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 in Care.

 

Ophelia Rix, Head of Service for Children in Care, Care Leavers and Looked After Children provided data relating to children in care. It was noted that:

 

·       The overall number of Children Looked After as of December 2021 was 617 which was a decline on previous months. However, the figure had since increased to 626 and continued to increase.

·       A breakdown of the overall numbers identified that 148 Looked After Children were males aged between 10 to 15 years and 113 were females aged between 10 and 15 years, the highest number of children were within that age bracket.

·       In terms of ethnicity, 71.5% were White British and there had been an increase in the number of children becoming Looked After who were of Asian ethnicity. In December 2020 the figure was 7.5% and in December 2021 it had increased to 9.1%.

·       Further work needed to be undertaken to understand and interrogate the data and it was suggested that a full report be presented to the next meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board.

·       Social work visits had continued but there had been a decline in December 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and children and foster carers testing positive. Children were still contacted but not seen face to face and all children had been visited since.

 

In relation to Children Looked After Educational Outcomes, Sara Hions, Virtual School Team Manager highlighted that:

 

·       100% of (Personal Education Planning) PEPs had been completed within the Autumn Term and 100% of initial PEPs have been completed within 10 school days of child coming into care since 01/09/2021. 

·       The Virtual school lead all PEP reviews in conjunction with social care and other professionals involved which were currently taking place virtually.

·       Persistent absence (PA) remained a high priority for all pupils with attendance less than 90% and the Virtual School Continued to monitor individual attendance closely and work to support young people on an individual basis.

·       Mid-Year School Moves were only actioned if necessary, and were supported to ensure no break, or a minimal break in provision.

·       97.2% of school moves since the start of the academic year were carefully planned across the service to ensure a smooth transition with no break in provision.

·       A key aim was to maintain success rates across the key performance indicators.

·       Emotional well-being was impacting on children / young people and there was a need to improve partnership working to offer support around this.

·       The impact of Covid was still having an impact in terms of capacity and staffing.

 

The Board noted the information and referring to the persistent absence data highlighted that benchmarking for statistical neighbours and England was for the year 2018/19. Sara Hions responded to explain that reporting on benchmarks had stopped nationally until clearer and more robust data could be provided for comparisons.

 

Gill Addy, Designated Nurse for Looked After Children provided the data relating to Children Looked After Health and highlighted that:

 

·       Initial Health Assessments: Kirklees Local Authority (LA) rolling 12-month data showed that 85.3% of Initial Health Assessments were completed in the statutory 20 working day timescales and Locala monthly data showed that 100% were completed in timescales for December.

·       Review health assessments:84.4% and 89.3% of the ‘Developmental’ assessments (under 5yrs old) and ‘Annual’ assessments (over 5 yrs. old), were completed in statutory timescales. Locala monthly data showed that there was also a reduction in the recording of assessments completed by the exact date,

·       Breach reasons were largely due to team capacity and additional pressures on the team which included:

o   an increase in complexity of children’s needs.

o   access to more information which informed good quality assessments.

o   Nurses becoming more accessible for advice.

o   undertaking assessments on behalf of other Local Authorities for children who had moved into Kirklees, some of whom had extreme health histories.

·       Monthly dental checks showed that between 90 to 98% of children / young people had attended a dentist at the point of their review health assessment.

·       This was slightly better than pre-pandemic levels and was due to the flexible commissioning services that ensured a small number of dental surgeries provided dental services for Children Looked After.

·       The figure for substance misuse remained the same. 7 young people had been introduced to services to support them.

·       Any person who declined a review health check would be assessed further to check for substance misuse issues and if there were concern around substance misuse (on any level) the child/young person would be offered support.

 

The Board noted the positives of the Flexible Commissioning Service and requested more information on its progress and who the providers were. Gill Addy responded to advise that the project was ongoing and there were a small number of dentists registered within Kirklees.

 

Ian Mottershaw, Head of Service, Contextual Safeguarding and Y.E.S shared the data in relation to Looked After Children Convictions and highlighted that:

 

·       The number of Children Looked After with convictions was significantly low.

