Agenda item

Report by Executive Director of Children, Young People and Learning.

The report updates the Committee on the developments and progress made in the Children First Programme since its last update in January 2021.

53.1     The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Russell, introduced the item reporting that phase one of the improvement journey had been completed in 2020, phase two had started in January 2021 and that crucial plans would be implemented during the year.  The consultation for the Early Help Redesign had gone live and Members were asked to share the information as much as possible to enable members of the public and stakeholders to contribute.

53.2     The Children’s First Transformation Director introduced the report highlighting the following key areas:

·       Ofsted monitoring would continue, and the next focussed visit is programmed for 18/19 May 2021 looking at permanency for children looked after.  The next regular monitoring visit would likely be in the Autumn 2021.

·       The Children’s Commissioner had updated County Councillors on 22 February on the improvement progress.  The Commissioner would be monitoring progress against a set of criteria to provide a view and recommendation on whether the Children’s Trust was required.  The first formal review on progress would take place in July 2021.

·       The demand in referrals is expected to increase now schools have fully returned and numbers are being closely monitored.  Plans are being developed for social workers to return to face to face meetings.

·       Performance remained robust and the latest lockdown had seen little impact on staffing capacity.  Staffing statistics are regularly monitored and could be included in future updates.  All frontline staff had been offered Covid vaccinations.

·       A simplified management structure would go live in July 2021 along with the new social work offer.

2.28 pm Mrs Hill left the meeting.

53.3     Members of the Committee then asked questions and a summary of those questions and answers follows:

·       The major challenge in the next 12 months would be creating the right environment for social work to flourish and ensuring high quality support to children all the time from all workers whatever the issue.  Seeing progress would take time.

·       Working with families who were hard to reach, reluctant or who would not engage was a challenge.  There is statutory guidance for the local authority to decide when it is felt there is risk of significant harm.  If that threshold is not met parental consent is needed for any intervention but other work can be done with schools, agencies and support services.

·       Work on early identification included working with health visitors and partners and included pre-birth assessments.  The Family Safeguarding Model would target the 0-12 years.  Work was taking place on services for adolescents.

·       Work was progressing on the production of a Children and Young People Plan to improve the hearing of the voice of all young people and their families in the county.  Updates on progress would be given to the Committee.

·       The Committee were keen not to duplicate areas of feedback on the Improvement Journey, for example to County Council, and agreed to consider specific areas of the improvement work that they would wish to scrutinise at future meetings.  The Early Help Redesign consultation outcomes and the Foster Service Review were already programmed into future scrutiny meetings.

·       Committee Members highlighted the role that county councillors can play to support the promotion of key service initiatives such as the “See something, say something” campaign. 

53.4     The Chairman offered his apologies to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People as there had been insufficient time for her to do her final summing up on the item.

53.5     Resolved – That the Committee:

1.   Welcomes the continuing pace and progress of the Children First Improvement Programme to provide improved outcomes for children and young people as reflected in the recent Commissioner update and thanks the staff and leadership for the ongoing progress. 

2.   Agrees to explore focusing on specific areas of the Improvement Programme at future Committee meetings, particularly where the Committee can provide useful input to assist with the ongoing improvement journey.  The Committee agrees that one of these areas should include social worker workforce proposals as part of the Family Safeguarding Model and will explore further areas of focus at its Business Planning Group. 

3.   Highlights the importance of engagement with all children and young people and families, to ensure their voice is heard, in the co-production of services and that the Committee continues to be updated on this work. 

4.   Welcomes the offer from the service to use County Councillors as a communication channel to the local community on key messages from the service, including the ‘see something, say something’ Campaign.