Agenda item

Briefing and answers to questions – Councillor Lorna Reith, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

The Committee received the portfolio briefing and the responses to advance questions posed to Councillor Lorna Reith, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.  The Committee asked supplementary questions, the answers of which are noted below.

Re.  Q8 – Child Protection Legal Fees - The Director of Children’s Services informed the Committee that the number of legal proceedings in child protection cases was not within the Council’s control; more information on this would be circulated to the Committee in response to questions on what actions were being pursued to reduce legal fees and how the Council would meet the appropriate milestone (action 98.1). 

The Committee noted that other local authorities had similar experiences with courts constantly requesting additional information before making decisions on child protection.  The Cabinet Member informed the Committee that the over-spend on legal fees was being highlighted at Government level.

Re. Q10 – Health White Paper – The Committee requested a short note providing more information on how the Council was establishing close relations with the GP Collaboratives in Haringey and how it would ensure that the health and protection needs of children were reflected in the Council’s response to the White Paper (action 98.2).

Re. Q12 – Committee members were informed that young people coming back into the system were not due to inappropriate case closures but rather to do with how contact about the individual was made and how relevant the data was.  The Deputy Director – Children and Families explained that the service was keen to conduct further case studies investigating how information was dealt with when contact about an individual was made a number of times or when re-referrals took place.  The Committee noted that “contact” included any information from any agency, even a simple update which needed adding to the system.

A Committee Member expressed concern at the number of black and ethnic minority (BME) children excluded from schools. Headteachers from certain schools with high and low levels of exclusions would be identified to be invited to a future Overview & Scrutiny Committee to talk about the different approaches when dealing with exclusions (action 98.3) including alternatives to exclusion. It was noted that the school was responsible for providing alternative placements for young people excluded for up to 5 days and the local authority provided an alternative for those excluded for more than 6 days.

Re. Q20 – It was reported that whilst the number of social workers in Haringey had increased there were still social worker vacancies.  It was noted that Social Workers applying for jobs were not as concerned with financial incentives as they were about working for an employer who provided support, suitable office accommodation, training and a career path.  The Committee would receive a briefing note detailing the caseloads of social workers (action 98.3.1).

Re. Q23 – The Committee requested details on the number of children who were eligible for but did not take up free school meals (action 98.4).

The Committee asked further questions, the answers of which are noted below:

The Committee congratulated Headteacher, Governors and pupils at Gladesmore School on achieving 91% 5+ A*-C GCSE results.

In response to questions it was noted that whilst the local authority did not encourage Free Schools it maintained contact with them and worked towards a long term aim to include Free Schools within the Council’s family of schools.

Out of the £8.5 million Primary Capital Programme funding withdrawn from Haringey by the Government a settlement of £3 million would be returned to the Council.

It was noted that the additional 40 children with Child Protection Plans moving into the Borough was due to cheaper rental prices in Haringey.

As a result of the Southwark Judgement (which ruled that councils should ensure homeless 16-18 year olds have a full assessment and support for employment, health, education and finance as well as accommodation) there was an additional 20 looked after children in Haringey.

RESOLVED that the briefing and answers to questions for the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services be noted.