To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Mr Burbidge, Councillor Butler, Councillor Chappell and Mr James.

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Councillor Hardwick acted as a substitute for Councillor Chappell.

To receive any declarations of interest from members in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting on 17 September 2018.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting on 17 September are approved as a correct record.

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Deadline for receipt of questions is 5:00pm on Tuesday 25 September.

Accepted questions and answers will be published as a supplement prior to the meeting. Please submit questions to: councillorservices@herefordshire.gov.uk. 

A copy of the public question and written answer is attached to the Minutes at Appendix 1.

To receive a report concerning referrals to the MASH from partners and agencies.

The committee received a report from the Director Children and Families concerning referral levels to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH). The ADS&FS introduced the report and advised that it outlined when a referral should be made and the thresholds in place to require intervention. The outcomes of the Ofsted inspection were also raised which found that too many children were being referred to the Council. The report showed the high level of referrals from the Police and the high proportion that were judged to require no further action. The ADS&FS explained that she would be meeting with DCI Jonathan Roberts to discuss the current situation and measures to address the high referral rate. 

The Chairperson welcomed DCI Roberts to the meeting who was in attendance to address queries concerning referrals to the MASH originating from West Mercia Police.

The committee raised those points below in the discussion that followed:

·         The committee queried the mobile phone application in use to assist officers to make a judgement over safeguarding concerns. DCI Roberts explained that the application was a tool with general advice that was not specific to Herefordshire and safeguarding concerns were referred through the Harm Assessment Unit, a member of which was co-located in the MASH. DCI Roberts stated that the Police have a duty to refer every child considered to be at risk. It was recognised that the higher level of safeguarding risk was referred to the MASH and it was necessary to understand what processes were in place to report lower levels of risk. A meeting would be taking place with the ADS&FS shortly to discuss these issues.

·         It was queried whether some officers were more risk averse than others and if this had an impact on high referral rates. The committee considered whether greater levels of training and guidance could help to address such risk aversion? DCI Roberts explained that the front line officers did not refer directly to the MASH. There was a statutory requirement to address concerns about the welfare of children. The DCF explained that a visit was arranged to the harm assessment unit at the Police in order to examine what steps could be taken to address referrals deemed unnecessary. The issue was longstanding. Signposting to early help services would help to reduce the level of referrals. Other courses of action existed to signpost concerns and a link to the WISH website could be circulated. WISH had a range of information to support agencies to signpost to early help and preventative services.

·         Sally Halls, Chair of the Herefordshire Children Safeguarding Board (HSCB), explained that there was a statutory responsibility for anyone who had a concern about the welfare of a child to make a referral if that child was likely to suffer significant harm. There had been long running discussions with the Police force who had been slow to address the issue of responding differently to children who did not meet the threshold of significant concern. There was a requirement for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25.

To receive the outcome of the Ofsted inspection of children’s services and the council’s proposed response to areas for improvement identified.

The committee received a report from the Cabinet Member young people and children’s wellbeing which set out the outcomes of the recent Ofsted inspection and the action plan produced by the Council in response. The Director Children and Families and the Assistant Director, Safeguarding and Family Support introduced the report and explained that the inspection had been conducted under the new inspection framework which was focused on experience and outcomes. The inspectors had reviewed internal information such as the self-assessment and had conducted interviews with social workers.

The DCF outlined the findings of the inspection. The overall judgement was requiring improvement, but the judgement for the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families was inadequate. There were a number of positive reflections on the services in Herefordshire and no child seen was at risk of significant harm and children at risk of immediate harm receive prompt and responsive intervention, ensuring they are safeguarded. The council’s self-assessment had already identified areas that were reflected in Ofsted’s report including capacity and caseloads of social workers. Recruitment to teams and performance management systems were also highlighted as an area of concern raised through the inspection. The action plan proposed a range of actions to address the findings of the inspection and some were already taking place. The effectiveness of the plan would be monitored and there was a need to refresh the plan every three months. It was recognised that there was a need to ensure a sustained cultural change to ensure consistent progress. The report and action plan would be presented to Cabinet for approval and a further visit by Ofsted was expected.  

