To receive apologies for absence

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Graham Andrews and Kath Hey.

To receive declarations of interest in respect of Schedule 1, Schedule 2 or Other Interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

Mr Sam Pratley declared a other interest in agenda number 8, review of performance and progress against the safeguarding and family support improvement plan, as the Chairman of Vennture. The report and appendices made reference to the Family First, an early help initiative in Herefordshire involving Vennture.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting on 15 September 2020.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting on 15 September are approved as a correct record and signed by the chairperson.

To provide an update on the reduction strategy to reduce the number of children looked after (CLA). To include an update on cases that had been identified for Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) or reunification.

The committee considered a report from the assistant director safeguarding and family support (ADS&FS) which provided an update on reducing the number of children looked after (CLA). The report was introduced by the Head of Children Looked After (HCLA) who explained that the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted upon foster placements and the number of children looked after currently in residential units was a concern. An initiative to retain and recruit foster carers was in effect and marketing improvements were being made to the campaign. An update on changes to the Herefordshire Intensive Placements Support Service was provided to the committee.

The committee raised the points below in the debate that followed:

·         The edge of care service had been in effect since April 2020 and it was queried what percentage of children had been diverted from care during this period. It was recommended that monitoring and recording of numbers of children prevented from entering care by the edge of care service was undertaken. The HCLA explained that the service had worked with 14 children and prevented 12 from entering care arrangements. Of the two that had entered care one had returned home and the other had remained in care.

·         The reason for delays in progressing long-term matching decisions was queried. The HCLA explained that it had not been afforded sufficient priority which had now been corrected by ensuring there was more effective monitoring arrangements including a review at 9 month intervals.

·         The reasons that foster carers did not wish to enter into special guardianship orders (SGOs) were queried. The HCLA explained the variety of reasons including concern over reduced financial support and the requirement to manage contact with family members. The ADS&FS explained that the notion of SGOs was being introduced to foster carers at an earlier stage of contact with potential carers.

·         Statistics concerning the number of children leaving care and preventing admission to care were raised and how they compared to other areas. The timescales for matching neighbouring areas were queried. The HCLA explained that the number of children leaving care was improving and coming into line with neighbouring areas however the objective of the service was to improve to a level that was better than the performance of neighbours. The ADS&FS explained children would always be taken into care and it was important to avoid drift and delay in decision making over children in care which was potentially harmful to families and children.  The HCLA explained that more detail would be available at the end of the financial year and that the year 2024 had been identified to match neighbouring performance. The Director Children and Families (DCF) explained that it was intended that the level of children looked after would not exceed 320 by the end of 2021 and that an increase in the level of children looked after in residential provision was a trend consistent across a number of councils resulting in overspending budgets. There were a number of plans in effect to reduce  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To review progress against the Safeguarding and Family Support division improvement plan 2020 / 2021 (appendix a) and Our priorities definitions (appendix b) produced in response to the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) inspection judgement of June 2018 and the subsequent focused visits carried out in 2019.

The committee considered a report by the assistant director for children’s safeguarding quality and improvement (ADCSQ&I). The ADCSQ&I introduced the report and explained that there was a shift towards robust audits and there had been an increase in the number of audits that had produced good outcomes. Challenges remained around staff supervision, the timeliness of return to home interview and repeat referrals to the Multi-agency safeguarding hub.

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

·         The timeliness of the presentation of data in the quarterly report to the committee. The report before the committee provided data up to the end of September 2020 and it was recommended that the dates of forthcoming meetings of the committee were synchronised more closely with the production of the improvement plan report.

·         The committee queried the work that had been undertaken with other areas including Doncaster and Essex. The DCF, ADS&FS and ADCSQ&I provided detail on the work undertaken with other local authorities to help shape improvements to safeguarding processes and practices.

·         The recommendation from cabinet that the committee undertake a review into barriers to record-keeping for safeguarding cases was raised. It was recommended that future versions of the improvement plan report contain information on the improvements to Mosaic and the use of technology to enable better social work practice. A letter would be sent to the executive to explain that the committee would use the improvement plan to monitor record keeping for safeguarding cases.

·         The committee recommended that in future the improvement plan contain detail of the recording of feedback from young people and the use of the mind of my own (MOMO) app.

·         The risk assessing of children at risk of exploitation was raised and the action to change the target for the completion of risk assessments. The ADS&FS explained that the target was being brought into line with targets used in the rest of the country.

·         The categories of need in child protection plans were raised. Assurance was sought that where a case was considered in the emotional or neglect category but a sexual harm element was present, this was taken into account and not missed. The ADCSQ&I explained that the quality assurance work that had been undertaken had demonstrated that sexual abuse aspects had been identified. The ADS&FS explained that an investigation had been undertaken on the use of the categorisations of abuse and the outcome had shown that there had been no cases where sexual abuse had been missed.

The cabinet member children and families explained that it was pleasing that the trend was positive and that improvement was being made. It was acknowledged that improvement was still required and it was key to the process that the council had a good understanding of itself.

The recommendations below were proposed by Councillor Carole Gandy and seconded by Councillor Phillip Howells and agreed by the committee.   

RESOLVED: That the committee:

·         Recommends that the dates of forthcoming meetings of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

To: review the attached work programme for 2020/21; receive the executive responses to the child exploitation task and finish group and peer on peer abuse recommendations; and note the recommendations tracker.

The committee considered its work programme 2020/21 and received the executive responses to the child exploitation task and finish group and the recommendations of the committee on the review of peer on peer abuse cases.

The Chairperson confirmed that: a scoping document for a task and finish group on paediatric therapies would be brought to the meeting of the committee in January; and a briefing note would be circulated regarding SEND following which a decision would be made whether to initiate a task and finish group on the topic.

The committee requested that the reports to be considered at the meeting in March 2020 contain detail on the effect of lockdown and the period post-lockdown on care referrals.

The recommendations below were proposed by Councillor Carole Gandy and seconded by Councillor Paul Andrews and agreed by the committee.

RESOLVED: That the committee:

(a) reviews the 2020/21 work programme at appendix a, discusses any additional items of business or topics for inclusion in the work programme and agrees the changes to the work programme itemised in paragraph 3;

(b) receives and notes the executive response (appendix b) to the recommendations arising from the child exploitation task and finish group and updates of work undertaken in response to the recommendations;

(c) receives and notes the draft executive response (appendix c) to the

recommendations arising from the review of peer on peer abuse cases and the amendment agreed by Cabinet; and

(d) notes the recommendation tracker in appendix d.

The date of the next meeting is 12 January 2021.

The Chairperson confirmed that the next meeting of the committee would be held on Tuesday 12 January 2021 at 1.00 p.m.