Agenda item

The Panel will consider a verbal update on the performance highlights from the latest Children’s Services data report covering period ending 31^st January 2024.

Contact:         Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director

                       Kieran Lord, Service Director

Kieran Lord, Service Director for Resources, Improvements and Partnerships provided an update on the highlights of Children’s Services performance data. The Panel were provided with a summary of consistent and improved areas of practice and a review of how data was helping with work improvements and challenges.

Kieran Lord highlighted the following key points –

·       Child Protection Case Conferences (Section 47 enquiries) - following a reduction of timeliness in this area, directorates had worked closely together, with oversight provided regularly to Executive Directors and Service Directors, resulting in levels consistently in the 95%+ range of being on target. Individual reports were provided on any areas where there was a dip below that level; these were usually down to individual children’s circumstances. This was a good example of how directorates were working together in close partnership, alongside senior level oversight, to improve data.

·       Looked After Children’s (LAC) Health - there had been a consistent and high percentage (97.5%) of reviews of Looked After Children’s health held within timeframes. Nearly three quarters of LAC lived in a family type setting, consistently above national figures. Long term stability, where children placed away from the family setting, continued to improve, with 71% remaining in their placement for at least two years. The percentage of children who had moved two or three times within two years had also increased. This was an area of focus but not of concern as action was being taken in the form of enhanced oversight by leadership, with Vicky Metheringham, Tom Brailsford and Kieran Lord now having weekly oversight of all children’s placements.

·       Initial Health Assessments for LAC - there had been a decrease of timeliness in this area initial health assessments for LAC and it was the lowest it had been in the rolling twelve month period. The service was aware and had been working with health colleagues to gain an understanding of the reasons behind this decrease, and to identify what resources were needed to ensure these statistics were turned around. Initial health assessment timeliness had reduced to 22%, however within a further month of the deadline, the figure increased to 70%. The service was working closely with health colleagues to address this in a different way going forward.

·       Neurodevelopmental Assessments - there continued to be an increase in waiting times. A new process had been implemented by health colleagues in relation to Waiting Well, where children and young people waiting for assessment were being given access at the earliest opportunity to support suitable for them.

·       Placement breakdown - over the last six months, the percentage of children in internal foster care provision had been higher than the percentage fostered through independent fostering agencies. Close links with independent fostering agencies were acknowledged to still be vital, however this was a trend that should continue. The Panel would be updated with changes made to the fostering recruitment strategy in the coming months.

In response to a request from the Panel, Kieran Lord provided an update on Children’s Residential Homes and explained that no names of homes could be provided to ensure that children’s identities were protected.  Kieran Lord advised that following a dip in performance in Ofsted outcomes between 2021 and 2023 there had been an incremental improvement journey for a number of the homes and highlighted the following key points:-

• One of the homes had maintained Outstanding in all areas for the last three years, even with a change of manager last year. The previous manager was now a service manager for Kirklees, and was disseminating good practice, resulting in the incremental improvement in other homes during that period.
• Within the last six months, one home had improved from Requires Improvement to Good.
• Two homes had moved from Inadequate to Requires Improvement, with those improvements being worked on.
• A home rated as Inadequate had recently undergone an internal audit/mock assessment utilising the experience of a previous Ofsted Inspector, feedback from the report and the Regulation 44 assessments.
• One new home was due to open soon.
• There had been changes in staff with oversight of this area and stability in senior staff since last summer. This, combined with the skills of leaders within other areas of children’s services, was providing an optimistic outlook for Children’s Residential Services.

In response to a question from the Panel about the financial resources and support provided when a Residential Home received a poor Ofsted rating, Kieran Lord explained that financial resources may not always be the solution and advised that it may be leadership or plans relating to individual children that needed attention, and that by working in a consistent and strategic way the necessary improvements were being made. Tom Brailsford advised that outcomes of Ofsted inspections for Children’s Residential Homes could be based on aspects that could change very quickly and offered to set up a separate informal session with the Panel to explain the inspection framework.  The Panel was informed that Ofsted were setting up a series of events called ‘The Big Listen’ and one aspect will be to look at different inspection regimes.

