Agenda and minutes

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Items
No. Item

The Chair, in welcoming all those present to this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee extended a particular welcome to Christine Jones from Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) who was present to lead on item 2 on the agenda. The Chair also took the opportunity to congratulate Dr Caroline Turner, Assistant Chief Executive and Statutory Director of Social Services on her appointment as Chief Executive of Powys County Council, and in wishing her well in her new post, thanked her for work at the Isle of Anglesey County Council.

1.

Declaration of Interest

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

Minutes:

No declaration of interest was received.

2.

Inspection of Children's Services by Care Inspectorate Wales pdf icon PDF 1019 KB

To present the report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services.

Minutes:

The report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services summarising the outcome of CIW’s re-inspection of Children and Families Services at the Isle of Anglesey County Council in October, 2018 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report referred to the improvements which CIW recognises has been made since the original inspection in November, 2016 which gave rise to a number of significant concerns; the areas for development and the Service position on each area as well as the steps to be taken following re-inspection. Attached for the Committee’s attention was a full copy of CIW’s re-inspection report.

 

Christine Jones, CIW provided the Committee with a presentation of the key findings of the Inspectorate’s report. As part of the follow-up inspection, CIW evaluated the quality of practice, decision making and multi-agency work alongside the quality of the leadership, management and governance.

The key findings in October, 2018 include the following –

 

           The Isle of Anglesey’s Children’s Services are able to demonstrate significant improvement in a number of key areas with some areas still requiring further work.

           Staff morale is high and there is passion and commitment at all levels to continuing to work hard on the journey of improvement to deliver excellent services for children.

           The Information, Advice and Assistance (IAA) service has improved significantly since the last inspection in November 2016.

           Safeguarding responses are mostly timely and proportionate. There is room for improvement in collation and recording of evidence and analysis of risk.

           Improvements in management oversight and professional accountability at all levels is continuing to highlight cases where opportunities to support children have been missed in previous years.

           There is a lack of suitable placements for children. More work is required to ensure placement options meet the particular needs of children within their community.

           There is strong leadership and governance in the Isle of Anglesey County Council. Senior Officers are visible, available and driving improvements.

           There is positive feedback from partners about the changes they have seen in Anglesey, describing a new open culture and good joint working.

Ms Jones said that overall, Anglesey’s Children’s Services are in a much improved place compared to where they were in November, 2016 with the Service having a good understanding of its strength and weaknesses and the areas where more work is required. These are the early stages of an ongoing journey of improvement for Children’s Services in Anglesey which will involve putting into practice the new policies, procedures and processes that have been developed and ensuring that improved performance against key indicators becomes embedded. The aim is to achieve sustainable improvement ensuring that in becoming a good service, Children’s Services at Anglesey remain a good service in the long-term. The Service should monitor those areas it has developed, setting high expectations and maintaining a focus on audit and the delivery of policies that have been developed. Further follow-up by CIW will take place via its regular monitoring activity and will concentrate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Matter for Information - Library Service Annual Report 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To present for information, the report of the Head of Learning.

Minutes:

The report of the Head of Learning incorporating the Library Service Annual Report for 2017/18 was presented for the Committee’s information. The report highlighted the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Library and Information Service as identified in the 2017/18 Annual Report along with Welsh Government’s (MALD) assessment of the Library Services 2017/18 Annual Report and the issues arising.

 

The report was noted for information purposes.