Issue - meetings

Helen Blackman, Director of Children's Integrated Services, presented a report on the November 2018 Ofsted inspection of the Service and the actions taken to address the areas identified for improvement. The following points were discussed:

(a)  the 2018 full inspection of Children’s Services identified a number of strengths, including clear leadership vision, effective strategic partnerships, ongoing investment in early intervention and services at the edge of care, effective arrangements to identify and assess children at risk, effective oversight and multi-agency work with vulnerable children and young people at risk of exploitation, and stability of placement for the majority of children in care. However, the need for further improvement was identified in some areas to ensure that the full range of services are consistent in being good, and some over-complex processes were identified;

(b)  the inspectors felt that there should be more oversight of the 15 to 20 children in private fostering arrangements at any one time, as children in these circumstances have the potential to be at a high risk and, in some cases, may need to come into care. This oversight is now in place;

(c)  the inspectors considered that the action taken to safeguard a small number of children living in neglectful situations should have been carried out sooner, and that capacity should be increased for work with families where children are suffering from neglect. They recommended that the planning template used to address issues should be more bespoke and accessible for both families and social workers, be clearer in showing what the concerns of the professionals are and what action needs to be taken, by whom, and when;

(d)  inspectors identified some cohorts of young people and care leavers for whom appropriate accommodation was not available, with bed and breakfasts being used for care leavers in some cases. Some young people have also had to stay in Police custody overnight. Work is underway with the Police to avoid this wherever possible. Young people who enter the criminal justice system are often suffering from trauma and are vulnerable to criminal exploitation. In many cases, they have a criminal record before coming into care, so measures are put in place to mitigate against the risk of them being exposed to further exploitation;

(e)  inspectors felt that there is more to do to ensure that plans to achieve permanence for children are progressed more quickly, particularly plans for children to be adopted, so this is a major focus and a new audit framework is in place. Grant funding from the Government is in place to ensure that young people who want to stay in full care until they are 18 are able to do so, while semi-independence options are in place for young people who would prefer this kind of living arrangement. Steps are being taken to engage with young people on their ultimate transition from care as early as possible;

(f)  the inspectors felt that the quality of supervision for social workers should be enhanced, due to their work  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19