Rob Fordyce, Principal Social Worker, deputising for Vicky Metheringham (Service Director, Child Protection & Family Support) highlighted the following key points –

• Contacts to Front Door - the number of contacts had decreased, and referrals had also decreased from 353 to 253. A Front Door health check had taken place in February 2024 to check the quality of service and the effectiveness of the service had been confirmed. The decline in contacts could continue due to ongoing work with partner agencies on the quality and appropriateness of their referrals. Weekly referral and review meetings provided assurance on the quality of decision making around Front Door contacts. Re-referral rates at 17.4% were lower than national figures of 22% which indicated that the right decisions were being made for children and young people at the first point of contact.
• Children in Need Plans - the rate was 225 per 10,000 children, lower than statistical neighbours and the national average for England. The low re-referral rates suggested that this did not mean there were too few children on Child in Needs Plans, but rather that the plans in place were progressing well and that effective decisions were being made about children and the support they needed. The service was focused on the oversight of children on Child in Need Plans, which was provided by regular meetings with social workers and other practitioners, as well as on providing support to practitioners on how to set up and carry out an effective Child in Need Plan.
• Child Protection Plans - there had been a reduction in the number of children on a Child Protection Plan, 16 less than last month, increase in numbers from the same time last year. There had also been a decrease in the number of Section 47 investigations, which may lead to fewer children on Child Protection Plans over the next six months.
• Child and family assessments - there had been a decrease in the timeliness of child and family assessments, bringing the service figures below statistical neighbours and national comparators. The timeliness of core groups (the meetings for children on Child Protection Plans) had also deteriorated, and there had been an increase in the number of Child in Need meetings that were overdue. To address this, a new structure would be introduced within social worker teams, with a practice supervisor for every five practitioners, and a team manager for every ten practitioners and two practice supervisors. The team managers would make decisions, providing more consistency in decision making, and the implementation of the practice supervisor role would have the capacity to drive standards and make improvements on the quality and timeliness of the work.

The Panel noted that the interpretation and commentary on the Childrens Service’s data gave them confidence.

Tom Brailsford, Strategic Director Children and Families, highlighted the following key points on Education –

·       45 day assessments were below the national average, but had increased from earlier in the year by over 10%.

·       Exclusions - there had been a decrease year to date in some exclusions after the one-to-one work that had been done with schools and educational settings, and through the Educational Learning Partnership Board looking at how the Board could improve a number of areas, for example, persistently poor behaviour. There were still concerns about the number of children with SEND needs and SEND support, and a number of LAC, with one or more episode of permanent and temporary exclusions and work was ongoing with the virtual school to address that. This was an ongoing focus of the Kirklees Learning Strategy and would be helped by the positive relationships within the Kirklees Education system. The Panel would be updated with final figures on exclusions and suspensions later in the year.

The Panel noted that the figures on suspensions and exclusions had been a concern earlier in the year with particular schools, and action had been taken to improve the situation which was positive and welcome.

In response to a question from the panel regarding the rise in elective home education and the reasons for this, Tom Brailsford explained that this was a national trend that the Department for Education would be looking through data sets to be carried out three times a year. The Panel was informed that within Kirklees there were potentially three main reasons for home education: parents’ personal conscious choice, children’s poor mental health, including social and school anxiety post Covid, and parents educating children at home because they felt their child’s SEND needs were not being met. Tom Brailsford gave assurance that the Children Missing in Education and the Elective Home Education teams had “eyes on” the children and young people and advised that they were being educated and safeguarded effectively. The Panel was informed that a RAG rating was in place to focus on those children who were more at risk.  Tom Brailsford welcomed the suggestion by the Panel that a closer look at the rise in Elective Home Education and a more detailed breakdown would be looked at in more detail in the next municipal year.

RESOLVED:

That the verbal updates on performance data be noted and Officers be thanked for their contributions.