(Members Code of Conduct – Part 4A of the Constitution)

To receive disclosures of interests from members and co-opted members on matters to be considered at the meeting. The disclosure must include the nature of the interest.

An interest must also be disclosed in the meeting when it becomes apparent to the member during the meeting.

Notes:

(1)       Members must consider their interests, and act according to the following:

(2)       Disclosable pecuniary interests relate to the Member concerned or their spouse/partner.

(3)       Members in arrears of Council Tax by more than two months must not vote in decisions on, or which might affect, budget calculations, and must disclose at the meeting that this restriction applies to them.  A failure to comply with these requirements is a criminal offence under section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. 

(4)       Officers must disclose interests in accordance with Council Standing Order 44.

No disclosures of interest in matters under consideration were received.

(Access to Information Procedure Rules – Part 3B of the Constitution)

Reports and background papers for agenda items may be inspected by contacting the person shown after each agenda item.  Certain reports and background papers may be restricted. 

Any request to remove the restriction on a report or background paper should be made to the relevant Strategic Director or Assistant Director whose name is shown on the front page of the report. 

If that request is refused, there is a right of appeal to this meeting. 

Please contact the officer shown below in advance of the meeting if you wish to appeal. 

(Jill Bell/Kanwal Amrez – 07970 413716/07929 070228)

There were no appeals submitted by the public to review decisions to restrict documents.

There were no referrals made to the Committee.

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services will present a report (Document “V”) following Ofsted’s Inspection of Children’s Social Care Services from 21^st November to 2^nd December 2022. Full inspections are part of the Inspection of Local Authority Children's Services (ILACS) framework of inspection activities carried out by Ofsted.

Recommended -

That the Committee note the contents of the report Document “V”.

                                                            (Picklu Roychoudhury – 01274 431867)

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services presented a report (Document “V”) following Ofsted’s Inspection of Children’s Social Care Services from 21 November to 2 December 2022. Full inspections are part of the Inspection of Local Authority Children's Services (ILACS) framework of inspection activities carried out by Ofsted.

The Strategic Director, Children’s Service was present and accompanied by the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and the Assistant Director for Change. At the invitation of the Chair, a synopsis of the report was provided to the committee. They jointly explained that in September 2021, the Secretary of State for Education as Children’s Services Commissioner for Bradford was asked to bring together evidence to assess this Council’s capacity and capability to improve itself in a reasonable time frame and recommend whether or not this evidence was sufficiently strong to suggest that long term sustainable improvement to children’s social care functions could be achieved, should operational service control remain within the Council. The Commissioner recommended for the creation of an Executive Commissioner role who would oversee the delivery of children’s services as he was concerned about the pace of improvement being inhibited during the establishment of the Trust.  The Department for Education was not supportive of this recommendation and concluded that Children’s Services in Bradford should be provided through a Children’s Trust arrangement.  The Council voluntarily agreed to enter into the Trust arrangement with the DfE. The planned go live date is in April 2023.

Proceeding the presentation, a question and answer (Q&A) session ensued:

·         Was the service in agreement of Ofsted findings?

o   Yes, they were very accurate and nothing surplus to what we dot aware of;

·         Following inspection of the report, it was apparent that the same issues were repeatedly being raised. What was the cause of the continuation?

o   During 2018, the service was deemed to be inadequate but then the decline progressed and since then, the Council not had the opportunity to return to 2018;

·         What were factors that caused the inadequate delivery of services?

o   The inadequate levels of services commenced much earlier than 2018. Bradford received £157 less per each child and £200 less than the highest recipients. This Council’s overspending or future overspend forecast on investment was a result of lack of vital funding for services.

o   The Covid-19 Pandemic (C19p) had also hampered the improvement of services.

o   In terms of national position, there were a number of authorities struggling to improve due to having to adopt different ways of working following the (C19p).

o   The Council’s overspend had been maintained for Children’s Services.

o   The budget for Children’s Services was not an easy on to predict in advance and therefore assessed on a yearly basis.

o   There were also issues with recruitment.

o   Senior Officers had been continuously writing business cases for the purpose of securing additional external funding

·         What was implemented to overcome Ofsted comments on slow pace of improvement of services?

o   The service had now adapted improvement plan to highlight  ...  view the full minutes text for item 60.

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services will present a report (Document “W”). The areas for improvement identified in the recent Ofsted inspection (ILACS), resulting in Bradford being judged to be Inadequate overall, inform the Improvement Plan. This report is to present an update on the Improvement Plan and Progress Report to Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

Recommended –

That the Committee note the contents of the report (Document “W).

                                                            (Picklu Roychoudhury – 01274 431967)

The Strategic Director of Children’s Services presented a report (Document “W”). The areas for improvement identified in the recent Ofsted inspection (ILACS), resulting in Bradford being judged to be Inadequate overall, inform the Improvement Plan. This report was to present an update on the Improvement Plan and Progress Report to Overview & Scrutiny Committee.

The Strategic Director, Children’s Service was present and accompanied by the Strategic Director, Corporate Services and the Assistant Director for Change. At the invitation of the Chair, a synopsis of the report was provided to the committee. They jointly explained that the Bradford Children’s Services Improvement Plan had strong leadership and assurance mechanisms in place. Support from the Chief Executive, elected members, the emerging Children and Families Trust, partners and senior leaders, ensures focus, drive and pace. The new plan commenced in April 2022 and was commissioned and is governed by the refreshed Bradford Children’s Improvement Board, which was chaired by the Bradford Commissioner. The plan had most recently been presented and discussed at the Improvement Board which took place on Thursday 2^nd February 2023.

Proceeding the presentation, a Q&A session ensued:

§  If the Children’s Trust was to deliver the plan, how much of a flexibility did the trust have?

o   As any other plan, the operational aspects outlined in the plan would change and develop further as time goes by. However, in the beginning it would be focusing on delivering vital services;

§  How would this improvement plan be different in comparison to previous strategies?

o   It was measurable but at its early stage. The feedback from partners was a positive one to this plan. The service would be implementing the robust model and ensure correct scrutiny would be addressed; and,

§  Due to the complexity of the plan, clarity was sought?

o   The service tried to reflect in approach a measure of process and the plan entailed processes on auctioning highlighted shortcomings of practices.

Following Q&A, the stated that the plan was welcomed however the issue of delivery was another matter. In light of the council’s failings over so many years, the plan had been tailored for the purpose of improving services.

Resolved –

This Committee requests that the progress against the improvement plan be presented to this Committee in July 2023 and to also include performance data.

Resolved –

This Committee requests that the progress against the improvement plan be presented to this Committee in July 2023 and to also include performance data.

ACTION:  Strategic Director for Children’s Services

                                                            (Picklu Roychoudhary – 01274 431967)