Agenda item

Report by the Director of Law and Assurance.

 

To enable members to consider the outcome of the recent OFSTED inspection of the County Council’s social care services, to understand the next steps for the Council and the governance arrangements for managing those, including the role of the Select Committee.

 

4.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Law and Assurance. The Chairman considered the report as a challenging and disappointing read and invited Louise Goldsmith, Leader of the County Council, to give some reflective words. A summary of the points made by the Leader were as follows:

 

·       The Ofsted report highlighted a devastating and painful snapshot of the service. This was a watershed time for Children’s Social Care.

·       It is unacceptable for any council that a service be deemed as a lottery, and that some children were not having a good experience.

·       A systemic approach was required throughout the whole council; everybody has a role to play in improving the service.

·       The voice of the child has been quiet, there has not been a relentless focus on this, as is required to improve.

·       The Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) as a gateway to services, Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Care Leavers, and efforts into risk and exploitation work were all highlighted as good in the report. Integrated Prevention and Earliest Help (IPEH) also had the right focus but had perhaps distracted from other areas. An inward look needed to be taken to learn from the successes and move forward.

·       Collective working for the Children Looked After (CLA) cohort will consider what can be done differently. The Leader had also spoken and apologised to the Children in Care Council (CiCC).

·       The lead inspector did accept that things were improving, but that it was not currently sustainable. Work was undertaken before the report was published, such as action taken at Full Council on 5 April 2019, to redesign the Corporate Parenting Panel (CPP).

·       The next snapshot inspection will show that the work put in together has improved the service.

 

4.2 The Chairman thanked the Leader for her summary and comments, and noted it appeared to be understood throughout the authority the importance of the action required going forward. Paul Marshall, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, made the following reflective comments:

 

·       The Cabinet Member felt it highly appropriate to offer a sincere apology to those families involved with the service. He added there was a big commitment to providing the best support possible, and thanked the team for undertaking what will be a very diligent piece of work.

·       The Cabinet Member and senior officers accept wholeheartedly the 12 recommendations made in the Ofsted report, and commit to undertaking these improvements.

·       Although the outcome is a disappointment, it was not unknown that the service required drastic improvement. Turbulence within the social worker cohort, and the closure of Seaside last year identified the need to make a step change, and develop a more robust Children and Family Services.

·       A peer review undertaken in the autumn of 2018 identified the service as fragile, which started several internally and externally led reviews.

·       Investment has been made into a social worker recruitment and retention programme to bring some stability to the cohort, recognising the tough working environment and significant caseloads.

·       £5m has been made available to put pace to the wider transformation. The new Interim Director of Children and Family Services will take the authority on a journey of improvement.

·       Governance arrangements will be reviewed and restructured with Cabinet, the Leader, Executive teams, CPP and scrutiny playing a key role to drive the improvement plan.

 

4.3     The Chairman welcomed John Readman, Interim Director of Children and Family Services, who explained he joined the county council at a critical time. The Interim Director of Children and Family Services outlined his experience of working with local authorities on improvement journeys, and gave the following summary of the inspection:

 

·       There were 7 inspectors at WSCC for 2 weeks.

·       12 key areas for improvement were identified, which included the following:

Ø  Caseloads

Ø  Staff recruitment and retention

Ø  Frequent changes in social workers for children

Ø  Poor consistency in practice

Ø  Local management and supervisory oversight

Ø  Child centred systems and processes, including quality assurance arrangements

Ø  Permanence planning for CLA

Ø  Care planning, recording and analysis

Ø  Leadership and partnership

Ø  Rigour and impact of the CPP

 

·       ‘Children First’ is the working title for WSCC’s approach to improvement. The absolute priority is to make children safe.

·       The improvement journey will be a long programme of work; commitment must be sustained.

·       An Improvement Plan is in development, with an independently chaired Improvement Board to review and challenge this plan. The Improvement Board has already met, and is now taking on a more formal role in addressing the issues outlined by Ofsted.

·       A social worker training and development programme is in the early stages of being established. £5m was also invested at the end of 2018 to boost recruitment and retention of social workers in West Sussex.

 

4.5     Jackie Wood, Head of Children’s Social Care for Placements, and Sarah Daly, Head of Children’s Social Care, outlined the positives acknowledged in the Ofsted report, and improvement activity to date:

 

·       The MASH was identified as a timely and effective service, this needed to be repeated in other areas. The UASC team and Care Leaver’s Service were seen to be providing effective support. The CiCC champions the views of children in care, and foster carers were receiving effective support.

·       In September 2019, around 40 Newly Qualified Social Workers would join the authority.

