Agenda item

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

Contacts:

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children

Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher
Gill Addy, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children

Ian Mottershaw, Head of Service –Contextual Safeguarding and Y.E.S, Family Support and Child Protection

The Board considered the latest reports giving key highlights on Performance Monitoring data for Children’s Services up to the end of November 2021. 

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children presented the key highlights arising from the data relating to ‘children entering care, children in care and placement stability’. Itwas noted that:

·       As of November 2021, there was 119 children looked after (CLA), within this cohort, there were 149 males and 116 females and the highest ethnic group White British at 71.9% .

·       As part of scrutiny and oversight, weekly Permanence Panel planning meetings took place to identify where children could remain with connected families and communities where it was safe to do so. 

·       There had been a positive increase in placement with parents, achieved through supporting families within communities and engaging with the family group conferencing service.

·       The data showed that children were been seen in a timely manner and work was ongoing to ensure the timely recording and presentation of data.

·       Ophelia Rix regularly interrogated the data and was assured that all young people had been seen by their social worker or supervisor.

·       There had been an increase each year in the number of Special Guardianship Orders (SGO’s), and recent analysis of the data identified that Kirklees Council had the highest number of SGO’s regionally.

·       Work was ongoing to continue to support and promote applications for Special Guardianship’s.

·       The next update to the Corporate Parenting Board would include a focus on work undertaken in relation to care experienced young people.

The Board asked a question in related to the number of children (75) placed outside 20 miles of Kirklees. In response Ophelia Rix advised this was a result of the availability of Foster Placements.

The Board requested a breakdown of stability data to identify, for example, where children had moved back home. A further question was also asked in relation to the reasons for the increase in changes in social workers (i.e.- sickness, placement break down, children with additional needs).

In response, Ophelia Rix advised that there was a natural change in social worker within the process as a child moved from the Assessment and Intervention Team. To manage this transition, joint visits were made prior to the change to build the relationship between the young person and the new social worker and minimise any disruption.  There had also been some staff sickness and resignations that had resulted in some increase in the number of changes of social workers. Ophelia Rix reassured the Board that as Head of Service she maintained oversight in relation to changes to ensure that any disruption was minimised.

Elaine McShane, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection
added that the increase was closely related to the challenging circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also important to note that in some circumstances social workers were dually allocated to help minimise disruption.

Janet Tolley, Virtual School Headteacher presented the data in relation to Children Looked After Education Outcomes and highlighted that:

·       The Virtual School continued to work with and support all young people from the age of 3 to 18 and 18 plus (with consent).

·       The approach included bringing together all the professionals surrounding a young person to examine the individual’s current situation and provide the correct support that the young person might need to accelerate their progress, as well as funding through the pupil premium.

·       This was extremely important during the Covid-19 pandemic, where young people had missed school missing education.

·       100% of Personal Education Plan’s (PEPs) had been completed within the Autumn Term in-line with the termly processes.

·       The Virtual School was currently leading on all PEPs since the Covid-19 lockdowns began in March 2020. These were currently virtually held meetings.

·       100% of initial PEPs were completed within 10 school days of a child coming into care since 01/09/2021.

·       97% of school moves since the start of the academic year had been carefully planned across the service to ensure a smooth transition with no break in provision.

·       Covid-19 continued to impact on Persistent Absence data, and it was important to note that there was no comparative national data since 2018/2019 (pre-pandemic).

·       Addressing Persistent Absence remained a high priority, and the Virtual School continued working closely with social workers and parents to ensure support back into education.

·       The Virtual School was taking a proactive approach to exclusions and suspensions, working closely with schools to implement preventative measures to ensure children stayed in education.

·       As a result of high numbers of local Omicron (Covid-19 variant) infections there were some concerns about staff absence.

·       Government Guidance stipulated that those children classified as vulnerable should remain in school.

·       It was the Virtual School’s role to challenge where that was not the case, and to provide support in the exceptional circumstances where the child was to be educated at home in the short term.

Responding to a question from the Board about the benchmarking of data, Janet Tolley advised that due to the lack of national comparative data that it was anticipated the impacts of the pandemic, on areas such as attainment and persistent absence, would begin to show over the next 6-12 months.

The Board agreed that this was an important area to continue to monitor, and further commented that the Winter term may begin to highlight new challenges and issues for young people.  Janet Tolley responded to advise that the approach to children’s physical attendance to school was to be fluid and responsive to new Covid-19 variants as they arise, enabling the best response for young people and their education.

The Board agreed this was the best approach to take highlighting how the virtual school’s preparedness in relation to online working had built resilience for the future and had effectively allowed involvement with more young people.

Tom Brailsford, Service Director (Resources, Improvement and Partnerships) presented the data in relation to Looked After Children Health and highlighted that:

·       Dental Checks within the previous 10-12 months for Looked After Children had increased by 61.9%, this was above statistical neighbour and national averages of 40%.

·       Performance for Initial Health Assessments remained high with Kirklees Local Authority rolling 12-month data showed that 86.7% were completed in the statutory 20 working day timescale, and Locala monthly data showed that 100% were completed in timescales for November.

·       In relation to Review health assessments Kirklees rolling 12-month data showed that 89.1% and 91.6% of the ‘Developmental’ assessments (under 5years old) and ‘Annual’ assessments (over 5 years old) were completed within the statutory timescales.

·       The data showed a positive trend in relation to Looked After Children Health, but it was important to consider how the pandemic was affecting staffing and the redeployment of staff.

The Board noted the data in relation to Looked After Children Health, commenting that it showed a positive trend, but that there had been some challenges around obtaining data as the information wasn’t shared in a central database. In response Tom Brailsford confirmed that further work would be undertaken to investigate and address any delays in obtaining data.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Children’s Performance Highlights Report, and it was agreed that that further work would be undertaken to investigate and address any delays in obtaining data in relation to Looked After Children Health.