Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Children’s Services. To be introduced by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children , Education and Families]

To provide Cabinet with further updates from the Ofsted Focused Visit and associated improvement plan.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Education, and Families introduced the report which provided an overview of safeguarding and looked after children activity and performance for 2019-2020. It was noted that the annual report provided an opportunity to see improvements, challenges, and to note where attention needed to be focused to ensure improvements. It was added that the report included information on the population of children and young people in the borough which was useful in providing background for the challenges faced by the service.

In response to questions from Cllr Cawley-Harrison, it was noted that:

·         The payment system for travel buddies had been moved from Cavendish to the Council’s internal procurement system. Although this had taken some time to establish, the relevant information had now been transferred and had been provided by travel buddies in all cases except one where amended bank details were awaited. The Cabinet Member thanked parents who had brought this issue to the Council’s attention.

·         14 social workers had been recruited from South Africa following a targeted approach. As new staff, they were being inducted to ensure that they had the appropriate knowledge and that they were settled. The Cabinet Member stated that the AD/ Director could provide more detail to Cllr Cawley- Harrison after the meeting.

·         It would be challenging to share information about the safeguarding reviews in November given the need to ensure the privacy of the individuals involved. However, the actions agreed from the reviews would be included in Ofsted updates, there would be a more thorough report to the Safeguarding Board, and an update would be reported to Cabinet.

RESOLVED

To note the Children Social Care Annual Report 2019/20 and in particular:

1. The increase in the rate of referral, reduction in the numbers of referrals that result in ‘no further action’ and the effectiveness of the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) (paragraphs 6.5 to 6.6 and 6.7 to 6.9).

2. Improvements in the numbers of, and time taken to complete assessments (paragraphs 6.13 to 6.14);

3. The increase in the rate of Section 47 enquiries (paragraph 6.17);

4. The slight reduction in the numbers of children in care which has closed the gap with our statistical neighbours (paragraph 6.26);

5. The need to reduce the numbers of children placed out of boroughs and the very good performance on long term placement stability (paragraphs 6.28 and 6.30);

6. The significant improvements in the numbers of care leavers in suitable accommodation (paragraph 6.47); and

7. The action taken to improve the recruitment and retention of social workers (section 7).

Reasons for decision

The annual report is intended to inform Cabinet of the performance of Children Social Care in 2019/20. Cabinet should be aware of the progress made against managing the financial and safeguarding demands. The report, in addition to other measures, enables Cabinet to assure itself that the necessary arrangements are in place for the Council to effectively discharge its children social care obligations. In this regard, there is a distinct leadership role for the Leader, Lead Member for Children and Young People’s Services, the Chief Executive and Director of Children Services. Also, there is a wider corporate parent role for all members of the Council.

Alternative options considered

Reports which are for information or noting do not involve any actions being agreed and do not require this section to be completed.