The committee raised the issues below in the discussion that followed:

·         The committee referred to an article which contained details of the inspection framework and those elements which ensured a good outcome from an inspection.

·         The money that had been dedicated by Cabinet to support the recruitment of social workers would help to support elements of the action plan. Would this funding be maintained? The DCF confirmed that funding for capacity and staffing needed to be sustained to ensure improvement. The Council was in a relatively healthy financial position and a base budgeting exercise was underway to set out what was required to continue the staffing in next year’s budget. There remained challenges around the recruitment of permanent and agency staff. There had been some success but recruitment was an ongoing issue and methods for the recruitment and retention of social workers were being investigated.

·         The committee acknowledged that the report had some areas of concern but also contained positive elements.

·         The committee requested information regarding how the concerns regarding the continuity of social workers for children would be addressed. The ADS&FS confirmed that difficulties with recruitment of social workers had an impact upon the continuity of social workers but it was important that the service sought to ensure that the experience of newly qualified social workers who worked in Herefordshire was positive to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

To receive the annual report of the HSCB setting out the Board’s annual assessment of safeguarding arrangements for children and young people in Herefordshire.

The committee received a report from the Director of Children and Families which set out the Herefordshire Children Safeguarding Board (HSCB) annual report 2017/18 and the latest version of the business plan of the Board for 2017-19. The reports were introduced by Sally Halls, Chair of the HSCB who explained that the Board oversaw the safeguarding arrangements of agencies across Herefordshire. There was significant pressure across the system and the impact of organisational resources on safeguarding arrangements was acknowledged: there had been a high turnover of staff at the CCG; the Wye Valley Trust was assessed as requiring improvement and West Mercia Police’s approach to serious organised crime was also found by HMIP to be requiring improvement. Attendance and engagement by some agencies in Herefordshire with the Safeguarding Children Board was reported as not being good enough, which in turn affected speed of  progress with improving responses to Herefordshire children and families who may need safeguarding or early help services. Some improvement had been achieved and some children and families were receiving a good service but it was not assured that all children received a good service or that responses were sufficiently quick and effective in circumstances where there might be the risk of neglect, domestic abuse and substance misuse.

The HSCB Chair expressed concern regarding the consistency of system-level leadership and the lack of common cause across the agencies. The current situation undermined the operational strength of the system and a culture shift was required to ensure improvement was achieved and children were diverted from the child protection system by receiving effective help earlier.

The HSCB Chair outlined new legislation that would see the local authority sharing responsibility with health (the CCG) and police partners for establishing arrangements for children’s safeguarding in Herefordshire. This need not consist of a Safeguarding Children Board, as previously required. It was important that the three ‘safeguarding partners’ began to think now how this would be structured in Herefordshire. Fresh thinking around governance and accountability was necessary to tackle the problems of domestic abuse, exploitation of children and vulnerable adults. New thinking about how to share responsibility with counterparts in the police and the NHS was also required.

The committee raised those comments below in the discussion that followed:

·         The committee asked how a common cause could be enabled between the agencies.  The HSCB Chair explained that it required strong leadership by the main safeguarding agencies to have difficult conversations and to engage with voluntary and community-level groups.

·         The committee queried why the Board had struggled to engage some agencies.  The HSCB Chair explained that area-wide bodies struggled to engage with the Board itself because of reductions in their capacity which have taken place over a number of years. The Board did expect agencies to respond when challenged. Despite the new legislation this may still be a challenge.  However, in relation to the delivery of effective and timely services to families, this is generally good across the partnership.

·         The committee asked what work had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To review the attached work programme for 2018/19 and note updates against recommendations made in the recommendations tracker contained in the appendix.

The committee received and noted its work programme for 2018/19. The committee agreed to rearrange the meeting on 18 February 2019 to 4 March 2019 to allow for the outcomes of the two task and finish groups currently in operation to be reported prior to the commencement of purdah.

RESOLVED – that the committee agree the rearrangement of the meeting date on 18 February 2019 to 4 March 2019.

Date of next meeting – 12 November 2018, 10.15 a.m.

The next meeting of the committee would be held on Monday 12 November, at 10.15 a.m. in Committee Room 1.