Agenda item

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

Contacts:

Joel Hanna, Head of Service, Children Looked After, Care Leavers Residential Care Homes

Vicky Metheringham, Service Director, Family Support and Child Protection

Louise Hallas, 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 Children’s Performance Highlights Report in respect of the performance monitoring data for Children’s Services presented by: Joel Hanna, Head of Service for Children Looked After and Care Leavers, Louise Hallas Virtual School Headteacher,  Gill Addy, the Designated Nurse for Looked After Children and Care Leavers, Stewart Horn, Head of Children’s Integrated Commissioning, Vicky Metheringham, Service Director - Family Support and Child Protection and Ian Mottershaw, Head of Contextual Safeguarding Service and Y.E.S.  The following key points were highlighted:

·         In relation to Children Entering Care, Children in Care and Placement Stability a breakdown of the 72 children were placed outside of Kirklees /more than 20 miles from their home address was to be provided to the Board to show where young people may be living with family and kinship carers.

·         In relation to education outcomes, 100% of PEPs were completed within the Summer Term. Every young person was allocated to a member of the experienced Virtual School Team and their attendance, progress and attainment were reviewed enabling challenge and support in a timely manner and for all relevant interventions to be put in place.

·         In relation to children looked after health data,progress being made to address the challenges faced by the Service included; bench marking across West Yorkshire, some change in working patterns including a reduction in cross-boundary working, and conversations were being held to prioritise clinicians and service delivery to increase capacity. A commitment to additional resources had been secured from the ICB and from the Local authority to enable the Looked After Health team to carry our Review Health Assessment to improve performance. Older children coming into care commonly had additional support needs and work had been done to explore if other more specialist services may be better placed to take on the IHA for this cohort. 

• In relation to Children Looked After Convictions, the number of Young People who were looked after continually for 12 months or more aged 10 -17 who received a substantive outcome had fallen in comparison to previous year. The cohort was lower than the national average and statistical neighbours and this was attributed to the development of a more inclusive disposal panel which offered greater perspective in relation to the circumstances of the young people discussed. This brought forward more imaginative ways of restoration and rehabilitation to prevent reoffending.

• In relation to Care leavers, it was noted that improving Education, Employment and Training (EET) remained a priority in recognising this as a key protective factor for children in care and care leavers. Though a strong position was held nationally and in comparison, with statical neighbours, performance in relation indicators showed the need for improvement.  Increasing cross-departmental and partnership working was key to improving opportunities for young people.
• In relation to Care leavers, work was being undertaken with housing providers to ensure that suitable accommodation was available for young people at the right time.

In the discussion to follow, questions and comments were invited from Board Members, with the following issues being covered:

• It was confirmed that the figure for children in care was lower than statistical neighbours was the result of the efforts made in early help services to prevent children from coming into care. The rate was consistent and there were other neighbours who were outliers due to local preventative services at an early level.
• The Board noted that Kirklees College should be recognised for their achievement and good work around attachment and trauma.
• It was confirmed that the increase in school moves was expected in September at the start of the new school year and thatmost school moves were planned to make sure the young person had a positive start with their new school and a positive end with the previous school.
• It was positive to see the trauma informed approach being used and leading to good outcomes.
• It was advised that the restorative element in relation to convictions was about understanding a child’s circumstances to take a more holistic approach and develop a bespoke package to prevent reoffending and over criminalising young people.
• In relation to understanding more about finding suitable accommodation for Care leavers the Board were advised that there were plans to increase the time that a young person can be referred prior to their 18^th birthday. The extension of the offer may not be possible within the Councils current housing stock, so work was being undertaken to increase care leavers access to the private housing market. Improvements were also to be made to support those leaving care when moving into accommodation.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Childrens’ Performance Highlights Report, and it was agreed thata breakdown of the children placed outside of Kirklees /more than 20 miles from their home address be provided to the Board.