To receive apologies for absence.

Councillors WLS Bowen,  MJK Cooper, JG Lester and PJ Watts.

To receive details of any Members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a Member of the Committee.

Councillor A Seldon for Councillor WLS Bowen.

To receive any declarations of interest by Members in respect of items on the Agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider suggestions from members of the public on issues the Committee could scrutinise in the future.

(There will be no discussion of the issue at the time when the matter is raised.  Consideration will be given to whether it should form part of the Committee’s work programme when compared with other competing priorities.)

There were no suggestions from the public.

To note questions received from the public and the items to which they relate.

(Questions are welcomed for consideration at a Scrutiny Committee meeting so long as the question is directly related to an item listed on the agenda.  If you have a question you would like to ask then please submit it no later than two working days before the meeting to the Committee Officer.  This will help to ensure that an answer can be provided at the meeting). 

There were no questions from the public.

To enable the Committee to understand arrangements being made to address the findings of the recent OFSTED inspection of early help and child protection services in Herefordshire and to determine the action the Committee needs to take to assure the strength of the improvements being made.

The Committee received a report on the arrangements being made to address the findings of the OFSTED inspection of early help and child protection services in Herefordshire, undertaken between the 10^th and 19^th September 2012.

The Director of People’s Services reported that this was the first inspection under a new national inspection framework that would only be in place until April 2013, and Herefordshire was the fourth area to be inspected in the country. Inspections had focused on those areas that were judged to be adequate or inadequate.  A new multi agency, multi-inspectorate inspection framework would be in place thereafter, which would inspect all agencies at the same time.

Whilst there were strengths, particularly in the area of early years help, the inspectors had identified a number of significant weaknesses in the quality and effectiveness of child protection practice, the effectiveness of leadership and governance in child protection  and therefore the impact of the child protection services on outcomes and experiences for children and their families. As a result of these weaknesses, OFSTED judged arrangements in Herefordshire to be inadequate for all elements.

The Director went on to say that, under national arrangements, all councils graded inadequate were considered to require the oversight of the Department for Education (DfE), to ensure the improvements made were as rapid as possible, and were likely to continue to improve. It was likely that Herefordshire would require an Improvement Notice from the Minister which would be developed with the Council. This would set out the specific improvements to be made and the timescales for doing this. It could take up to two years to be in a position to reach an ‘adequate’ rating. An Improvement Board had been established which comprised the Chief Officers of all relevant partner organisations; the Lead Member for the Council; external advice from the DfE and an Independent Chairman.  In the ensuing discussion, a number of issues were discussed.

The Director said that there would be an audit of all cases by an independent organisation in order to provide a baseline understanding of the practice issues that the Council was experiencing. 

The Independent Chairman of the Children’s Safeguarding Board reported that, since 2010, the Board had not addressed the issue of how all the agencies worked together.  This was an issue that OFSTED had commented on, and if Agencies did not respond quickly enough, or the quality of practitioners, including social workers was not adequate, then hard edged child protection would not be delivered.  This was a situation that would be addressed.

In reply to concerns expressed by Members, the Assistant Director Children & Young People Provider Services said that significant steps were being made to address the low baseline from which children’s social care was working.  Issues had been identified and a Principle Social Worker appointed, who was also the Head of Children & Families Casework.  The recruitment and retention of staff was a relentless process, but there were very few experienced potential staff available in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note the progress being made and risks associated with achieving the savings targets established for adult services for 2012/13.

The Committee noted the quarterly report outlining savings that were being achieved through the strategic plan for delivering adult services.  The Programme Manager, Maximising Independence reported that the total savings target established for 2012/13 was £7.956m on a budget of £50.04m.  This represented a significant challenge and an ambitious programme of work had been established.  Budget savings had been profiled across the financial year and the cumulative target at the end of quarter 2 was £1.849m, of which £1.691m had been achieved.  In the ensuing discussion, the following areas were highlighted:

·         That there were currently 5 schemes areas that were indicated as having a red status in the table in the update report.  The scheme for increased charges had a target of £933k had been approved, with an adjustment to the proposals to take into account the decision not to charge carers for services. It was estimated that £250k would be achieved through charging in the current year.

·         The review of the systems process area between the Wye Valley NHS Trust, Hoople Ltd and the Council was the reason that no figures were available in certain sections of the table in the update report.

In reply to a question, the Programme Manager confirmed that the £500k of nonrecurring savings would have to be found again next year, but that the figure would depend on the budget target that had been set. 

It was noted that a number of schemes were also rated as having an amber status in the report.

In reply to concerns regarding issues surrounding the budget, the Cabinet Member (Health and Wellbeing) said that she was aware of the overspend in this area, and the disruptive impact that this had on other services.  There had been a great deal of improvement in understanding the structure of the budget and the impacts upon it.  She was determined that the Council should have a budget that was realistic and robust and added that there would be hard choices ahead for other services.

In reply to a question, the Director of People said that the redesign and implementation by the Wye Valley Trust of the re-ablement pathways would continue to be monitored by the Council, as commissioners of the service. 

RESOLVED: 

That

a)    The report be noted and;

b)    Adequate resources should be made available to ensure stability in the workforce and maintain stability with the Service.

To consider the findings arising from the Task & Finish Group – ‘Safeguarding Arrangements for Children’ and to recommend the report to the Executive for consideration.

The Chairman of the Task and Finish Group presented the report from the Task & Finish Group on ‘Safeguarding Arrangement for Children in Herefordshire.  He outlined the recommendations to the Committee, and during the ensuing discussion, the following point were raised:

In reply to a question, the Director of People’s Services said that it was mandatory for a Local Authority who was placing a Looked After Child in care in a home in another Authority to inform that Authority of the placement.  Compliance with the legislation did depend on the local authority concerned, but evidence showed that most authorities had informed the Council of relevant placements.  The matter had been raised with directors of Children’s Services in other authorities, and the Director suggested that the Committee give consideration to lobbying other scrutiny committees in the region.

In reply to a question, the Assistant Director Children & Young People Provider Services said that there was a recruitment and retention strategy in place for social workers, who were being recruited on more than the establishment level of pay.  This was a slow process, as there was a lack of good quality social workers coming through the system.   There was movement around the region, which meant that, as well as a focus on training up social workers from staff within the Council, recruitment was possible

RESOLVED:

That      (a)     the Committee agreed the findings and recommendations contained in report of the Task & Finish Group – Safeguarding Arrangement for Children in Herefordshire and to forward the report to the Executive for consideration; and

        (b)     the Executive’s response to the Review including an action plan be reported to the first available meeting of the Committee after the Executive has approved its response.

To consider the Committee’s work programme.

The Committee noted the work programme.

In the ensuing discussion the following points were made:

•        That the Committee should consider the Cabinet monitoring report when it was considering the budget for the coming year.

•        A review of the quality of Adult Social Care had been commissioned, and that this should be considered when the Committee reviewed Adult Safeguarding.

•        In light of the change in Overview and Scrutiny Committee structure and membership, the membership of the Task and Finish Group on Adult Safeguarding in the home should be reviewed.

•        A Task and Finish Group on Access to Services should be scoped for consideration at the next meeting.

•        The Standing Task and Finish Review Group on Safeguarding would be chaired by Councillor SJ Robertson.

RESOLVED: That the work programme be noted.