To receive a report on the Judgement of The Hon Mr Justice Keehan, following recent children’s social care proceedings heard in the Family Division of the Royal Courts of Justice regarding a family known to Herefordshire Council since 2010. This Judgement was published at 14.00hrs on 16^th April 2021.

 

In accordance with Part 4 paragraph 4.1.13 of the Council’s constitution, the Acting Joint Chief Executives requested, on behalf of cabinet, the Monitoring Officer to a call an extraordinary meeting of the Council due to the public interest in these matters.

 

This report summarises the issues raised in the judgement and sets out a strategy for assuring the current social care service is safe in the immediate term and then improves in the future

Council considered a report by the Acting Joint deputy Chief Executives and the Interim Director Children Services concerning the High Court judgement April 2021 relating to Children and Families.

 

The report and recommendations were proposed and introduced by the Leader. He apologised to the children and families failed by the actions of the local authority that had been the focus of the High Court judgement. He explained that there had been longstanding failures of leadership at the council that were being addressed with the appointment of a new Chief Executive and the appointment of an interim Director of Children’s Services. He referred to the Secretary of State appointment of a Department for Education (DFE) advisor and the requirement for cultural change at the council.

 

During the course of the debate the following points were raised:

 

·         The findings of the judgement were shocking and upsetting and the council needed to restore faith in children’s services;

·         The role of all councillors as corporate parents and the need to insist upon improvement for the benefit of looked after children;

·         The difficult working relationship with children’s services and the need to change a culture of evasion and lack of transparency;

·         An acknowledgement that there were excellent social workers in Herefordshire who needed help and support.

·         Recommendations and learning from earlier judgements that had not been applied or implemented;

·         The root-and-branch approach to achieve improvement and change were welcomed and the funding that would be required was acknowledged. It was hoped there would be assistance from local MPs to secure government support.

·         The planned reviews needed to identity and highlight bad practice to facilitate cultural change;

·         The role and accountability of cabinet members on the Council;

·         The importance of scrutiny and the requirement for greater training of scrutiny members. The requirement for members of the children and young people scrutiny committee to be updated on current issues of significance. Councillors were provided with significant data regarding the performance of children’s services but without fully understanding the detail;

·         A culture existed across children’s, legal and democratic services at the council to block access to information;

·         The outcomes of the task and finish group in 2019 in response to the 2018 judgement and recommendations that had not been implemented;

·         Elected members had felt that they were not listened to and should have been more forthright in raising concerns. Improvements were necessary to ensure that members were listened to;

·         Longstanding issues had been identified in previous Ofsted judgements, over the previous 10 years, which included a lack of supervision of frontline staff and poor record keeping;

·         The review of all cases in the system would be a long process that could take 3 – 5 years;

·         The need for appropriate checks and balances to support social workers;

·         Improvements to processes concerning the provision of legal advice in complex cases and work to improve the contact between legal and social workers;

·         The role of Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) and the need to review the effectiveness of the service;

·         The governance arrangement of the improvement board and how it would coordinate with scrutiny and the corporate parenting panel;

·         The need to reconsider the functions and responsibilities of the corporate parenting panel;

·         The importance of hearing the child’s voice;

·         There was concern regarding the late presentation of a significant number of documents to the court whilst the hearing was in progress;

·         The importance of updating members through progress reports to meetings of the full Council to evidence commitment and improvement to external partners and stakeholders;

·         The ongoing coroner’s inquest and the potential criminal culpability of individuals in the judgement.

 

Councillor Felicity Norman seconded the recommendations in the report and explained that there was a focus on ensuring that the necessary changes would be undertaken. A number of actions were being progressed including the long term review of all current cases. Support had come from the local government association and partners and the new chief executive and interim director of children’s services. It was important to listen, in particular to the voice of the child, and it was essential to rebuild trust. The mistakes and failures in the judgement were understood and they would be put right.

 

There was a brief adjournment at 12:34 p.m.; the meeting reconvened at 12:45 p.m.

 

Amendment 1

 

To add recommendation (i):

 

Given the lack of firm recommendations for Councillors to approve for the next steps from here following the Family Court Judgment, we would like to propose that the Leader commissions a firm and clear action plan with action ownership and timescales to be presented to an extraordinary meeting of the Children and young people scrutiny committee to be held no later than 28^th May 2021for discussion and to make recommendations to full Council.

 

Councillor Phillip Howells proposed the amendment above and explained that the inclusion of the additional recommendation would allow for more immediate implementation of improvements. The amendment would help provide clarity on the co-ordination and management of the planned improvements and detail of the timescales.

 

Councillor Roger Phillips seconded the amendment and explained that he supported it as a mechanism to keep the full Council updated.

 

During the course of the debate the following points were raised:

 

·         The action plans that would emerge from the Improvement Board would be shared and advice from the DFE would be sought on the timescales;

·         There was concern that the timescales in the amendment were not practicable. 

 

Councillor Roger Phillips withdrew as the seconder of the amendment.

 

Councillor Terry James seconded the motion but requested an alteration to the wording to replace the words no later than 28^th May 2021 with the words with urgency.

