Agenda item

To submit a report by the Head of Children’s Services.

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 Executive’s consideration. Also presented was a copy of CIW’s re-inspection report.

The Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that CIW’s report following its re-inspection of Children and Families’ Services at the Council is a positive report which acknowledges the significant improvements made by Anglesey’s Children’s Services in a number of key areas since the original inspection in November, 2016. However, the report also identifies areas for further development and these will be the focus of attention for the Children’s Services Improvement Panel and will be clearly highlighted in the new Service Improvement Plan which is intended to take the service forwards. The Portfolio Member said that Children’s Services are a crucial component of Local Authority provision, and in Anglesey as in other areas of Wales, Children’s Services are facing a number of challenges; this was recognised by Council Leaders who shared their concerns about the future of Children’s Services and the financial pressures which meeting growing demand in Children’s Services are putting on Council budgets at a recent meeting of the Wales Local Government Association. The improvements achieved by Anglesey’s Children’s Services over the course of the last two years are as a result of Members and Officers working collaboratively with the objective being that these improvements should also lead to improved outcomes for children and their families. The positive impacts of a service that is performing well need to be reflected within communities and in the lives of looked after children and their families. The Chair thanked the Interim Head of Children’s Services for putting together the initial Service Improvement Plan after the 2016 inspection, the Head of Children and Families’ Services for taking the Plan forwards and the Chief Executive, Assistant Chief Executive/ Statutory Head of Social Services, and Strategic Leadership Team for their guidance and support. 

The Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation)/ Statutory Director of Social Services said that she was grateful to CIW both for their inspection work in 2016 and 2018 and their contribution to the Service’s improvement work by way of encouragement and support ensuring that the Service remained on the right pathway throughout the improvement process of the last two years. The Officer emphasised that work still remains to be done, and that improving Children and Families’ Services is a continual process. The areas for development identified by CIW are ones that the Service agrees with and has recognised, the feeling being that the Service is increasingly self-aware and knows where it is at, and where it wishes to be. The table in the report which provides the Service’s position on each of the 14 areas for development represents the kernel of a new Service Improvement Plan; it will be added to by the Service based on its understanding of the areas which it wishes to develop for example, the Small Group Homes initiative and After-Care. The new SIP will be developed over the next few months before it is presented to the Children’s Services Improvement Panel and thereafter to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee and to the Executive. The Officer said that it is essential that the Service maintains the momentum of improvement achieved in the last two years and that it continues to work collaboratively with Members and partners to further improve services. The Assistant Chief Executive/Statutory Director of Social Services thanked the Children’s Services Improvement Panel, the Strategic Leadership Team and the Service’s partners for all contributing to the improvement process with the greatest thanks being due to Children and Families’ Services staff and the Service’s Management Team.

The Chair referred to the 17 January, 2019 meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee at which CIW’s Re-Inspection Report of Anglesey’s Children’s Services was considered. She outlined the Scrutiny Committee’s conclusions based on the Scrutiny Manager’s summary of the Committee’s discussions as follows –

•           That the Scrutiny Committee was gratified by the conclusions of CIW’s re-Inspection report noting that the main messages accord with the Authority’s understanding of the Service.

•           That CIWs report does not say anything that Management and Elected Members are not already aware of.

•           That CIW had confirmed at the meeting that all statutory responsibilities within Children’s Services are being met and that at the time of the inspection there were no areas of concern that needed to be escalated.

•           That CIW had confirmed that the outline SIP is robust and covers the identified areas for development.

•           That CIW had confirmed that the Children’s Services Improvement Panel has a continuing role to play in monitoring and overseeing the ongoing process of improvement.

•           That the Scrutiny Committee recognised that the momentum of improvement needs to be maintained in order to ensure continuous improvement and assured CIW that this would be the case. The Committee will keep a watching brief over this work.

•           The Scrutiny Committee congratulated all those involved in the improvement journey thus far comprising of Elected Members, Management and the Service’s staff and, having considered the report and the presentation by CIW, the Committee accepted both CIW’s report and the Service’s position in terms of the steps to be taken to address areas for development, and recommended the report to the Executive.

The Chief Executive said that he was pleased with the improvements to which the report by CIW testifies. He thanked the staff of Children and Families’ Services for the hard work which had produced those improvements and was confident that the high level of commitment would be maintained in the knowledge that further work needs to be done. 

Councillor Aled Morris Jones, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee - having not been present for the first part of this item – reiterated the Scrutiny Committee’s commitment to securing further improvements in Children’s Services noting that the improvement journey is a continuous one; its recognition of the contribution made by the Children’s Services Improvement Panel and the continuing role which the Panel has to play in supporting improvements into the future, and its appreciation of the work of staff in what can be both a challenging and inspiring environment. He thanked the Assistant Chief Executive/ Statutory Director of Social Services for her leadership and guidance during the improvement period.

The Executive acknowledged the hard work on which the significant improvements in Children’s Services as recognised by CIW, were founded. The Executive in welcoming the report stressed that the momentum must be maintained; to that end it proposed that the Executive should continue to receive the quarterly progress reports on improvements in Children and Families’ Services that have formed part of the reporting process on the Service’s improvement journey over the last two years, enabling the Executive to keep an eye on the extent and pace pf progress.

It was resolved –

•           To accept the Care Inspectorate Wales’s Inspection of Children’s Services Isle of Anglesey County Council Report.

•           To accept and agree with the Children and Families Services’ service position and steps to be taken to ensure that the service addresses areas for development.

•           That the Executive continues to receive quarterly progress update reports on improvements in Children and Families’ Services.