Agenda and minutes

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The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred to the notice of filming at meetings and this information was noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Ahmed Mahbub.

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 10 below.

There were no items of urgent business.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 28 February 2023

RESOLVED:

That minutes of the meeting of 28 February 2023 be agreed as a correct record.

This report provides an analysis of the performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to looked after children on behalf of the Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee.

Mr Richard Hutton, Senior performance officer, presented the report.

Members queried the report and asked questions. The meeting heard that:

• Performance showed solid and steady improvement.
• The new recording system Liquid Logic was scheduled to be implemented in October 2023. There were plans for the system to include greater performance reporting function and capability and allow enhanced accuracy.
• There was a discussion regarding UASC. The Home Office were responsible for the initial processing of unaccompanied asylum seekers and any other persons seeking asylum in the UK.
• London Councils, with support from others, had constructed a letter expressing concerns on how UASC were being treated whilst placed by the Home Office in hotels across the country. The committee heard that Haringey has developed relationships with the 2 hotels in Haringey and to date no UASC had been placed by the Home Office in Haringey Hotels. However, the Home Office had placed asylum seeking adults and families in Haringey Hotels.
• The safeguarding team in partnership with Connected Communities were ensuring that the right support was in place at the earliest stage possible and examples provided included access to health, schools, and food.
• There had been reports that young people had been assessed as adults by the Home Office and therefore treated as adults. There was a small number of these cases and the Young Adults Services had met and supported both the adults and the Local Authorities responsible for them to ensure the age assessment process was followed.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Haringey Children’s Social Care Service was inspected by OFSTED between 13 and 24 February 2023.  The inspection, following a five day notice and mobilisation period,  focused on the effectiveness of the Council’s Children’s Social Care Services.

Ms Beverley Hendricks and Mr Keith Warren presented Haringey’s Children and Young People Service – post Ofsted action plan section from the report.  It was noted that this report had also been submitted to Cabinet, various boards and available for partnership scrutiny.

Members discussed the report and asked questions. The meeting heard that:

• In relation to improving the provision and quality of life story work at key developmental stages in a child’s life, the primary care trust, GP, and Health visiting would have more involvement to ensure children known CSC health information was translated into the child’s RED BOOK.
• The designated lead GP would be able to raise private fostering matters to other GPs through the GP Forum.
• Referrals for private fostering were monitored by the MASH operational team.
• When Looked After Children (LAC) experienced placement changes, it was helpful if they remained registered with their home GP and if needed, they could temporary register with a GP closer to their placements to facilitate access to primary care in the host local authority. This would enable the home GP to continue their involvement.
• Chair recommended including having a stable healthcare team noted as part of the Post Ofsted action plan. It was noted that this had been achieved.
• Communication and relationship with children would become more efficient by utilising technological advances facilitating the production of Life Story work.
• 80% of Looked After Children were being placed outside of the borough therefore co-ordinating.
• The committee would be updated on issues regarding preparation and accessibility of services for the increasing number of placements in the borough.
• Some members felt that including a space for reflection and practice in the action plan will be useful. It was suggested that for this to be being more explicit and including this section would be a part of the expected CPD, process of social work and care provided in Haringey.
• The recommendations were accepted.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

To receive an update on the National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers

Verbal update was provided by Ms Emma Cummergen, Head of Young Adult Service

Safeguarding & Social Care.

The Committee heard that:

• Mark Riddell, DFE Lead for Care Leavers and National Implementation Advisor visited the service in 2021 and had the opportunity to meet with various leaders across the agency. He met with service staff, children, and young people.
• A total of 18 recommendations were made.
• The service was revisited in May 2023 and reviewed the progress made against the recommendations.
• The summary of the presentation in the pack outlined the progress and the work that had been completed since the visit.
• The formal feedback and the follow up letter have not been received yet. This will be shared along with the new recommendations with the committee once received.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

To note the national review into disabilities and Complex Health Needs.

Ms Beverley Hendricks, AD for Safeguarding & Social Care Safeguarding & Social Care introduced the report.

This review was about the experiences of children placed at the three independent residential settings operated by the Hesley Group in Doncaster. Doncaster Council initiated a complex abuse investigation in response to a number of ‘whistleblowing’ allegations. They referred these allegations to the National Serious Practice Review Panel, and it was agreed that a national review was needed. The first phase of the review was an examination of what went wrong and why.

The Committee heard that:

• Phase 1 of the report set out recommendation and Haringey has been supported by colleagues in Health and Integrated Care Boards to conduct reviews on all children with complex care needs placed outside of Haringey.
• All children with complex needs from Haringey have had a joint health and safeguarding visit and this programme of visits would continue supporting the Regulation 44 visitor to see children in those settings.
• Joint quality assurance processes were developed alongside the conventional complex care panels and other forums. There were regular meetings to ensure the IRO system was intact and picking up on any issues. 
• The outcome of the above work noted that the current cohort of children in Haringey are safe. There was a need to move children closer to Haringey.
• The findings of these reports had gone to the Haringey Children’s Safeguarding Partnership and further meetings would be held with Department of Health.
• Phase 2 had challenged the council to look at HR recruitment processes. There would be a meeting with Operations and the National Panel towards the end of July/ beginning of August.
• Placement planning meetings were held in person.
• The report has been shared with the Integrated Care Board and this enabled the children’s health needs to be tracked. 
• The lead designated nurse from the ICB in partnership with CSC holds joint responsibility for carrying out checks to reduce health risk for children who are placed outside of Haringey. Social workers were also being supported to ensure wider checks were carried out including having conversations with host GP, LADO, and host Brokerage services.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted

To receive an update on IROs.

