Council and democracy

Agenda item

A Sustainable Children's Social Care System for the Future: Annual Public Health Report 2017

Minutes:

Presented by the Assistant Director and Consultant in Public Health (ADCPH), Tim Elwell-Sutton, the report focussed on creating a sustainable children’s social care system for the future. There were growing pressures on the current system due to the increasing population with the number of special needs and asylum seeking children increasing. Financial pressures were on Children’s Services and the proportion spent on preventative areas had decreased. Figures from 2006 - 2016 showed the population growth rate for children in Thurrock was 13% whereas the national average was 6%.

 

Councillor Spillman asked if Thurrock’s rate of child population were still higher than the national average per 100 or 1000 children to which the ADCPH confirmed it was. Councillor Collins also asked what the reasons were for the increase. This was due to Thurrock’s young population which meant a fertile population and an economically growing population also meant more people moving into the borough. The service to prevent children from going into care was unable to keep up with the growing demand, therefore, spending in this service was increasing.

 

At 9.15pm, Members agreed to suspend standing orders until 10.00pm in order to go through all items on the agenda.

 

Continuing with the report, the ADCPH stated that the underlying pressures to the current children’s social care system would remain but there were strategic recommendations to cope with this. The three strategic recommendations outlined in the report were:

 

1.    Make a long-term strategic commitment to invest in prevention.

2.    Invest in the most effective preventative services.

3.    Improve information on activity and spending.

 

Work on a sustainable children’s social care system for the future was already underway. To ensure its success, it was important to invest in preventative measures.

 

Councillor Redsell thought the report was detailed and raised some concerning issues. She referred to the second point on page 35 of appendix 1, which she found to be worrying. The ADCPH replied that the audit had been carried out by iMPOWER and the result suggested that, if unlimited resources were available, a significant proportion of looked after children might have been prevented from going into care if more support had been given to families at an early stage. Councillor Redsell went on to ask whether cases of where children had been taken into care unnecessarily were investigated. The CDCS answered that the service department were assessing cases where children could return home safely. They had to ensure the right skillset and resources were made available to continue to provide support to children after returning home.

 

Councillor Spillman questioned whether there was a pressure to take more children into care than needed. The Assistant Director for Children’s Care and Targeted Outcomes (ADCCTO), Sheila Murphy, replied that they were looking at models of support and thinking of the strengths within families to keep them together. Support would be gathered though groups to keep children safe and they could not just remove children from families so easily. There were panels and processes to review why children had come into care and possibilities had to be considered for children to go back to families or friends. The ADCPH added that helping families in the early stages could prevent children from going into care.

 

The Chair commended the ADCPH on the report given and felt it was well-detailed. She asked if it would be made available to all Councillors as they should all be made aware of the report. The ADCPH confirmed it would be going to Full Council.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1)    That the contents and recommendations of the report be noted by the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

 

Councillor Redsell and the ADCPH left the meeting at 9.28pm.

Supporting documents: