Agenda and minutes

The apologies for absence were noted as listed above.

To receive any declaration of interest by any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

·        To present the CSSIW report on the inspection of Children’s Services at the Isle of Anglesey County Council.

·        To present the report of the Interim Head of Children’s Services incorporating the Children’s Services Improvement Plan.

3.1       The report of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) on the outcome of its inspection of services for children at the Isle of Anglesey County Council undertaken in November, 2016 was presented for the Committee’s consideration and comment.

The Chair welcomed Ms Bobbie Jones Lead Inspector for the inspection and Mr Marc Roberts, a member of the CSSIW Regional Inspection team to the meeting and invited them to present their findings consequent to the inspection of Children’s Services at the Council.

Ms Bobbie Jones, Lead Inspector reported that the inspection was undertaken as part of CSSIW’s core programme of inspections and it focussed on the quality of outcomes achieved for children in need of help, care and support and/or protection. The inspection team looked closely at preventative services including arrangements for the provision of information, advice and assistance services; individuals’ pathway into care and support services specifically access to preventative and statutory services and the interface between the two and any safeguarding issues arising. The inspectors also evaluated how the Council assessed its own performance and the difference it was making for the individuals it was seeking to help, care and support and/or protect. They also looked at how the Council had begun to implement the requirements of the Social Services and Well-being Act 2014. While the principal focus of the inspection was the quality of provision, the inspectors did also examine elements that support delivery including the Council’s arrangements with regard to leadership, management and governance within Children’s services.

Methodology

The field work was undertaken over two weeks during November, 2016; it involved a review of case; interviews with staff, managers and professionals from partner agencies, with children and their families where appropriate and with elected members; observation of practice, review of staff survey, complaints and staff appraisal records.

Findings – Access and Safeguarding

Areas that were done well

•           Access arrangements to services were established and offered bilingually. The inspectors did not see any examples where there was an immediate safeguarding issue that needed addressing or where a child had been put at risk.

•           Children obviously at risk received prompt and responsive action

•           Some examples of good social work practice were observed

•           Social workers made persistent attempts to elicit the wishes and

feelings of children

Areas where shortcomings were identified

•           Preventative and information, advice and assistance services were under-developed;

•           A high volume of referrals was noted as well as referrals that were of poor quality

•           Eligibility thresholds for access to services were inconsistent, and not sufficiently shared with or understood by partners

•           Staff capacity was limited

•           The quality and timeliness of child protection enquiries were inconsistent

•           There were delays in implementing strategy discussions and a lack of involvement by some partners

•           Assessments did not always ensure an analysis of risk

•           There was an insufficient range of services and resources

•           There was insufficient management oversight of access arrangements

Findings – Leadership, Management and Governance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To present the report of the Interim Head of Children’s Services.

The report of the Interim Head of Children’s Services on the performance of Children’s Services was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report focussed on the service’s performance against the following specific indicators –

•           SCC/025 – The percentage of statutory visits to looked after children due in the year that took place in accordance with regulation.

•           PM24 – The percentage of assessments completed for children within statutory timescales (42 working days)

•           PM32 – The percentage of looked after children who experienced (one) or more changes of school during a period or periods of being looked after, which were not due to transitional arrangements in the year to 31 March.

•           PM33 – The percentage of looked after children on 3 March who have had three or more placements during the year.

The Committee noted that it had requested a report on the performance of Children’s Services as a result of its consideration of the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 1 2016/17.While it had accepted the mitigation measures presented at the time, and had not requested Officers to give account for performance as Q1 was considered too premature in the year to do so, the Committee had identified Children’s Services as an area requiring close monitoring. It had therefore invited the Head of Children’s Services to present a report by the end of the Quarter 2 reporting period. This report was however deferred because of the CSSIW inspection of Children’s Services that took place in November, 2016.

The Interim Head of Children’s Services elaborated on the service performance against each of the four indicators and he highlighted where the performance was currently on target (PM32 and PM33); where the target was on course to be missed (SCC/025 and PM24) he reported on the factors affecting performance and the remedial measures being taken.

The Committee considered the information presented and made the following points –

•           The Committee noted a marked decline in performance against Indicator PM24 from 100% in Quarter 1 to 81.62% in Quarter 3 and it sought an explanation for the dip. The Interim Head of Children’s Services said that workforce issues, in particular high staff turnover were influencing factors with regard to under-performance against the indicator. There are currently five vacancies for Social Worker posts which are being covered by agency staff. The recruitment of suitably experienced staff remains a challenge. The service was given permission to recruit an additional staff resource on a temporary basis but lost the resource to a permanent post. This has affected performance in the third quarter. It is unlikely that the Authority will be able to recruit qualified staff on a temporary basis; cover can be provided either by agency staff or by commissioning specific pieces of work on a consultancy basis. 

•           The Committee noted that it would have expected to see an improvement in performance against all the indicators by the end of Quarter 3 or at least for performance to remain stable at Quarter 1 levels. The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.