families - Contacts, referrals and assessments and Child Protection.

The Committee considered the performance data and trends for measures relating to contacts, referrals and assessments and child protection. For the benefit of new Members there was added explanation of   performance statistics and associated numbers. An understanding was also given of the pathway through children’s social care by the ordering of the performance information which started from the initial point of contact with children’s social care services, through to the child protection plan.

OP504 (The number of child contacts received) The First Response team will receive the first indication of a concern about a child’s welfare via phone call, email, letter or contact form.   Around 55% of the contacts received, will have been put forward by Police and it was also clarified that some contacts received may not necessarily be the first time the service receive a concern about a child as they may already be in the social care process or have been in the past.  When looking at OP410, it was ascertained that of the 501 contacts received by First Response in March 2013, 164 became referrals to children’s social care. The Committee were informed that a majority of the remaining 337 contacts would have required no further action by the social work team but some may have needed additional information to   establish if the threshold for a social care referral had been met.

When looking at the 164 referrals in March, the Committee noted that 87 %( 143 cases) will go onto initial assessment which was commented to be a high number of cases to receive a statutory service.

The next performance rate considered was OP383 Re – referrals within 12 months of the previous referral) This was explained to be a critical indicator, required by the service to judge whether good practices are being followed. The low referral rate at the end of the last year of 12% indicated that First Response team were applying the thresholds for a social care referral correctly and that appropriate support was being provided.

HY59 (percentage of initial assessments for children’s social care carried out within 10 working days of referral. The Committee noted that 70% (100 cases out of 143) had received an initial assessment within 10 days of referral. New members were advised that the Committee had previously investigated the reasons behind this performance level and had been satisfied that children were being seen within 10 days. The new single assessment from would help social workers complete the assessments and write them also within this timescale.  The new target for single assessments would be 95% and would be a 10 days (single assessment) + 35 days for core assessment.

Op388 – Children subject to a child protection plan - In March 2013 there were 275 children subject to a child protection plan.  This indicator included children in need and subject to plan.  New members noted that these families required the significant support of a social worker. There was a steady decrease in number of children on plans, achieved  ...  view the full minutes text for item 152.

The report will inform members of the progress made in the performance of the Adoption Service in placing children for adoption and special guardianship since the publication of the Adoption Scorecard and the Adoption Diagnostic Review in Summer 2012.

The Committee were provided with an update in the performance of the adoption service in placing children for adoption and special guardianship since the publication of the adoption scorecard and the adoption diagnostic review in summer 2012.

Although, over a three year period the average number of days for adopting a child in the care of the local authority was comparatively high, there had been a significant recent improvement in reducing the number of days it took to adopt a child. 

The increased management attention given to completing the stages of the adoption process appropriately and expediently had led to significant improvements. The service had already met its annual target of 20 adoptions and now expects to make 30 adoptions by the end of the financial year.

The Committee further noted that for the 2012/13 financial year:

• 31 special guardianship orders were approved.
• 26 prospective adopters approved (this was the highest number in the North London Consortium of boroughs).

The Committee noted that a two stage adoption process had come into effect from the 01^st July, a 2 month investigation stage, followed by a 4 month process of approval. This was identified as a challenging timescale and the North London Consortium had agreed to fund a team to specifically deal with recruitment of adopters.

The Chair had particularly wanted a report on adoption to aid the Committee’s understanding on how adoption works with safeguarding process.   For example the journey from safeguarding support to adoption and this was illustrated in section 6.1.2 which advised that the previous average number of days a child was in care before moving to adoption placement was 737. This had now reduced to 299 days through the improved focus on deadlines and care planning.

The Committee were advised that as soon as it established that there are significant issues concerning the parents of a child and adoption is the best permanency option for the child,   the service will instigate care proceedings.  The service is aware of children, as well as newborns, where an early response will help them get adopted. For example, there will be indicators such as a sibling previously being adopted.

An enquiry was made about the number of contested adoptions. It was noted that often, initially, parents will resist the intention for an adoption.  The service will try to work with the family by holding a family group conference  to help identify a family member willing to take on the role of special guardian. If a special guardian is identified, they will need to complete a special guardianship assessment.   The service are fully transparent with parents and they are made fully aware of the process and are actively advised from an early stage about the process of adoption and are not subjected to any surprises.

An understanding was sought on the number of adoptions in comparison to the number of children in care, to put in context the actions being taken in relation to adoption. It was noted that around 5% of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 153.

At their meeting in November 2012, the Committee agreed to monitor the implementation  of the  MOSAIC programme, which would start in 2013.The Committee will consider an update report on MOSAiC which is a major redevelopment of FWi, Haringey’s social care recording system, which is being designed and developed in partnership with the supplier and 14 other early adopter authorities.

 The Committee received an update on the major redevelopment of the Framework I social care recording system, Mosaic. This was a new generation of network programmes which was designed to be more intuitive and   user focussed. It was hoped that the new system will reduce social work recording times, improve staff experience of the system and provide long term improvements in data quality practice and performance. Haringey will be an early adopter of the new system along with 13 other boroughs. Haringey wanted to be at the fore front of the adoption of the new system to ensure it was made to work for staff in Haringey. The first release of the programme was expected in October 2013 and at the moment IT and Children and Young People’s Service was involved with the conversion of data from Framework I to Mosaic.

