Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from those Members who are unable to attend the meeting.

No apologies were received.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on the 30^th August 2024.

That the minutes of the meetings held on the 30^th August 2024 be approved as a correct record.

Members will be asked to say if there are any items on the Agenda in which they have any disclosable pecuniary interests or any other interests, which may prevent them from participating in any discussion of the items or participating in any vote upon the items.

No interests were declared.

Most agenda items take place in public. This only changes where there is a need to consider exempt information, as contained at Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. You will be informed at this point which items are to be recommended for exclusion and to be resolved by the Committee.

All items were considered in public session.

The Panel will receive any petitions and/or deputations from members of the public. A deputation is where up to five people can attend the meeting and make a presentation on some particular issue of concern. A member of the public can also submit a petition at the meeting relating to a matter on which the body has powers and responsibilities.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 10, Members of the Public must submit a deputation in writing, at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting and shall subsequently be notified if the deputation shall be heard. A maximum of four deputations shall be heard at any one meeting.

No deputations or petitions were received.

To receive any public questions.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 11, the period for the asking and answering of public questions shall not exceed 15 minutes.

Any questions must be submitted in writing at least three clear working days in advance of the meeting.

No public questions were received.

The Panel will consider the Children’s Services Annual Quality Assurance report. The report is for information and provides an overview of audit and learning processes for the last 12 months for consideration and discussion.

Contact:        Vicky Metheringham, Service Director

Robert Fordyce, Head of Quality Assurance and Practice Development

The Panel considered the Children’s Services Annual Quality Assurance report which was presented by Robert Fordyce, Principal Social Worker for Kirklees and Head of Service - Quality Assurance and Practice Development. The report was for information purposes and provided an overview of audit and learning processes for the last 12 months for consideration and discussion.

Rob Fordyce advised the Panel that Quality Assurance in Children’s Social Care was conducted through a number of strands. These took the form of:

• Learning Conversations - between managers and practitioners and involved looking at a single child’s file to understand the quality of the work within that file. Managers who did not have line management responsibility for the practitioner were matched with them to ensure an independent eye on the quality of work. The results of the conversation were then recorded on a standard form which would then be analysed monthly by Rob Fordyce on a qualitative and quantitative basis to establish areas of strength and areas for improvement.
• Practice Learning Days - a Team or Area would meet to conduct a deep dive into one area of practice, for example, the quality of work addressing domestic abuse. This involved an element of peer auditing and a learning element to promote improvement.
• Deep Dive Audits - issues or themes arising from Learning Conversations would be discussed and considered by Senior Management and a plan for improvement put in place, eg: Life Story Work as mentioned in the report.

Rob Fordyce, highlighted the following key points from the report  -

• Engagement – Quality engagement had improved from 50% being good in December 2024 to 88%, as a result of training and team development sessions for practitioners. Improvements had been made to evidence good practice in children’s files.
• Quality Assurance Board – As it had been noted that some Teams were doing better than others in certain areas, a Quality Assurance Board of Service Managers met once a month to share good practice across Services.
• Management Oversight and Supervision – This was a longstanding area of development, highlighted in the previous Ofsted report. At the start of the timeframe 38% of children’s files showed evidence of supervision taking place and this had risen to 65%. A survey for managers and practitioners to discover areas for learning had led to a training course being developed and delivered to managers throughout 2024. The training would continue into 2025 so improvements should continue to be seen.
• Partnership working – This had dipped, from 81% of children’s files showing good partnership working in December 2024 to 61% in August. This was a concern to the service, and it could be due to auditors having a more nuanced understanding of what good partnership working looked like due to the Learning Conversations that had taken place. Rob Fordyce advised the Panel that this was an area that would be looked at by the Service.
• Assessments and Planning – 80% of assessments reviewed were addressing the risks in August, which was good,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Panel will consider the overview of the Osfted inspection of Children’s Services.

Contact:        Vicky Metheringham, Service Director

The Panel considered the overview of the Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services presented by Vicky Metheringham, Service Director for Family Support and Child Protection, advised the Panel that the inspection had taken place over a three week period, and was the first full inspection since 2019 when Children’s Services had been judged as ‘Requires Improvement’. The outcome of the inspection was that Children’s Services were now judged to be ‘Good’.

Vicky Metheringham highlighted the most important issues raised within the Ofsted report –

• Areas for development - identified by Ofsted had already been identified by the Service and plans for improvement were already in place and being addressed.
• Leadership Team and staff - The report noted that the leadership team were established and confident and staff were committed. Improvement was said to have been driven by strong corporate and political support. A range of effective bespoke services were meeting local need and making a tangible difference to children’s experiences.
• Areas judged to be good were:

-       the impact of leaders on social work practice with children and families; the experiences and progress of children who need help and protection; the experiences and progress of children in care; and

-       overall Effectiveness

• The experiences and progress of care leavers was judged to be ‘requires improvement to be good’, and this was an area the Service had been focussing on for the last year to make the necessary improvements.
• Areas of strength identified were that –

-       children were seen quickly and listened to, and kept within the family network where possible;

-       children at risk of exploitation were helped by a strong multi-agency response;

-       disabled children received comprehensive packages of support;

-       the Virtual School provided a focus on the academic and developmental needs of children;

-       social workers knew their children and families well;

-       stable foster placements were meeting children’s needs;

-       care leavers spoke with warmth about their relationships with personal advisors;

-       there was a strong offer to newly qualified social workers; and

-       staff morale was high and staff felt valued.

