Agenda item

The Board will consider a report giving key highlights from the latest Performance Monitoring data for the Children’s Service.

Contacts:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Corporate Parenting

Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher

Laura Caunce, Head of Service - Children's Sufficiency Resources, Improvement & Partnerships

The Board considered a report giving key highlights on Performance Monitoring data for Children’s Services.

Ophelia Rix ,Head of Corporate Parenting, presented the performance data relating to ‘children entering care, children in care and placement stability’. It was reported that the data as of 31 May 2021 continued to show a decreasing trend in the number and rate of children in care in Kirklees. The positive trend was attributed to clear and robust procedures. The following areas of work were highlighted: 

·         The Legal Gateway and Permanence Panel continued to oversee the decision making and planning around Placement moves and care planning for children and young people.

·         The continuation of strong partnership working was helping to ensure that children and young people remained within their families where possible.

·         Where children needed to become looked after, clear processes ensured that matters were presented before courts in a timely manner.

The Board commented that the data presented was reassuring and that it was positive that the services provided were enabling children and young people to remain with their families where possible.

Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection advised that the introduction of the Multisystemic therapy (MST) Teams  was beginning to have a positive impact as reflected in the data presented. It was explained that the MST approach was a restorative, evidenced-based intervention that aimed to prevent children from entering care by working with families. Elaine further suggested that an update on the work of the MST teams  be presented to a future meeting of the Board.  The Board members welcomed this suggestion and agreed that the report to be presented to the Board should be focused on how the multisystemic approaches  were helping to keep children with their families and on understanding data in respect of the outcomes produced. The Board further agreed that it would be helpful for  Board members to visit the MST Teams to gain greater understanding of their work.

The Board noted that partnership work between Children’s Services and the Police was ongoing in respect of the Philomena Protocol (a scheme that asks carers to identify children and young people who are at risk of going missing, and to record vital information about them that can be used to help find them quickly and safely). Ophelia Rix advised that  there was an  improving picture in respect of timelines, but more work was required to increase understanding and fully implement the protocol across the partnership.

In relation to educational outcomes, Cllr Carole Pattison reported that the number of in-year school moves had continued to decrease over 2018-19 and 2019- 20 and the Board were advised that continuing to reduce  the number of young people with a break in educational provision whenever possible was a priority of the virtual school.

Stewart Horn, Head of Joint Commissioning – Children and Families presented  the data for ‘Children Looked After Health’ and reported that, there was a steadily improving picture of review health assessment data.   93% of assessments were achieved on time, and for most of the year 100% were completed within the statutory timescales. There was also an increase in the number of dental registrations and immunisations continued to go well.

Elaine McShane presented the data in relation to ‘Children Looked After Convictions’ and explained that offending rates were decreasing. It was advised that a Youth Justice Inspection was taking place and the Board requested that a report setting out the outcomes of the inspection be presented to a future meeting of the Board.

In relation to Care Leavers and ‘Staying Put’ placements, the Board asked some questions around Personal Advisors (PA’s) and how a change of PA related to disengagement with services. It was requested that a report detailing the number of PA changes be produced to identify any correlation between changes to PA’s and care leavers levels of disengagement with services.  

In response, Elaine McShane agreed with Board members comments  and  advised that modernisation of the PA service was being undertaken within the  ‘Staying Put Policy’ which was currently being developed.  Ophelia Rix added that it was  important to continuously review and improve the ways PA’s are matched with young people to build positive sustainable relationships.

In response to question from the Board about how often children and young people are contacted by PA’s,  Elaine McShane advised the standard frequency was 6 weekly, but this was not a one size fits all approach. Following a discussion around PA contact with Care Leavers,  Ophelia Rix suggested that a review took place around how often young people were visited by their PA’s against the individual’s circumstances and to help take a more bespoke approach to visit frequency going forwards . The Board welcomed this suggestion.

In relation to Adoption figures, the Board welcomed the data showing that Kirklees was significantly below the England rate of 12.0% and the Statistical Neighbours rate of 19.0%.

          RESOLVED – 

1.            That the Board noted the Children’s Performance Highlight Report.

2.            It was agreed that an update on the work of the MST Teams be presented at a future meeting of the Board. This report should contain information on how the multisystemic approaches  were helping to prevent children from entering care and on understanding the data in respect of the outcomes.

3.            It was agreed that Board members may choose to visit the MST Teams to gain a greater understanding of their work.

4.            It was agreed that a report setting out the outcomes of the Youth Justice Inspection be presented to a future meeting of the Board.

5.            It was requested that a report detailing the number of PA changes be provided to a future meeting of the Board. This report should include data in respect of changes to PA’s and , levels of disengagement with services as a part of the ‘Staying Put/Fostering Modernisation Update’.   

6.            It was agreed that information was collected around how often young people were visited by their PA’s and that this should be reviewed against the young person’s circumstances to help take a more bespoke approach to visit frequency’s that is based on the individual’s needs.