The current recording system  captures information  in ‘episodes’ and  the new  system will  be a ‘form’  based system which will allow  social workers to pass information to managers more speedily , help with work prioritisation  with reminders  about visits that need to be made.

 Members welcomed the developments to the system and sought assurance that data would not be misplaced in the transfer. They were assured that there had been an enormous effort to back up the data and training and testing would not take place on the live version of the system to protect data.

 In response to a question about the training of staff, there would be user acceptance training before the system went live. The Committee were assured that the system would not go live until the go ahead was given by staff.

This is the Local Authority Designated Officer’s (LADO) annual report of allegations made against adults who work with children. The report provides profiling analysis of allegations made in the Borough, comparative data and an update of the interventions and development work completed during 2012/13.

The Committee were advised that the council  in conjunction with the LSCB  has a duty to ensure that all allegations of abuse, maltreatment  of children by a professional, staff member, foster carer or volunteer  are considered  and treated  in accordance with national guidance. The Committee considered a report by the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) which provided open information on the referrals of allegations against adults who work with children, including a profiling analysis of allegations made in the borough, comparative data and an update of the interventions and development work completed in 2012/13. This included staff that lived in Haringey but worked in other boroughs.  

The Committee noted that the LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) holds a significant position in the Children’s Service hierarchy and this role is taken forward by a staff member who shares their work time equally as a Child Protection Advisor. It was important to note that the LADO will  be involved in the management oversight  of the individual cases  where allegations have been made and will not make the decisions on the outcome of the allegations as these allegations will already be being progressed through separate means i.e. prosecution or internal disciplinary proceedings.

The Committee were informed that allegations against professionals, staff members, foster care or volunteers were previously recorded in a paper system but in the last year had begun to be recorded; confidentially, on Framework I .This had allowed the enclosed performance information to be compiled.  The LSCB had provided 4 training sessions to partners about the reporting of allegations,   and focused on what is an allegation, the thresholds that need to be applied and provided an explanation of the roles in the   reporting process and what they do.

The Committee were provided with a profile of adults that allegations have been made against and some examples of the varying types of allegations. Members noted that there will be around 2 calls a week making allegations of abuse and maltreatment of children.   There were mainly 3 ways to deal with the allegation and the option taken forward would also depend on the seriousness of the allegation. The options were:  instigation of a section 47 investigation for serious allegations, staff training or management action.

The Committee further noted that there were 46 allegations between 2012-13, that met the updated thresholds, these were in line with number received by neighbouring boroughs, and were investigated by the LADO. A majority of the allegations came from the establishment.

 The Chair asked a question about the revisions to the thresholds and sought assurance that these had not been made more lenient. The Committee noted that the thresholds, following a review, were more correctly aligned to the criteria for statutory interventions. The LADO contributed to the dialogue with schools and smaller organisations so they were aware of the statutory criteria and when they needed to make referrals the service. The Committee were further assured that the LADO   will not automatically discard the allegations that do not make the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 155.

At the last meeting, the Committee  were  made aware also that training on information sharing  was being provided to staff within the service as well as advice and guidance to other agencies . The Committee wanted to also explore the engagement with wider community groups on the changes relating to information sharing and their roles and responsibility. On behalf of the Committee , the independent member undertook to report on the outcome of these training activities by auditing a sample of new referrals.

Following changes to the screening of cases referred to the Children and Young People’s service, as a result of the Judicial Review in March, there had been a change to information sharing protocols.  Training had been provided to staff within the service and guidance to agencies on the new protocols. The Independent Member of the Committee had completed an audit   of a sample of new referrals to provide the Committee with a further understanding of how the changes were being implemented.

 The Committee considered the results of the audit and were advised by the Acting Head of First Response that of the 23 contacts which had been examined, previously half of these would likely have gone through to the MASH for additional information. Staff were more confident about requesting further quality information from the referrer and checking if information can be shared.   However, it was also reported that in some cases social workers were going out to addresses with less information than previously held to investigate some contacts further.

To consider new items of business as per item 2.

 There were no items of urgent business put forward.

 The following report is NOT FOR PUBLICATION by virtue of paragraph 5 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as it contains information classified as exempt under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contains information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

 The press and public were excluded  from the meeting by virtue of paragraph 5 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as it contains information classified as exempt under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contains information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

The purpose of this report is to inform the Committee of the Counsel’s advice and action required.

The Committee agreed that there be a further report back to the next meeting on the progress of implementing the advice of the QC and updating relevant documents and guidance.

To consider new items of exempt business as per item 2.

 There were no new items of urgent exempt information.

Date of next meeting: 17^th September 7.30pm.

The next meeting would take place on 17 September 2013.

The following items were added to the agenda.

• Briefing on the progress  of updating the information sharing advice

• LADO update if information is available.