·       0.5% of Children Looked After had received a conviction in the last quarter which was lower than the national average and compared with statistical neighbours.

·       The Youth Justice Service worked with 103 young people in 2021, 15% of which were Children Looked After. The previous year’s figure was 12% which was slightly lower.

·       The largest proportion of young people who were involved in the Youth Justice System were from a residential care setting.

·       The largest proportion of interventions and orders that were placed on young people fell into out of court disposal, such as community resolutions, cautions, referral orders etc.

 

In relation to adoption, the Board highlighted their concerns regarding the average timescale for a child coming into care and being place with an adopter. Ophelia Rix responded and advised that she was proposing to bring a detailed report to the Board in relation to Looked After Children and within the report would include a section on adoption, which would highlight the key issues and proposals to address key issues.

 

Anna Gledhill, Service Manager, Quality Assurance and Safeguarding provided an update on Fostering, and highlighted that:

 

·       In December 2021 there were 6 carer approvals, 3 of which were in house. This was a decrease from the previous month but there was an overall net gain of 14 foster families over the last 12 months.

·       Recruitment and retention of foster carers was a priority within the fostering service.

·       There was a need to increase the number of foster cares within Kirklees so that Kirklees children could be placed with Kirklees carers and remain within the area.

·       There were 173 placements with independent fostering agencies which was positive and showed the number had continued to decrease.

·       There had been one in house fostering de-registration and a review of resignations was taking place to identify key learning points.

·       There had been 17 recorded resignations of foster carers in 2021, which had been looked into further and provided some assurances in that:

o   11 were connected carers whose resignations related to a change of legal order or a change of care plan.

o   6 resigned were for various reasons including changes in personal circumstances, bereavement, retirement, moving out of area, health reasons etc.

·       200 children / young people were placed with Kirklees foster carers and the figure had changed very little over the last quarter.

·       106 children / young people were in connected placements and the figure had remained stable.

·       A modernisation plan would be implemented to support the improvement of line management, performance management and work with placement support services.

·       Foster carers and the children / young people placed with them would receive the right level of support in terms of induction, training, and the review process.

·       There was a new website for foster carers which was live.

·       The mockingbird hub and 1 hub were up and running and conversations were ongoing in terms of developing the next hub, taking into account lessons already learnt.

 

The Board noted the update and suggested the findings of the review of the mockingbird hub be provided to the Board.

 

The Board asked for more information in relation to the new website and wanted to know whether this was a part of the Kirklees website, and if it was promoted on social media.  Anna Gledhill responded to advise that the website was designed to attract prospective foster carers to Kirklees and in a way in which the key information more accessible than previously. The website was standalone, and that there was a marketing officer within the fostering service who planned to work on promoting Kirklees’s offer and targeting foster carers.

 

Tom Brailsford, Service Director, Resources, Improvement and Partnerships highlighted that there was a good marketing strategy in place as well as a strong offer to perspective foster carers in terms of pay, paid annual leave, skill support and placement support, but also acknowledged the need to continue to build on what could be offered to foster carers.

 

In relation to feedback received from Kirklees Fostering Network, the Board raised concerns about further potential resignations highlighting the importance of addressing common issues before reaching that stage.

 

In response, Tom Brailsford advised that meetings took place with the Kirklees Fostering Network monthly to address common issues. Further to this, where a foster career was considering resigning, a conversation was offered with a head of service to provide senior oversight and understanding. This conversation would then be followed by an exit interview. Anna Gledhill added that an exit interview policy was being developed to help gain an understanding of current issues so that these could be acted upon.

 

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Children’s Performance Highlights Report, and it was agreed that:

 

1.    Information in relation to the increase of Children Looked After who were of Asian ethnicity be presented to the Corporate Parenting Board.

2.    A detailed report in relation to Looked After Children and adoption be presented to the Corporate Parenting Board.

3.    The findings of the review of the mockingbird hub be provided to the Board.