Agenda item

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

·        To present the report of the Children’s Services Improvement Panel.

•           The report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services setting out progress to date in implementing the Children’s Services Improvement Plan was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Leader and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that the report marks a milestone in the Children’s Services’ improvement process in that moving forward it has been agreed to close down the current Service Improvement Plan (SIP) and to produce a Service Development Plan for 2019-22.This will include any outstanding actions from the Current SIP that need to be further progressed and will incorporate the 14 areas for development identified by Care Inspectorate Wakes in its re-inspection report of December, 2018.The whole service will be working under the new Service Development Plan which will be agreed by the Service’s Senior Management Team, the Children’s Services Improvement Panel, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee and the Executive. The Service will also be undertaking the specific improvement activities listed in the report to consolidate the progress already made.

The Head of Children and Families’ Services referred to progress with recruitment and retention as well as with developing the Small Group Homes model which is an initiative which will allow some of the children who may currently be in care placements far away from Anglesey to be looked after locally in “homely” surroundings which replicate the way in which their peers live i.e. living in the community, attending the local school, making friends in the neighbourhood. Also, as part of the effort to improve placement options to meet demand, the Service is looking to recruit and retain more Foster Carers and the report summarises the benefits which the new Foster Care package will provide to the Authority’s Foster Carers when it is implemented in April, 2019.

In the subsequent Committee discussion of the report, the following issues were raised –

•           That significant progress has been made by Children’s Services over the lifetime of the Service Improvement Plan. However, 14 areas for further development were identified by CIW. Are there any areas within the 14 identified which require priority attention and does the service have the resources to address these matters and take the Service Development Plan forwards?

•           Arrangements in relation to the Small Group Homes including staffing, registration and the plans for opening more small group homes beyond the 2 homes which are expected to open in each of the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years.

•           Whether consideration has been given to allocating council housing to individuals/ families wanting to foster which would fulfil the same objective as having staff caring for looked after children in council properties.

Clarifications/explanations were provided by Officers and Portfolio Members as follows –

•           That over the course of the implementing the Service Improvement Plan, Children’s Services have developed a greater self-awareness and know where the Service is at, where it wants to get and how it will do so. After-care and care leavers are among the priority areas for the next phase for which plans are being developed. The process of improvement and self-evaluation in Children’s Services is a continuous one and this process must happen within the context of the resources that are available. The task is to maintain the pace of improvement thereby building a Service that is resilient to the challenges that Children’s Services face.

•           That Small Group Homes will enable some children who may at present be in care placements far away from Anglesey to return to the locality and to live under conditions that replicate as far as possible, a normal home environment. They are not meant to provide for looked after children whose needs are acute or complex who will continue to receive specialist provision appropriate to their specific needs. In terms of staff, the main aim is to keep the staffing rota constant, minimising changes in staff so that the children who will be living in Small Group Homes see the same faces and have continued contact with the same carers thereby bringing continuity and normality to the care they receive. Local Authority properties have been identified and work has started on making those homes suitable having regard to CIW’s registration requirements. Identifying further suitably located properties will be done in collaboration with the Housing and Education services.

•           That under housing policy the Housing Service can consider access to council housing by for example, a fostering family/foster carer in need of an extra bedroom to accommodate a foster child who may otherwise have to be placed in care, and that an assessment would be made on the basis of that need.

Having considered all the information presented as well as the clarifications provided by the Officers/Portfolio Members on the points raised, it was resolved that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee confirms that is it satisfied with the following –

•           The steps taken to progress implementation of the Service Improvement Plan and the pace of progress;

•           for the Service to move forward with a new Service Development Plan that will replace the current Service Improvement Plan;

•           the pace of progress and improvements made to date within Children and Families’ Services.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED

•           A report from the Children’s Services Improvement Panel describing the work and output of the Panel during the period from December, 2018 to February, 2019 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

Councillor Richard Griffiths, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee’s representative on the Panel reported on the main points noting that no specific matters have been escalated for the Committee’s attention in this quarter; the Committee is asked to consider whether it is satisfied with the robustness of the Panel’s monitoring thus far.

The Committee noted that the Panel in its February, 2019 meeting had given consideration to elective home education, and that it has requested an update on national developments in 6 months’ time. The Committee was informed that in the absence of national guidance at this point in time, the Panel had agreed to continue with local work to support parents educating their children at home by way of an information package.

The Committee further noted that on World Social Work Day it was appropriate for Members to express their gratitude for and appreciation of the work done by the Council’s Social Workers in what can often be a challenging environment.

Having considered the report, the Corporate Scrutiny Committee resolved to note the following –

•           The progress made to date with the work of the Children’s Services Improvement Panel in term of achieving its work programme.

•           That the current Service Improvement Plan has now been brought to a close with the 2 remaining priority areas yet to be fully implemented being transferred to the new Service Development Plan.

•           The areas of work covered during Laming Visits as a means of further strengthening accountability and the knowledge and understanding of Panel members.

•           The ongoing development programme for Panel members much of which is delivered in-house.

NO ADDITIONAL ACTION WAS PROPOSED