Agenda and minutes

In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair Councillor Maria Joannou chaired the meeting.

The Committee noted that Councillor Sam Gardiner had been appointed as a member of the Committee

Councillor Carole McCulloch – unwell

Councillor Cate Woodward – other Council business

None

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2022

The minutes of the meeting held on 3 November 2022 were confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, Ailsa Barr, Director of Children’s Integrated Services and Chad Thompson, Children’s Services Transformation Delivery Lead, gave a presentation updating the Committee on the progress of the Children’s Services Transformation Programme.  They highlighted the following information:

a)  The Programme is branded as ‘Changing Lives. Changing Futures’ and reflects a number of influences including the Together for Nottingham Plan, the Strategic Council Plan and the regulatory framework.  The aim is to bring together service development, practice improvement and transformation to ensure sustainably improved services for the City.

b)  There is a coherent programme of improvement covering ten goals: five relating to service development and practice improvement; and five relating to transformation projects.

c)  The goals relating to service development and practice improvement are:

  i.  Goal 1 – A challenge from Ofsted has been that children and families are not always getting the right support at the right time.  The aim is to consistently get this right from early help through to significant social work support.

  ii.  Goal 2 – Workforce challenges are not unique to this Council but there needs to be workforce stability where staff are support to progress as they develop, in order to achieve Goal 1. Part of this will be creating an environment that enables staff to progress.

  iii.  Goal 3 – Managers need to have the opportunity to effectively drive forward plans for improvement as part of the goal to have effective managerial oversight.

  iv.  Goal 4 – Having an effective learning and development offer will contribute to achieving Goals 2 and 3.  Staff cannot stand still in their development and need the appropriate skills, knowledge and experience.  The Council will also need to create an environment that enables staff to take advantage of the offer.

  v.  Goal 5 – The Service needs to understand and respond to individual need and diversity rather than treating people as a cohort.  The Service has talked before about hearing the child’s voice but it needs to really consider what this means.

d)  Transformation projects will support service development and practice improvement.  The goals relating to transformation are:

  i.  Goal 1 - Supporting children to remain with their families where that is safe and appropriate.

  ii.  Goal 2 - Supporting children to leave care through reunification or Special Guardianship Order where appropriate.

  iii.  Goal 3 - Plans relate to complex situations and often have competing priorities so it is important that the Service ensures ideal outcomes and strong management around plans.

  iv.  Goal 4 – While the Service will prioritise supporting children to stay in the care of their own family where safe and appropriate, some children will require short or long term care.  The Service needs to be confident that it is able to identify the right placement if needed.  Some needs are very complex and require residential care but most care can be provided by foster carers, ideally within the City’s own resources.  A mixed economy of provision is important and therefore the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

The Committee considered its work programme for the remainder of municipal year 2022/23.  Committee members commented on the importance of not losing sight of child exploitation as an issue on its work programme and it was agreed to schedule it for the meeting in March.  In order to accommodate this, the items on Changes to Children’s Centres and Play and Youth Services and Special Education Needs and Disabilities would be moved to a later meeting.

Resolved to:

(1)  consider the following items at the Committee’s meeting in January 2023:

·  Children’s Integrated Services Improvement Plan

·  Medium Term Financial Plan – Children’s Integrated Services and Education

·  Nottingham City Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report 2021/22

(2)  consider the following items at the Committee’s meeting in March 2023:

·  Education Investment Area

·  Child Exploitation