To review progress against the improvement plan produced in response to the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) inspection judgement of June 2018 and the subsequent Safeguarding and Family Support division improvement plan.

The committee considered a report from the assistant director children’s safeguarding quality and improvement (ADCSQ&I) providing the quarterly review of performance and progress against the safeguarding and family support improvement plan 2020/2021.

The Chairperson explained that the report focused on those elements which required improvement however it should be noted that a number of improvements had been achieved by social workers, particularly in respect of visits, during the pandemic.

The ADCSQ&I introduced the report and outlined the following:

·         A briefing paper had been provided to chart the journey in Herefordshire (from inadequate to requires improvement).

·         The scorecard demonstrated sustained improvement over the course of the last 12 months.

·         Sustained and significant improvement had been achieved and there was now a focus on providing a quality service to children and young people. An assessment of the impact of the work of children’s services on children and their families needed to be undertaken. More audit work was required and 12 months previously 48% of audits had been adjudged inadequate but progress had reduced the figure to 11%.

·         Further work was required around listening and responding systematically to children and families to ensure that a regular feedback process formed part of the work of children’s services. Children and families would be given the opportunity to judge the work of children’s services on a scale. Children and families stories and experience would be listened to in order to improve the delivery of services in the future.

·         Collaborative auditing was also being undertaken where auditors shadow a social worker who explains the processes and work to deliver services.

·         A further improvement consisted of clarity over what good practice consisted of and key to this was the signs of safety approach. On the cover of the improvement plan there were three key questions:what’s going well; what are we worried about and; and what SMART actions were to be taken forward over the next quarter.     

The following points were raised in the debate:

·         The presentation of the report had improved with a focus on what the service was doing well, what not doing so well and what needed to be monitored.

·         Within the report was the issue of recruitment of social workers and it was recognised that recruitment was also a concern in other areas of the council. The increase in working from home arrangements might help to increase recruitment rates but it remained an issue for the authority. It was proposed that a working group of members look into the issue of recruitment in the county across all directorates at the council. The ADCSQ&I explained that he was working with a team to investigate recruitment and would welcome input from members. Three recruitment and retention summits had taken place and it was acknowledged that improvements were required to processes to develop recruitment campaigns. Work had been required to define the core offer which had been condensed onto a single sheet of paper and was now felt to be a strong offer. Herefordshire  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6