The purpose of the report of the Director of Childrens Services (Document “Z”) is to provide members of the Committee with information following the Department for Education (DfE) six month monitoring visit 28^th July 2020 and report the publication of the revised Children’s Services Improvement Plan

The DfE monitoring visit and the revised plan provide supplementary information which support the progress and areas of improvement detailed in the recent Overview and Scrutiny Committee 5^th August 2020 on Children’s Services improvement journey.

Recommended -

That this Committee notes the contents of this report and the progress being made.

                                                                        (Phil Hayden – 01274 434333)

The purpose of the report of the Director of Childrens Services (Document “Z”) was to provide members of the Committee with information following the Department for Education (DfE) six month monitoring visit 28^th July 2020 and report the publication of the revised Children’s Services Improvement Plan

The DfE monitoring visit and the revised plan provide supplementary information which support the progress and areas of improvement detailed in the recent Overview and Scrutiny Committee 5^th August 2020 on Children’s Services improvement journey.

The following questions were asked by members and answers given:

·         What has been done to address the poor level of sickness?

o   Sickness was being tracked more formally, including recording absence which was not always recorded previously.  A specialist HR adviser had been brought in to deal with the issue of sickness.

·         How up to date is the information regarding the high level of agency social workers and that there are 44 vacancies at level 2 and 3?

o   These figures were for June/July.  Clarification was sought on the accuracy of the figure and whether it was 44 posts or 44%.  The HR advisor was looking at how to address this through the remuneration package and how to accelerate recruitment of permanent social workers.  The ability to recruit experienced social workers continued to be a challenge and a range of strategies were being developed to address this.

·         What are the proposals for a retention strategy?

o   Bradford is good at recruiting newly qualified social workers but the analysis shows that they leave after 2 years.  The reasons are partly financial but also relate to supervision.  Stable management, training opportunities and manageable caseloads were being looked at as part of the recruitment and retention strategy.  The loss of the Practice Supervisor role had a significant impact and sine the role had been reinstated staff had indicated their desire to come back to Bradford.

·         What services are children receiving?

o   Services had improved in the last year.  Children continue to be seen, assessments are undertaken and interventions put in place in cases of abuse and neglect.  The vital signs report showed improved and sustained compliance across all Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).  External sources had recognised green shoots of improvement.  31 cases were looked at to assess if safe decisions were being made and they were found to be proportional and safe.

·         What engagement are you having with children?

o   The Children in Care Council was being re-established which it was anticipated would be in place by Christmas and this should help test the impact of the improvement journey.  Part of the engagement with children would be learning lessons from the advocacy service.

·         Regarding the Lived Experience of children and young people, what % of cases would be satisfactory to Ofsted in which the child’s voice was evident?

o   There is no benchmark, Ofsted would like to see it significantly higher although the current 44% is higher than it was.

·         Regarding timeliness of child protection visits, what steps were taken to contact families that moved out of the District?

o   There is a statutory requirement to notify even if the move is temporary.  Moves abroad  are followed up through international channels.

·         What progress has been made regarding the response to children and young people that present with the affects of domestic abuse?

o   The front door health check in July identified that triaging was appropriate in cases of domestic abuse.  Additional funding had recently been identified for domestic abuse services in response to Covid 19.

·         The current improvement plan is based on the plan implemented after the Ofsted inspection, have the plans been revised and refreshed?  The Interim Strategic Director arrested the decline in the service and provided a foundation on which to build, can this work be tracked?

·         What are the reasons for the high sickness levels among staff?

o   The pandemic has had an impact with people having Covid 19 and being off sick.  Members would be provided with a breakdown.

·         What progress has been made in implementing mandatory training for foster careers?

o   Foster carer training has been re-written and has stated to be delivered on line due to Covid 19.  This will be included in the improvement plan.

·         Is liaison with CCG’s still an issue regarding delays in delivering an integrated whole family approach and mixed economy service offer for early childhood and family outcomes?

o   During the pandemic there has been constructive discussion with the CCG’s to challenge performance issues.  This has not been resolved fully but there is a willingness for organisations to work in different ways to make improvements.

Resolved -

That when the Improvement Plan is next considered by the  Committee it contains:

(a)  detailed information on domestic abuse services in relation to Children’s Services and

(b)  the reasons for and actions being taken to reduce sickness absence in Children’s Social Care.

ACTION: Strategic Director Children’s Services