Issue - meetings

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Schools, Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, and Ailsa Barr, Director for Children’s Integrated Services, presented the report on the response to the Ofsted Inspection and development of an improvement plan.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  The Council has submitted an improvement plan to Ofsted, which has been accepted. It covers eight specific areas and progress will be monitored through the Improvement Board, which is chaired by an independent improvement advisor.  The improvement activity dovetails with the transformation programme and its implementation is a priority for the Council.

b)  It is anticipated that the first monitoring visit by Ofsted will take place within the next couple of months and it is expected that it will focus on the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH).

c)  Support is being provided by the Department of Education in the form of some funding and access to resources, and support from an independent advisor to provide support and challenge, who is chairing the Improvement Board.

Lou Williams, independent advisor and chair of the Improvement Board, spoke to the Committee about his role, the role of the Improvement Board and his perspective on the Council’s current position.  He highlighted the following information:

d)  He is social work qualified and has previously worked at Peterborough and Cambridgeshire, who have faced similar challenges to Nottingham.

e)  He has been appointed to the role to provide challenge to the Council and support improvement through independent oversight.

f)  He is aware of the Council’s financial challenges and transformation agenda, and has a relationship with the Improvement and Assurance Board.

g)  The Improvement Board meets monthly to provide oversight.  It involves a range of senior leaders including the Chief Executive, Portfolio Holder and Leader of the Council.  The Board receives reports on key issues, such as the workforce and considers the impact of sector-led improvement work and peer reviews.  It will also receive feedback from Ofsted monitoring visits.

h)  Recently the Board has been looking at the ‘front door’ to children’s services as this is very important for outcomes and likely to be the focus of the first Ofsted monitoring visit. 

i)  Going forward, consideration will be given as to how the Board gets reports on wider service issues such as outcomes for children in care.

j)  In his view the Corporate Director, Director and Portfolio Holder have a real grip of the issues that need addressing and a lot has already been achieved in relation to the ‘front door’ to services.  However, while there has been a lot of progress on a range of issues, there is more to do. 

k)  The ‘front door’ to services is a really important area.  Essex County Council has looked at the Council’s ‘front door’ arrangements again and their findings are encouraging, with a better culture, less blame and more communication found to be in place.  Decision making is more consistent and the timeliness of decision making has improved since the Ofsted inspection.  Consent  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32