Agenda item

The Panel will consider a report giving an update on the Review of the Children’s Services Improvement Journey during 2019.

Contact Officer:  Elaine McShane, Service Director (Family Support and Child

                              Protection)

                             Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director (Learning and Early

                              Support)

                           Tom Brailsford, Service Director (Resources Improvements

                              and Partnerships)

1.    The Panel noted the report giving an update on the Review of the Children’s Services Improvement Journey during 2019 and thanked Elaine McShane, Jo-Anne Sanders and Tom Brailsford for their contributions.

2.    The Panel agreed to consider the Youth Model at a future meeting – date to be determined.

3.    The Panel agreed that the voice of the child and their experiences should be reflected and lessons learned in all aspects of work undertaken by the Children’s Service. 

The Panel considered a report giving an update on the Review of the Children’s Services Improvement Journey during 2019 presented by Elaine McShane, Service Director (Family Support and Child Protection).

Elaine McShane advised the Panel that a report attached to the agenda summarised the Kirklees Annual Conversation with Ofsted in the autumn of 2019, which covered the whole of the Children’s Service. The Panel was informed that at the last Ofsted Inspection in June 2019, Ofsted found that children in Kirklees were safe and that was a key priority for the service.  Elaine McShane advised that throughout the journey there had been political support, investment and challenge across all areas and this had been welcomed by Children’s Services and seen as an important part of the journey.

Elaine McShane advised that the next stage of the journey was to achieve Outstanding and that additional capacity had been put into the service with the appointment of the Service Manager for Resources Improvements and Partnerships and some additional Service and Team Managers across the service.

Elaine McShane reported that the Children’s Service was continuing to improve and embed the restorative practice approach, which was about building relationships and working with people. 

In response to a question from the Panel relating to the position on knife crime, the Panel was informed that there were emerging challenges in terms of gang and knife crime in Kirklees.  Elaine McShane explained that Ofsted had confirmed that the Children’s Service were working well to divert children from this activity and recognised that the work being undertaken by Kirklees was positive and innovative.  Elaine McShane explained that the Children’s Service had been successful in securing funding from the Youth Endowment Fund for the next 2 years to develop a Multi Systemic Team to undertake exploitation work.  The Panel was informed that the Children’s Service would be working with 3 other local authorities on a research project looking at gangs and knife crime. 

Elaine McShane advised that Kirklees was working with children and partners, for example the Police, to identify children on the periphery as early as possible to ensure the right type of support was put in place.  Elaine McShane informed the Panel that she was leading a piece of work looking at a Youth Model bringing together different services such as Youth Intervention Team, Youth Offending Team and Risk and Vulnerability Team which would help to identify as quickly as possible the most appropriate team to work with a young person to ensure positive outcomes. The Panel was informed that the work on the Youth Model would be shared with the Panel in the near future.

Tom Brailsford advised that he had recently attended a regional meeting attended by representatives from Youth and Crime Commissioning and that there would be a review of the West Yorkshire Strategy looking at knife crime.

In response to a question from the Panel regarding the key areas of preventative work and early intervention in terms of knife crime, Jo-Anne Sanders advised that the Social Care Front Door were receiving a lot of contacts but that the percentage of those which converted to social work action was quite low.  The Panel was informed that young people could be supported much earlier as part of the early partnership work.  The Panel was informed that the Children’s Service was working in partnership with Kirklees Children’s Safeguarding, had a task and finish group and wanted to grow in capacity and confidence and would invest and put in more capacity at the Social Care Front Door, as well as working with partners in local areas so that the right support could offered in the early stages.  Jo-Anne Sanders advised that a lot of work was planned to take place over the next 2 to 3 months and that the results and outcomes of this, including statistics, would be shared with the Panel.  

The Panel noted that there was some positive work going on in schools with children and young people on gangs and knife crime. 

Elaine McShane advised the Panel that Detached Youth Workers were deployed over the summer and had gone out into communities to get to know young people and what their experiences were to help shape the work being done in the service.  The Panel was informed that the voice of the child was very important to inform what support was required. 

The Panel advised that they were scrutinising partnership working and data in the Children’s Service and had attended multi-agency meetings and visited teams to observe the work going on as part of this scrutiny role.  The Panel agreed that the voice of the child and their experiences should be reflected in all areas of work undertaken by the Children’s Service.

RESOLVED -

1.    The Panel noted the report giving an update on the Review of the Children’s Services Improvement Journey during 2019 and thanked Elaine McShane, Jo-Anne Sanders and Tom Brailsford for their contributions.

2.    The Panel agreed to consider the Youth Model at a future meeting – date to be determined.

3.    The Panel agreed that the voice of the child and their experiences should be reflected and lessons learned in all aspects of work undertaken by the Children’s Service.