 

Councillor Phillip Howells as the proposer of the amendment agreed to the alteration above.

 

The debate continued and the following points were raised:

 

·         The amendment would achieve an overarching plan that would co-ordinate a number of areas of work. It would assist all members understanding and provide updates to the children and young people scrutiny committee;

·         There was concern that the amendment would delay the introduction of improvement initiatives;

·         It was important that full Council retained an oversight of the progress of the improvements;

·         The amendment would enable the children and young people scrutiny committee to see the next steps on the introduction of improvements and to provide comment;

·         It was confirmed that the chairperson of the children and young people scrutiny committee would be a member of the Improvement Board.

 

The Leader, as the mover of the original report recommendations, explained that he was encouraged that the chairperson of the children and young people scrutiny committee would be a member of the Improvement Board and was content with the amendment as it would act as a useful prompt for updates to be provided to meetings of the full Council.

 

The amendment was put to the vote and was carried by a simple majority of Council.

 

RESOLVED – That the following is added to the original report recommendations as recommendation (i):

 

Given the lack of firm recommendations for Councillors to approve for the next steps from here following the Family Court Judgment, we would like to propose that the Leader commissions a firm and clear action plan with action ownership and timescales to be presented to an extraordinary meeting of the Children and young people scrutiny committee to be held with urgency for discussion and to make recommendations to full Council.

 

 

Amendment 2

 

To add recommendation (j):

 

That all staff resigning from Herefordshire children’s services are required to undertake an exit interview conducted by a children’s social care specialist outside Herefordshire Council, to understand the reasons for their resignation. This process to be implemented no later than 1^st July 2021 with the outcome of all such exit interviews reported to the Children & Young People Scrutiny committee.

This could be a stand-alone arrangement with an external consultant, or a reciprocal arrangement with another authority.

 

Councillor Paul Symonds proposed the amendment and explained that he had confidence in the action plans and proposals for improvement in the report. The amendment was intended as a ‘safety net’ to alert the council to problems and issues reported by people leaving children’s services.

 

Councillor Terry James seconded the amendment and explained concerns that departing employees felt constrained in exit interviews as to what they could say. Exit interviews should be an opportunity for outgoing staff to explain what was wrong with children’s services.

 

During the course of the debate the following points were raised:

 

·         There was support for the amendment;

·         It was important that employees were heard and the conduct of exit interviews by an external person was supported;

·         The exit interviews needed to be conducted face-to-face in preference to use of online facilities; and

·         Officers should feel able to approach management at any time during their employment to outline concerns they might have.

 

The Leader, as the mover of the original report recommendations, explained that he understood that the exit interview would be for the benefit of management and any changes to the service resulting from the outcomes of the interview would be reported to the children and young people scrutiny committee.

 

The amendment was put to vote and was carried by a simple majority of the Council.

 

RESOLVED – That the following is added to the original report recommendations as recommendation (j):

 

That all staff resigning from Herefordshire children’s services are required to undertake an exit interview conducted by a children’s social care specialist outside Herefordshire Council, to understand the reasons for their resignation. This process to be implemented no later than 1^st July 2021 with the outcome of all such exit interviews reported to the Children & Young People Scrutiny committee.

 

This could be a stand-alone arrangement with an external consultant, or a reciprocal arrangement with another authority.

 

The Leader closed the debate and explained that this was a watershed moment for the Council. This was an opportunity to reinforce a new relationship between officers, members and the public. The family in the judgement had been let down with a number of lives affected and those children who had been failed would feel the impact throughout their lives.

 

The substantive recommendations, including those additional recommendations contained in the amendments carried above, were put to the vote and were carried unanimously.

 

RESOLVED – That Council:

 

a) Notes the contents of the report;

 

b) Notes the Judgement set out in appendix 1 of the report;

 

c) Notes the Assurance and Improvement Strategy set out in appendix 2;

 

d) Agrees the establishment of an Improvement Board;

 

e) Approves the appointment of an Independent Chair for the Children and Families Improvement Board;

 

f) Notes the Secretary of State will approve the appointment of a DFE advisor to act as the Independent Chair of the Children and Families Improvement Board;

 

g) Approves the commission of External Reviews as determined necessary by the head of paid service;

 

h) Approves the Financial Provision to support the Review and Improvement Strategy, as set out in para 24 and appendix 3 of this report;

 

i) Given the lack of firm recommendations for Councillors to approve for the next steps from here following the Family Court Judgment, we would like to propose that the Leader commissions a firm and clear action plan with action ownership and timescales to be presented to an extraordinary meeting of the Children and young people scrutiny committee to be held with urgency for discussion and to make recommendations to full Council.

 

j) All staff resigning from Herefordshire childrens’ services are required to undertake an exit interview conducted by a children’s social care specialist outside Herefordshire Council, to understand the reasons for their resignation. This process to be implemented no later than 1^st July 2021 with the outcome of all such exit interviews reported to the Children & Young People Scrutiny committee.

 

This could be a stand-alone arrangement with an external consultant, or a reciprocal arrangement with another authority.