·       A focus on good performance and compliance was being taken.

·       Training to identify and assess neglect had been delivered to all Children’s Social Care staff.

·       2 social workers have been appointed to lead on pre-birth work, which at the time of the inspection was identified as a concern with unallocated cases.

 

4.6     The Interim Director of Children’s Services introduced the ‘Children First’ model, and the 7 themes grouped under this improvement plan:

 

Ø  Learning and Development

Ø  Compliance

Ø  Effective Leadership

Ø  Workforce

Ø  Effective Business Processes

Ø  Effective Partnerships

Ø  Whole Service Design.

 

·       He explained a commissioner would be appointed by the Department for Education (DfE) to work with the County Council.

·       Cabinet Board and the Improvement Board will consider the draft improvement plan to be submitted to the DfE and Ofsted in June.

·       Quarterly monitoring visits would then take place in which the subject area to be considered would be agreed against the improvement plan.

·       The Interim Director of Children’s Services noted he valued the important role of scrutiny alongside the formal Improvement Board, and felt there was a commitment, determination and energy by all to improve the service.

 

4.7     The Chairman invited the Committee to consider what they could do to support the Cabinet Member and leadership team in the improvement journey. A summary of key questions in response to the report were as follows:

 

·       Members considered the recent improvements made to the service and questioned if the outcome would have been different if Ofsted had undertaken their inspection in May or June. The Interim Director of Children’s Services explained the inspection process was complex, and it was not possible to determine which cases Ofsted would see. The Executive Director of People added that Ofsted may have seen greener shoots, but it was unlikely that the outcome would have been different. The Cabinet Member added the report cited systemic failures which realistically the service could not overcome in 2 or 3 months. A root and branch realignment was required.

·       The Committee questioned how WSCC was working with partner agencies, and whether there could be learning from other local authorities. Members heard that the newly established Improvement Board comprised a number of partner agencies and was chaired independently. All partners of the Board recognise the seriousness of the report, and this was the correct landscape for constructive engagement with the improvement plan. The Executive Director of People advised WSCC was being more assertive in partnership arenas, which was beginning to deliver results in better engagement. WSCC had informally connected with Hampshire and will wait to be appointed a Partner in Practice. The Interim Director of Children’s Services also noted best practice and learning from the Association of Directors of Children’s Service.

·       Members were concerned that previous reporting to the Committee had indicated things in the service were a lot better than in reality, and considered their role in undertaking more robust scrutiny. The Leader advised how the service deal with data was currently being considered, including how that data is validated. The Chairman and members agreed it was important to consider meaningful data, and the importance of affected families behind these numbers. The Committee also considered how it could engage with frontline staff; a visit to the MASH in the near future would help to start enable this.

·       Members of the Committee expressed concern about the instability of both senior officers in Children’s Social Care, and of membership of the Committee. The service was rated as Requiring Improvement 3 years ago, and in that time had continued to deteriorate. It was discussed that stability was crucial in order to bring about the change required. The Leader advised that the inspection was more granular than the previous regime, that she had confidence in the Cabinet Member and his 2 advisors, and that churn on the Committee was inevitable and unavoidable. The Leader agreed that improvement had not been accelerated enough, and that a cultural shift was required.

·       The Committee were concerned about the burden carried by social workers, and although acknowledged the retention package, considered if there was a professional development programme for those already in place. The Interim Director of Children’s Services agreed that for frontline practitioners to grow and develop, they needed to feel safe and valued and advised a major training and development programme was being established.

 

4.8     Resolved that the Committee:

 

1.   Expects to be continuously updated with the opportunity to consider the delivery of the improvement plan at each meeting, in particular, the outcome of quarterly inspection meetings, and invite the Chairman of the Improvement Board and Chairman of the CPP to attend future meetings at the appropriate time.

2.   Ask that the CYPSSC Chairman meet with the Cabinet Member, Chairman of the Improvement Board, Interim Director of Children’s Services and Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel (CPP) on a regular basis and feed back to the Committee.

3.   Invite the Chairman of the CPP to all BPG meetings to explore current issues and ensure Children Looked After (CLA) are at the centre of work programme planning.

4.   Explore the use of witnesses both in and away from formal meetings, and how Committee members can best understand all areas of the service to ensure that members hear the voice of families, service users and frontline staff.

5.   Will meet informally to reflect upon the outcomes from the Ofsted report, with a special focus on effectiveness and impact, and agree an approach for how the Committee will scrutinise Children’s Social Care items moving forward, to include how information is shared with the wider membership of the County Council.

6.   Requests progress on all recommendations of the above to be reported to the September meeting.