Agenda item

This report sets out the performance data and trends for an agreed set of measures relating to: Children and Families – contacts, referrals and assessments and child protection.

 The Committee received a summary of the report and noted the following:

• The continued downward trend in  the number of children subject to a child protection plan 
• The work to ensure that single assessments are completed in 45 days  with the target for completing the first part of the assessment within 10 days at 95% with performance currently  at 81%
• Child Protection Plan lasting for 2 years or more was close to statistical neighbours.
• 10% of children that have become the subject of a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time stood at 10% against lower than statistical neighbours who were performing at 13%.
• 1000 fewer contacts than last year

The Chair queried the drop in contacts and downward trend in the number of children subject to a plan and sought an understanding of the monitoring around this. He felt, given the additional downward trends in the number of looked after children, the number of children on a plan should be higher. The Acting Director of the Children’s service explained that there are monthly senior officer meetings to analyse performance indicators and this officer group are concentrating on contacts, referrals and number of child protection plans. There is a significant amount of focus on contracts with an examination of the key issues and facts coming through to the service together with an analysis of the issues that are being escalated to referrals. Agreed that there is an update to the April Committee meeting on the work of this officer performance group or sooner to the Committee if available.

There was a consensus, that comparing performance information to that of statistical neighbours was a useful bench mark but it was more vital to be aware of the information behind the performance figures and be able to judge what the trends were and how the council were tackling  emerging issues quickly. For example, the analysis was currently showing an increase in referrals due to emotional abuse.

Members sought an understanding of the issues that may impact on the completion of assessments and were aware of the recent re-configuration of the Framework I system. The Committee were informed that the configuration was an ongoing process and modification of the system would improve the timeliness of recording and work management. The Director for Children’s Services(Acting) felt it was essential to improve the performance of initial assessments to 10 days and managers were fully aware of their accountability for ensuring these targets were met .

The Committee referred to the previous audit completed by the Independent Member in the timeliness of initial assessments and the findings which had assured them that the children were not put at risk. The common theme around not completing the initial assessment, in the 10 days, had been the  social worker and police not being able to get access to the child at the given address. The Committee accepted that there was a need to continually monitor the issues around  meeting targets for assessments and look at the cases, individually, to ensure that  blockages are not caused by  management systems and processes and that follow up visits are timetabled as quickly as possible.

The monitoring and quick identification of performance issues was being greatly assisted by  the  CDU(Corporate Delivery Unit) efforts  to embed children’s social work  data so that it is available for the manager to view  in real time. Managers were now able to view weekly performance information, instead of on a monthly basis, and begin to address issues such as delayed visits or completion of initial assessments more quickly. .

The message being given out to staff and managers was the importance of keeping to targets for the benefit of children and meeting their needs quickly. The Acting Director of Children’s services further outlined how she is held to account by the Senior officers, the CDU and  there are  several tiers of scrutiny in place to further  hold the director  to account.