The report of the Deputy Director, Children’s Social Care (Document “D”) gives progress in relation to the key issues raised in the Ofsted report and the Improvement Plan.

Recommended –

That the contents of Document “D” be noted.

(Irfan Alam – 01274 432904)

The report of the Deputy Director, Children’s Social Care (Document “D”) detailed progress in relation to the key issues raised in the Ofsted report and the Improvement Plan.

Following an invitation by the Chair, the Deputy Director highlighted the key points contained in his report to the Panel.

A question and answer session ensued -

·         Clarification was sought on the abbreviation NFA?

o   The National Fostering Agency. The NFA was a fostering agency that had been operating over fifteen years to provide safe and caring homes for children and young people who were unable to live at home. The NFA operated in England, Wales and Scotland. The authority’s foster carers were supported by NFA’s experienced and qualified staff; who were categorised as supervising social workers. Supervising social workers support foster carers and also work closely with social workers;

·         Had any key learning points been established from the areas of practice support systems developed by the Improvement Board?

o   The system went live on Tuesday 23 June and therefore a report would be put together on 30 June. Following receipt of the report, the service would be able to see the breakdown of those no further actions, which will effectively tell us why a case had not progressed to an assessment with an explanation to the reasons, such as a no consent status or the fact that it could be because the referral was routed to another part of the system or agency to deal with, or it simply could be because the referral did not meet the threshold for children's social care intervention. Hence, a number of selections that social workers can now use to explain the rationale as to why a case was marked as no further action, as opposed to no further action without reason. Therefore through a formal resolution process set in place, where an independent review in relation to a child protection case conference coordinator, have concerns that a particular case, or care plan is not being progressed in a timely manner or in essence, a case can formally be escalated towards a speedy resolution, of course, not ignoring certain stages of the process before reaching resolution.

o   In general terms the authority’s improvement work had continued in pace and the service had not stalled on the improvement work, but continued to work towards the Improvement Plan, which had been refreshed. The Improvement Plan was to be presented to the next Improvement Board with an update in terms of what work had been completed thus far including the work proposed to for completion in the next 12 to 18 months;

·         In relation to Section 4.1.2 of the report, explanation was sought on the voice of the child?

o   The authority was improving in terms of a child being heard as per a indicator highlighted by Ofsted that outlined the fact of children’s voices not being heard;

·         Could further information on the area of improvement be provided in the future?

o   A report in this area could be provided following conversations on how the service could capture some feedback through an audit, in respect of the voice of the child. This was a priority area of concern for action; and,

·         What was the present status on vacancies and recruitment?

o   The service was confident that all management posts would be filled by the end of July 2020 with the exception of those covering maternity leave or staff illness. The recruitment of Level 3 experienced Social Workers continued to be a challenge. For the long term, there were discussions relating to the investment in the recruitment of additional ASYE (4 aligned to each Practice Supervisor), however, it was recognised that alternative interventions may be required as this was a national concern.

Resolved –

That a further report on the Area’s for practice improvement over the coming months (bullet points listed in 4.1.2 contained in Document “D”) be presented to the Corporate Parenting Panel in 6 months time.

Action:          Deputy Director, Social Care