Agenda item

The Panel will consider a letter from Ofsted outlining the outcomes of the Joint Area Targeted multi-agency Inspection and receive an update from officers on key issues.

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

                        Protection)

The Panel received a report on the Joint Area Targeted multi-agency Inspection which was presented by Ian Mottershaw, Head of Contextual Safeguarding and Youth Engagement Services and Elaine McShane, Service Director – Family Support and Child Protection.

Ian Mottershaw advised the Panel that the inspection took place from 27 June 2022 to 1 July 2022 and was carried out by inspectors from Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission and Her Majesty’s inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue Services.  The outcomes of the inspection were provided by letter which summarised the headline findings and what needed to be improved.  The Headline findings were, that partners at a strategic level enabled a well-embedded practice approach that supported professionals to work well together. Children in Kirklees who were at risk of, or experiencing, criminal exploitation had their needs identified quickly and received multi-agency support to manage and reduce risk to them effectively. What needed to be improved were:

• The recording of the work and decision-making of the Kirklees Safeguarding Children Partnership. (KSCP)
• The training offer from the KSCP to ensure that it provided relevant, localised multi-agency training focused on child criminal exploitation.
• The exercise of professional curiosity from some health practitioners, including GPs and emergency department staff.
• Contingency planning for children in care who were not able to return to their birth families.

The letter from Ofsted explained that the inspectors found that Kirklees safeguarding children’s partners had significant knowledge of the local area and demand, practice with their agencies and the experiences of children.  Partners had strong aspiration, willingness, and motivation to reduce risks of criminal exploitation for children in Kirklees.  Mature relationships within the KSCP enabled partners to challenge each other effectively.  This demonstrated the well-established respect for, and equity of, partners views.

Elaine McShane advised the Panel that although the inspection was focussed on exploitation, it clearly demonstrated partnership working across different areas and how services pulled together compared to 4 years ago.

The Panel noted that the inspectors had determined that Kirklees Council was the principal authority and should prepare a written statement of proposed actions responding to the findings outlined in the letter. The statement of action was to be a multi-agency response involving the individuals and agencies that the report was addressed to and received by 25 November 2022.

The Panel acknowledged the “What needs to improve” and commented that the report contradicted itself regarding the training which was provided to staff in all partner agencies, health practitioners and social workers.

The Panel noted that Health IT systems did not consistently identify children at risk of exploitation through the use of ‘flags’ and asked if that had now been introduced.  Ian Mottershaw advised that health colleagues had confirmed flags had been introduced and that Health Practitioners were able to identify risks.

The Panel commented on issues around children exploited criminally and asked a question regarding current issues locally, and if the interventions worked. Ian Mottershaw advised that the letter was viewed as an endorsement that the KSCP was doing the right things and on the right journey.  Elaine McShane advised that if someone was criminalised, the system was to provide support to ensure that they were not criminalised again by drawing them away from extreme situations.

RESOLVED:

    (i)        That the report be noted,

  (ii)        That staff and partners are thanked for the hard work they undertake.