Agenda item

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

Contact:        Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director

Vicky Metheringham, Service Director

The Panel considered a verbal update on the performance highlights from the latest Children’s Services data report covering period ending 31^st August 2024 presented by the Service Directors.  The Panel were informed that due to the data referring to August, some school information was not available.

Jo-Anne Sanders, Service Director for Learning and Early Support, highlighted the following key points –

·         Review of Permanent Exclusions 2023/24 – As part of the Kirklees Futures, Our Learning Strategy, there was an ambition is to have no permanent exclusions. In 2023/24 there were 121 notifications of permanent exclusions, which converted to 88 permanent exclusions, with 4 to still be decided. 91 children were excluded the previous academic year. There were 20 primary school exclusions, compared to 72 high school exclusion. The most frequent reason given for exclusion was persistent disruptive behaviour, and exclusions were more likely to occur among boys and in Key Stage 3. The local authority was working collaboratively with schools to avoid permanent exclusions.

·         Statutory compliance in issuing Education Health and Care Plan (EHCPs) - Progress was outlined as 99 new plans were issued in August, of which 35% were within the statutory 20 week compliance period.  This brought the total number of plans being maintained to 4,453. A number were issued outside the statutory timeframe, but work was underway to complete both new and older plans. The year to date average was 25% compliance, which was an improvement on the SEN2 return data taken at the end of the year. The drive for increased compliance was being balanced with the need for quality, and significant activity for improvement was taking place across the partnership. The Panel would have the opportunity to look at the data in more depth in the forthcoming months.

The Panel asked what happened to excluded children, and Jo-Anne Sanders advised that from day 6 after exclusion the local authority had a statutory duty to make an offer of education. Children were supported to return to full time education as soon as practicably possible. Last academic year only two pupils were excluded for a second time, meaning that most pathways identified were successful. There were challenges in providing enough suitable provision, and there would be a report on sufficiency coming to the Panel later in the municipal year.

In answer to a question regarding school funding, Jo-Anne Sanders advised that schools were tackling funding challenges in a number of ways and that strong partnerships, especially those between home and school, were the factor making the biggest difference. The Panel were assured that schools were working hard to make children feel included and comfortable despite the challenges facing communities such as the pandemic and cost of living crisis. In answer to a question about trends in exclusions by ward, Jo-Anne Sanders advised that the statistics were based on such a small number, and therefore there was no clear pattern and there were no outliers in terms of permanent exclusions. This was being reviewed and schools were sharing good practise and supporting one another, with a focus on the children and their families.

The Panel asked about the order in which the backlog of EHCP applications were being processed and were informed that it was only Looked After Children that may be prioritised. Jo-Anne Sanders advised that the process of working through the backlog was fair and equitable and the service had a forensic oversight of each stage of the process. Sometimes waiting times were influenced by a delay in receiving advice from professionals, but those waiting the longest were being processed as a priority.

In response to a question from the Panel about a possible correlation between children waiting for their EHCP, and school exclusion, Jo-Anne Sanders advised the Panel that analysis was undertaken of children on SEN support and suspensions, as suspensions for persistent disruptive behaviour were likely prior to exclusion. The Panel was offered an in-depth analysis of the data on suspensions at a further meeting if required.

Vicky Metheringham, Service Director for Family Support and Child Protection, highlighted the following key points -

• Front Door – There had been an increase in the timeliness of contacts being screened in one day, to 90%, which meant that families were receiving intervention as soon as concerns were raised.
• Re-referrals had reduced in August to 21%, indicating that children’s cases were not being closed too soon. A deep dive had been carried out to understand previous data which showed a spike in the number of re-referrals.
• Child Protection Plans - The number of children on a Child Protection Plan had remained stable at 426.
• Child Protection Conferences - 86% of Children’s Protection Conferences took place within 15 working days of the Strategy meeting; the reasons were known for those which had not and a multi-agency safety plan was in place for those children.
• Children going missing - There was a rise in Children Going Missing in August, with 84 episodes involving 56 young people. An independent interview was offered to all of them, with 74% take up, which helped provide strategies to prevent further missing episodes.
• Children in Care - The number of Children in Care peaked in July, reduced in August and continue to reduce. This indicates that the service was recognising when children need to come into care was but also making sure they left care in a planned and timely way. Children in care’s health is a priority, indicators show that their health needs are being met.
• Care Leavers - The service was in touch with 96% of Care Leavers and 92% lived in suitable accommodation. Those not living in suitable accommodation had clear plans in place and there were increased visits to those young people.
• Number of Contacts - there was a concern about the number of contacts from other professionals not resulting in a referral. Only 19% of contacts had resulted in a referral, indicating that too many were coming through the front door that could be dealt with differently. Conversations with colleagues and partners about how to improve that were ongoing.
• Performance around assessments - There was decline in some areas of performance around assessments, with the time they were taking being too long despite putting in enhanced oversight of practice.  Some of this could be due to August being a very busy period, and staff taking time back after the Ofsted inspection in July, but there was a clear plan in place for activity to drive improvement.
• Foster placements - The number of children living in a foster placements reduced to 69% from 74%. This was related to the age of the children but also because the right kind of placements for those young people were not available.
• Pathway plans for Care Leavers - It was recognised that pathway plans for our Care Leavers are not high quality in terms of the language used, so a new way of doing the plans had been introduced. This involved engaging the young people to assist in writing the plans so that they can be invested in them.
• Accommodation for Care Leavers - the service was also working hard to make sure that our Care Leavers were provided with the right accommodation at the right time.

The Panel asked about the reduction of contacts in August and Vicky Metheringham advised that August was significantly quieter due to school holidays, with schools being a major source of referrals. There was usually an influx before school holidays, this was a trend which could be seen in most LA data sets.

In answer to a question about the low rate of conversion of contacts to referrals, Vicky Metheringham advised that multi-agency training had taken place and the issue had been raised at weekly referral and review meetings, chaired by the Head of Service. The Panel was advised that a reduction in inappropriate referrals was necessary and that conversations were ongoing.

RESOLVED:

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