Council and democracy

Agenda item

Children's Social Care Performance

Minutes:

The Vice Chair welcomed Janet Simon the new Strategic Lead for Looked After Children to the Corporate Parenting Committee.

 

Rory Patterson, Corporate Director of Children’s Services, briefed Members on the summary of children’s social care performances set out in the report and that the data produced to meet internal and external requirements was a good indication of issues.

 

Members were updated on the following from the report:

 

           The reduction in the number of contacts and referrals.

           The number of care leavers in suitable accommodation had reduced.

           That Thurrock we compared themselves with a benchmark group which included Medway and Luton. That in comparison Thurrock’s figures were lower.

           The number of Looked After Children had been reduced to 311.

           That Thurrock continued to be part of the Transfer Protocol for Asylum Seeking Children entering into Thurrock.

           That 4 Looked After Children had gone missing at the time of reporting.

           That a review on the whole Adoption service would be undertaken because of the low number of Looked After Children adopted from care.

           That the first round of inspections under the new Inspection Framework were being undertaken. It was possible that Thurrock could receive a Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) later this year or we could have a short notice inspection.

           The planned Joint Targeted Inspection would be themed around Child Sexual Exploitation.

 

The Vice Chair thanked Rory Patterson for the report and asked when the Ofsted inspection was due to take place for the Single Inspection Framework. Rory Patterson stated that this would not be a full inspection and would take place probably around the autumn time. Thurrock would probably not  receive a full inspection under the new framework for at least another year.

 

Councillor Redsell thanked Rory Patterson for the report but stated that more information should be available to all Corporate Parent Members on those Looked After Children that had gone missing. Rory Patterson stated that a weekly report on incidents was sent to the Portfolio Holder for her information and that these 4 incidents were very short term. That more in-depth work on the understanding the risk of different groups would need to be undertaken.

 

The Vice Chair asked how the return home interviews were progressing. Rory Patterson stated that this was an opportunity to look at this process more and that  a  report on missing children would be prepared for Corporate Parenting Committee.

 

Councillor Gamester asked if there would likely be any changes in data with regard to cross gender identity. Rory Patterson stated he saw no particular issues with the service meeting all needs and continued to develop new ways of working with all vulnerable children.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.      That the Corporate Parenting Committee noted the areas of improvement in Children’s Social Care, work undertaken to manage demand for statutory social care services and highlight areas of further investigation for deep dive studies.

2.      That the Corporate Parenting Committee noted a new inspection framework has been introduced by Ofsted for children’s social care.

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