To receive details of Regulation 33 inspections made to Haringey’s residential homes.
Minutes:
The committee noted the aim of the Commissioning and Placements service to make a concerted effort to improve of regulation 33 inspections with the primary aim of achieving an outstanding standard of service for looked after children in Haringey Park, and Coppetts Road Children’s Homes.
The chair asked committee members to comment on the format of the report following recent changes to it. It was noted that whilst the report format was good as it allowed understanding of the issues identified on each visit there was a need f or the report to differentiate between the recommendations and the management action that has been taken to address the issues identified. Further comments were made about having the actions listed in a tabular format so that, where actions had already been taken, they could be ticked off the list. It was agreed that the report needed to list the persons taking part in the visits. It was clarified that recently no young person participated in the visits. The committee noted that there had been some young people identified and trained to take part in the visits but they had not come forward when the visits to the home had been arranged. The Head of commissioning and placements agreed to revisit this pool of young people to find out if any further support was needed to enable their participation.
Concern was expressed at the time that it had taken to organise restraint training for workers at the children’s home. The committee advised that most permanent staff would have received restraint training before starting work at a children’s home. However, it was accepted that this training required updating on a regular basis. The Head of Commissioning and Placements explained that it was not possible to access a shared training contract with schools as part of the training should include learning skills in de-escalation and behaviour management. There were recently two providers identified to access the training from and there would be available soon training dates for the workers to select and attend.
Further concern was communicated about the number of children not attending school at one of the Children Homes and the responsibility of the home workers to ensure that children that accessed learning through the SAM codes had regular access to this learning website. In particular one young person had showed educational potential which should be supported with access to the SAM code. Clarification was sought on the roles of the IRO in monitoring this, and the responsibility of the children’s home to get the young people to access learning. In response it was noted that the IRO can only act in this situation if they have been made aware of it. The committee noted that workers in the home should have the responsibility and skills for encouraging children at the home to go to school and should be aware of the significance of the SAM code and keeping this in an accessible location. it was important for the committee to understand that there maybe a number and range of issues concerning the young people’s non attendance at school existing over a number of years but it was reasonable for , committee members which participated in the visits, to see an improvement to the participation of young people at the home in learning activities. The head of commissioning and placements agreed to respond to the information provided by committee members and would report back to the Chair and Cllr Allison her discussions with the children’s home and the actions to be taken.
In relation to the report on occupancy the committee further agreed that there should in be information included on how many residents there were per night in the homes, those in education, information on how long the child had been there and if they had an Personal Education Plan.