The purpose of this report is to present cabinet with the Children’s Services Improvement Plan for authorisation to submit the plan to Ofsted following the inspection in July 2022.

The cabinet member children and families introduced the report and recommended that the improvement action plan be approved for submission to Ofsted. She thanked everyone who had contributed to the draft plan and explained that engagement would continue following the submission to Ofsted.

The draft improvement action plan was considered by the children and young people scrutiny committee. The cabinet member proposed that the three recommendations made by the scrutiny committee be accepted and highlighted the responses provided in the supplementary paper to the report.

Cabinet members discussed the draft plan and noted that:

·       An accessible version of the plan would be produced once it had been approved;

·       The speed of response to contacts and requests for information had improved but there was still work to do;

·       The council was working with midwifery and health visitor services to develop pathways for early support for expectant mothers and newborns, the impact of this would need to be monitored over time.

The chairperson of the children and young people scrutiny committee thanked cabinet members for the quick and positive response to the three recommendations made by the committee. He highlighted that there had been a constructive exchange between officers and members and that the additional timelines added showed the council was working at pace.

Group leaders spoke to give the views of their groups. In response to queries raised it was noted that:

·       Minor changes would be made to the text of the plan by the corporate director to clarify that the practice priorities reflected a vision rather than an aspiration;

·       Achieving appropriate permanent arrangements for children in care was a priority for the service;

·       There had been a robust scrutiny process and this would continue to ensure progress, however some activities were dependent on others being completed or sufficiently progressed;

·       It was important to listen to families and the council was working to build trust and improve the service from a low base;

·       Improving recruitment and retention of permanent staff was an urgent priority and also ensuring that the progress already made was embedded;

·       There were no measures at the moment for SEND as a new strategy was currently being worked on, appropriate measures would be identified as part of that work;

·       There would be engagement with families on improvements to the SEND service.

It was resolved that:

a)    That the Executive Response to the scrutiny recommendations on Children’s Services Improvement Action Plan (at Appendix 1), made by the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on the 13 December 2022, be agreed;

b)    Cabinet endorse the Improvement Action Plan outlined in Appendix A; and

c)    Cabinet authorise the Corporate Director for Children and Young People in consultation with the council’s Corporate Leadership Team to submit the action plan to Ofsted no later than 20 December 2022.