To review progress against the improvement plan produced in response to the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) inspection judgement of June 2018 and the subsequent Safeguarding and Family Support division improvement plan 2019 / 2020.

To include an update on work with West Mercia Police regarding referrals to the Multi-agency safeguarding hub.

The committee received a report from the assistant director safeguarding and family support concerning progress against the safeguarding and family support improvement plan. The report which provided the outcomes from the end of quarter 3 was introduced by the DCF.

The principal points below were raised in the debate:

·         There was concern regarding the number of care leavers not in education, employment or training (NEET) and not in suitable accommodation. It was proposed that the topic could be address by the scrutiny committee as a task and finish group or spotlight review. The DCF explained that currently 86% of care leavers were in suitable accommodation. The ADED&S was currently working on a project looking at NEETs and a briefing note would be circulated to the committee following the meeting.

·         It was queried whether there was a reluctance on the part of employers in the county to employ care leavers or offer training opportunities. The cabinet member children and families explained that a 16+ member champion had been established to look into options for training and work experience for young people.

·         The continuing difficulty to recruit social workers was raised. The DCF explained that problems around the recruitment of social workers were an underlying issue for the children and families directorate. A new assistant director would shortly be taking up a post who would focus on the social work academy and the long term objective to train and develop social workers from Herefordshire.

·         The use of providers to undertake social work activities that were not statutory or crucial was raised. The DCF explained that business support was provided to social workers to undertake such tasks and voice recognition software had been provided to reduce the resource required for some tasks. This was kept under review and the current focus was on the prevention of the escalation of cases.

·         The issue of the frequency of supervision was raised. The DCF explained that there were regular conversations between social workers and managers but the formality and recording of these meetings needed to improve. The issue was an area of focus with weekly reports on supervision and heads of service involved in supervision.

·         In the previous item there was no mention of other organisations that provided services for NEETs and should they be part of discussions around key stage 5 plans. The DCF explained that a specific response would be necessary, the further education team co-ordinated with the 16+ team to investigate training opportunities for 19 -21 year olds. It was acknowledged that there were a number of care leavers who were NEETs and were not benefitting from opportunities. 

·         It was acknowledged that there were positive areas and accomplishments in performance against the improvement plan but that public perception was informed by a focus on those negative elements. It was felt that there should be attempts to accentuate and publicise those areas of progress that had been achieved. The cabinet member children and families acknowledged that it was important to appreciate the achievements accomplishment however this should not diminish the work and improvements that were still required.

·         It was queried whether social worker agencies experienced similar trouble in the recruitment of social workers. The DCF explained that difficulties in the recruitment of social workers was prevalent across the country with 6,000 vacancies in children’s social care. There was a need to market Herefordshire to attract people and their partners to the county.

·         The visit to the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) in Redbridge was raised and what best practice had been observed. The DCF explained that the Redbridge MASH had a single front door with help and guidance provided at an early stage. The handling of multi-agency referral forms by Redbridge was also raised; cases without a significant risk of harm were dealt with using an alternative response to social care activity.

·         It was requested that in future details of the changes that that the directorate was trying to accomplish should be presented in a one page briefing document. The document should include details of the intention of a project, who was responsible for it and how change would be measured.

·         It was requested that a briefing note on the mind of my own (MOMO) app be shared with the committee.

·         It was proposed that in future all members of the children and young people scrutiny committee be invited to the performance challenge session. Issues raised during that session would inform the report to the scrutiny committee.

·         The timing of meetings of the scrutiny committee would also be reconsidered to ensure that they were scheduled four weeks after the release of the quarterly report concerning the safeguarding and family support improvement plan.

·         It was felt that the committee would benefit from continued sight of the quarterly self-evaluation.

·         The intention to complete the review of historic peer on peer abuse cases by the end of March and to report the outcome to the meeting of the scrutiny committee in June was raised. If there was any slippage in the timeframe it was felt this needed to be clearly publicised. The DCF explained that it was intended that the review would be completed within the timeframe outlined however there may be an impact from the coronavirus.

·         The child exploitation bid was queried. The DCF explained that the bid had been successful and work would now be taken forward across agencies.

RESOLVED: That the committee:

·         requests that in future details of the changes that the directorate was trying to accomplish be presented in a one page briefing document including details of the intention of a project, who was responsible for it and how change would be measured.

·         requests a briefing note on the mind of my own (MOMO) app.

·         proposes that all members of the children and young people scrutiny committee be invited to the performance challenge session.

·         agrees that meetings are scheduled four weeks after the release of the quarterly report concerning the safeguarding and family support improvement plan.