Agenda item

To consider the report on initial and core assessments for child protection cases.

RECEIVED the report on First Response Performance – timeliness of completion of Initial and Core Assessments, introduced by Sylvia Chew (Head of First Response) as laid out on pages 11 – 19 of the agenda pack.

NOTED in response to questions and discussion:

• Performance indicators NI 59 (percentage of initial assessments carried out within 10 working days from referral) and NI 60 (percentage of core assessments carried out within 35 days of commencement) had previously been closely monitored by the Committee.  It was reported that assessments comprised only 40% of the work of the First Response Team and 71% were completed within deadlines through good partnership working and a more stable workforce than in the past.  The Service was still very busy and there were fluctuations in the numbers of referrals, for example, towards the end of school terms when schools were more aware of the situation of children needing referrals.
• Concern was raised in relation to paragraph 5.4 and the tables on page 15 of the agenda pack which showed Haringey to be behind its neighbours statistically.  Officers reminded members that the service provided high quality assessments, meeting clear standards to ensure all relevant referrals were seen and assessed. The Service had received a “good” rating by Ofsted during the last unannounced inspection.
• Officers explained the process for assessing initial referrals from a member of the public or a partner such as the police, schools etc.  A multi agency team dealt with the initial first contacts to gather intelligence and decide within 48 hours if and which agency should take the referral forward.  All contacts received were screened and child protection referrals were passed on to the duty manager on the same day as received. 
• The database shared with partners was improving for better identification of children; however, 51% of children referred were not known to the borough and, in part this related to the significant amount of temporary housing. Children from other boroughs were passed on to the relevant local authority when it was established safe to do so.
• It was recognised that the needs of Roma children, in terms of accessing services, were difficult to meet due to their movement between boroughs. Haringey employed a Romanian speaking officer to help communicate with this group. 
• The service had access to  a Domestic Violence Senior practitioner and better work with families where domestic violence was a feature was provided since this officer had been employed.
• There was also a specific team to deal with the travelling community. 
• In response to questions about maintaining current service levels and  possible service cuts it was reported that there were 4 teams of social workers (7 social workers in each) and there was currently no plan to cut the service.
• Where a child had been previously known to the local authority and then came back into the system, often after moving out of borough, a ‘step down’ package was devised to ensure the appropriate support continued.  The Head of First Response audited cases of where children who had been identified as not needing further action but came back into the system to ensure that the correct thresholds were in place.  It was hoped that a system could be introduced for generating a report which highlighted children who had not been physically seen by a social worker to ensure this was also regularly monitored.
• The Committee welcomed the Jar Action Plan and Safeguarding Action Plan documents (hyperlinks given on page 19 of the agenda pack) and acknowledged the dedication of children’s services staff.

RESOLVED

i.          That the report and the Council’s Joint Area Review Action Plan be noted and to request that officers continue to keep the Committee updated.

ii.         That the following actions be requested:

In response to specific concerns raised by a co-opted member about school students truancy the co-optee’s, details would be passed on to the appropriate CYPS officers to discuss outside of the meeting. Yvonne Denny

The Committee questioned how monitoring and performance of the First Response Team was fed back to members.  The Head of First Response would discuss how best to report back to members with the Director of Children’s Services. (Action No. 83.1) Cllr Ejiofor           

The Committee would be sent information on numbers of ‘contacts’ that resulted in initial core assessments and those with no further action, details of the relevant quality performance indicators including how often reported to the Cabinet Member for Children and a copy of the quality standards for good assessment.  (Action No. 83.2) Cllr Ejiofor & Cllr Diakides