• Areas for improvement – there were three areas for improvement, which the Service were already aware of - 

-       to provide more choice and availability of homes for children and care leavers;

-       to improve the quality of written records, plans and minutes for the minority of children in care and care leavers where these documents were weak; and

-       to improve the effectiveness of practice with every child experiencing harm from neglect and/or domestic abuse.

• The National Director for Regulation of Social Care, Yvette Stanley, had written to the Director of Children’s Services to personally congratulate the Service on the outcome of the inspection, recognising the significance of the achievement.
• Kirklees Parenting Strategy had been relaunched to improve services to care leavers, and the Care Leaver’s Forum had co-authored and were co-delivering Kirklees Parenting Training to support this. Suitable accommodation continued to be a pressure within the authority and was a key priority  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Panel will consider a verbal update on the performance highlights from the latest Children’s Services data report covering period ending August 2024.

Contact:        Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director

Vicky Metheringham, Service Director

The Panel considered a verbal update on the performance highlights from the latest Children’s Services data report covering period ending 31^st August 2024 presented by the Service Directors.  The Panel were informed that due to the data referring to August, some school information was not available.

Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director for Learning and Early Support, highlighted the following key points –

·         Review of Permanent Exclusions 2023/24 – As part of the Kirklees Futures, Our Learning Strategy, there was an ambition is to have no permanent exclusions. In 2023/24 there were 121 notifications of permanent exclusions, which converted to 88 permanent exclusions, with 4 to still be decided. 91 children were excluded the previous academic year. There were 20 primary school exclusions, compared to 72 high school exclusion. The most frequent reason given for exclusion was persistent disruptive behaviour, and exclusions were more likely to occur among boys and in Key Stage 3. The local authority was working collaboratively with schools to avoid permanent exclusions.

·         Statutory compliance in issuing Education Health and Care Plan (EHCPs) - Progress was outlined as 99 new plans were issued in August, of which 35% were within the statutory 20 week compliance period.  This brought the total number of plans being maintained to 4,453. A number were issued outside the statutory timeframe, but work was underway to complete both new and older plans. The year to date average was 25% compliance, which was an improvement on the SEN2 return data taken at the end of the year. The drive for increased compliance was being balanced with the need for quality, and significant activity for improvement was taking place across the partnership. The Panel would have the opportunity to look at the data in more depth in the forthcoming months.

The Panel asked what happened to excluded children, and Jo-Anne Sanders advised that from day 6 after exclusion the local authority had a statutory duty to make an offer of education. Children were supported to return to full time education as soon as practicably possible. Last academic year only two pupils were excluded for a second time, meaning that most pathways identified were successful. There were challenges in providing enough suitable provision, and there would be a report on sufficiency coming to the Panel later in the municipal year.

In answer to a question regarding school funding, Jo-Anne Sanders advised that schools were tackling funding challenges in a number of ways and that strong partnerships, especially those between home and school, were the factor making the biggest difference. The Panel were assured that schools were working hard to make children feel included and comfortable despite the challenges facing communities such as the pandemic and cost of living crisis. In answer to a question about trends in exclusions by ward, Jo-Anne Sanders advised that the statistics were based on such a small number, and therefore there was no clear pattern and there were no outliers in terms of permanent exclusions. This was being reviewed and schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Panel will consider any potential areas of pre-decision scrutiny in accordance with any cabinet decisions relating to children and young people which are on the horizon and receive updates from senior officers in Children’s Services.

Contact: Service Directors (Children’s Services)

No items of pre-decision scrutiny on Cabinet decisions were discussed. 

Panel Members who attend the Kirklees Parenting Board, will feedback on key areas of focus considered by the Board, which will be of interest to the Panel.

The Panel noted that there had been no meetings of the Kirklees Parenting Board since the last meeting.

Councillor Kendrick, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, advised the Panel that the issues and challenges of Care Leavers would be a future focus of the Board.

The Panel will consider the agreed areas of focus and activity for the 2024/25 municipal year and discuss the progress achieved to date and the Panel’s scrutiny going forward.

Contact:        Helen Kilroy, Assistant Democracy Manager

Panel Members gave updates on visits which had been recently attended and key points from the visits would be included in the work programme for 2024/25 and in future Scrutiny Annual Reports.  The visits which had been undertaken were –

• Kirklees Fostering Network Support Group meeting at Mirfield Community Centre (26^th September 2024)
• Home-Start Annual General Meeting and 25 Year Celebration (26^th September 2024)
• SEND Transformation and Commissioning Group (3^rd October 2024)
• National Kinship Week, Connected Persons Support Team drop-in session at the Greenwood Centre (9^th October 2024)

RESOLVED:

(1)   That the progress on the Work Programme and Agenda Plan for 2024-25 and the updates on recent visits be noted.