Ms Pauline Morris, Head of Engagement, Safeguarding & Quality Assurance presented the report as set out in the agenda.

The Committee heard that:

• The gaps in the IRO service where improvements were needed included training for IRO in how they could communicate with children and young people who had speech and language needs. Another improvement is around having more personalised meetings where meetings were in person, compared to meeting virtually through a digital platform.
• The IROs are also participating in enhancing the skills of practitioners on the work front in terms of life story.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

Report provides an update on the work of the Children in Care health team.         

Ms Lynn Carrington Designated Nurse Safeguarding & Social Care introduced the report.

Report provided an update on the work of the Children in Care health team.

The Committee heard that:

• All immunisations that the young person had is listed in their Health Assessment. This was shared with the GP, Foster carer, social worker, and the residential home the child was living in. Wherever possible, details of birth and medical history can be tracked, and this was incorporated into the reports. This enabled the child to have access to their records if they don’t have access to their red book.
• Information was available on the child’s case file on the Mosaic system, where annual reports, health reports and care leavers report were all uploaded on this database.
• In terms of mental health provision and support there had been discussions with the Honourable Children’s commissioner and with First Steps who provided the Strengths and difficulties questionnaire screening for all young children in care, strengthened difficulty questionnaire and provided support for the social workers.
• There was a deficit in psychological psychiatry and psychotherapy services for children and carers across the nation.
• There was a national programme of a catch up for immunisations for unaccompanied asylum seekers which were all referred to University College London Hospital. They ran a specialist screening service for any unaccompanied asylum seeker regardless of their country of origin.
• Health assessments and referrals were made to specialist services such as Teaching hospitals and Great Ormond Street Hospital if necessary. Local referrals would go to North Middlesex University hospital and Whittington hospital.
• If the child was out of borough, this would be done through their GP and the initial health assessment would be carried out.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

To receive an update on the Pan London Care Leavers Covenant.

Mr Matthew Raleigh presented the Pan London Care Leavers compact presentation.

The Committee heard that:

• This project addressed areas in building greater consistency in the support offered to London’s care leavers and in the quality of the processes.
• Improvements were made in the consistency of the support offered to London’s care leavers.
• Previously there were inconsistencies in the support offered to care leavers based on where they were in care and where they eventually settled, as the children eventually permanently settle outside of their home local authority.
• The governance and delivery structure showed the London Children in care council were supported by an organisation called Partnership for Young London.
• Thematic areas were covered, and this involved communicating with different groups of stakeholders, often with specialisms in those areas. Projects were grouped and structured according to these areas of specialism.
• Progress update showed that there were five integrated care systems. These are health organisations within London (excluding North Central London) who had developed free prescriptions offer for care leavers. This offer would also be available for Haringey’s care leavers very soon.
• Some of the challenging areas included dentistry, eye care, mental health and emotional wellbeing for children who had been in care.  
• Transport for London had a 50% offer on reduction in transport cost on bus and trams. This would be available for care leavers who were 18 – 25 years old. This was estimated to benefit around 16,000 young people.
• There were 5 housing related proposal for local authorises.  One was around council tax exemption, and another was around local authority having joint protocols for care leavers between their Children’s and Housing departments.
• Local authorities have been asked to sign up to a membership with an organisation called The Care Leavers Covenant which helped bring together regional networks that supported care leavers.
• Concerns around multiple point of access for post 16 provision was raised. Issues raised on higher and further education would be raised with Matthew Bloods from London Borough of Islington, the virtual school head who leads on the education work.
• Data should be available to higher educational institutions to flag factors that might have an impact on a young person’s ability to do well. This would ensure support is provided if needed.
• In terms of housing, conversations had started with Clarion Housing Group as they had expressed their interest in being engaged with this project. A housing group meeting is due to be held next week where there would be further discussions on how their activity would link back to individual care leavers.
• In terms of other work, one of the other five priorities of the London’s threats of Children’s services was around resources and commissioning with a strong focus on residential placement.

To receive an update on unregulated and unregistered placements.

Verbal update was provided by Ms Beverley Hendricks.

The Committee heard that:

·         In October the service would be moving to an Ofsted regime of registering all semi-independent units operating for children between 16 – 18 years old. 

·         Ofsted had given a commitment to register the homes within 10 weeks following the submission of the application.

·         Haringey had 17 semi-independent providers and 5 residential units.

·         The long-term placements strategy included avoiding placing children away from Haringey.

·         Majority of the children going into care are under 5 or adolescence. The adolescents were more difficult to place, stabilise and support due to hidden traumas.

There was no other business.