Agenda item

Catherine Underwood, Corporate Director for People, introduced the report providing an update on progress in fulfilling the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and implementation of the associated action plan. Information was also provided by the Interim Director of Children’s Integrated Services. They highlighted the following:

(a)  the IICSA had two formal recommendations for the City Council, which were to assess the potential risk posted by current and former foster carers directly provided by the council in relation to the sexual abuse of children, and to commission an independent, external evaluation of their practice concerning harmful sexual behaviour, including responses, prevention, assessment, intervention and workforce development;

(b)  a detailed assessment was made of the risks posed by foster carers by the Head of Service for Children in Care. Any notifications of concern are now submitted to a monthly performance meeting which is also overseen quarterly by the Children’s Safeguarding Partnership. External assurance of processes was also commissioned and concluded that there was no evidence that foster carers posed a risk. Some weaknesses in record keeping were identified and these processes have been improved;

(c)  all agencies with whom NCC has placed a child were written to and a seminar held to provide further details of the responsibilities .Agencies have all confirmed that they have undertaken a review of information regarding current and previous foster carers to assess risks;

(d)  NSPCC were commissioned to undertake an external evaluation of practice in relation to Harmful Sexual Behaviour, and multi-agency meetings were held with staff across the partnership. NSPCC recognised that there were well-established processes and systems in place in Nottingham alongside opportunities for further strengthening. An action plan was developed to disseminate learning and recommendations.

In response to questions from the Committee and in the subsequent discussion the following points were made:

(e)  a consequence of NCC’s engagement with survivors has been the shared commitment to commissioning a new model of survivor support services in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, strongly founded on the feedback from survivors. The Council has taken on board been how difficult the process can be for survivors to approach them for records and claims. A specific post has been created for survivors to approach for more direct conversations, and written communication has been made less legalistic;

(f)  the post of Sexual Violence and Engagement Manager finishes after 2021/22 as it was specific to the IICSA process, but the responsibilities of this post will be absorbed into wider services.

The Committee thanked the Corporate Director and Director for the information provided. The Committee concluded that, based on the information provided at this and previous meetings, it was satisfied that the Council has learnt lessons from the IICSA Inquiry and built that learning, and outstanding issues from the Action Plan into core practice and the Service’s wider Improvement Plan; and given the management and oversight arrangements in place there is no need for further specific scrutiny by the Committee at this time. 

Resolved to

(1)  recognise and thank the Children’s Integrated Services teams for all their work in responding to the findings and recommendations from the IICSA;

(2)  conclude that, based on the available to it, the Committee is satisfied that the Council has implemented the actions agreed in response to the IICSA Inquiry and incorporated lessons learnt into core practice with sufficient management and oversight arrangements in place.