Agenda item

The Committee moved back in to public session for consideration of this item.

Councillor Mary Martin (Cabinet Member for Children’s Services) was in attendance and presented to the Committee a report summarising progress and performance in respect of the key objectives of her portfolio of responsibility which are:

·        Provide strategic leadership and be the statutory lead Member for Children’s Services.

·        Provide the political leadership for the improvement plan.

·        Through the senior officers, ensure Children are Safeguarded.

·        Provide political leadership for contract/compliance/procurement.

·        Provide the political leadership for the strategic provision of:

a) Corporate Parenting

b) Early Help

c) Youth Justice

·        Promote Children’s Health and Wellbeing.

·        To work with other Cabinet Members to Manage Demand within the portfolio.

·        Ensure that the Council's agreed priorities within the portfolio are delivered.

In overseeing these areas, the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services is responsible for delivering the following Priorities and Pledges of Swindon’s Vision:

·        7. In addition to the two new free secondary schools, build one secondary and 13 primary schools to meet the needs of our increasing population.

·         20. Increase the number of foster carers in Swindon so that every ‘child looked after’ who should be, is placed in their home borough.

·         21. Ensure that there is a partnership approach to early prevention and intervention across Swindon so that more children and families are supported early, including through the Troubled Families Programme, to prevent escalation to statutory social care.

·         22. Ensure that Swindon’s vulnerable children and young people are safeguarded and protected.

·         25. Work collaboratively with stakeholders to ensure the level of children in Swindon with excess weight is no higher than the England average.

In addition, the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services has the following delegated responsibilities:

·        Children and Family Services including Early Help, Youth Offending Team, Young Person Substance Misuse team, Targeted Mental Health, Education Welfare, Educational Psychology, Youth Engagement, Services for Disabled Children.

·        Children’s Social Work services.

·        Community Health Services including Health Visitors, School Nurses and Family Nurse Partnership, Paediatric Therapy Services, Speech and Language and Portage.

·        Local Safeguarding Children’s Board.

·        Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

·        Children Voluntary Sector Contracts.

·        Fostering and adoption services.

·        Troubled Families.

·        Music Services.

·        PlasPencelli Outdoor Education Centre.

Councillor Martin, with assistance from the Director of Children’s Social Work, responded to questions put by CouncillorsSteve Allsopp, Emma Faramarzi,Barbara Parry, Carol Shelley,Timothy Swinyard, Steve Weisingerand the Chair on the following matters:

·         The interim arrangements following the departure of the Head of Education and the review of the directorate senior management team currently being undertaken.

·        The Council’s significant additional financial investment which has reduced social worker caseload and improved stability, and the potential risks should this extra funding not be sustainable.

·        How savings could be achieved through changes to the commissioning of services, a reduction in the number of agency / temporary workers, and an increase in the number of in-house foster carers.

·        The actions being taken to address the difficulties in recruiting and retaining permanent, full-time social workers, which include offering training and career development via the Social Worker Leadership Academy launching on 26^th November 2019.

·        The Council’s ‘partners in practice’ relationship with Essex County Council, which has been judged as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted.

·        The steps being taken to improve the stability and permanence of children’s placements, including the renegotiation of contracts with providers and the establishment of small residential units in Swindon.

·        The confidence that the recent ‘Good’ Ofsted rating has imbued in the resilience and robustness of the improvement model currently adopted by Children’s Services should external factors start to move in a negative direction.

·        The measures put in place to implement the revised Quality Assurance Framework (given the challenges from higher priority operational demands for Service Managers and the fluctuation within staffing capacity), and the resources required for the management of mentoring and coaching options for social workers given the current pressures.

·        The length of time taken for the statutory assessment for an Education Health and Care Plan, which is currently 20 weeks. The Committee were advised that 80% of referrals are seen within 18 weeks, but that this are still requires improvement.

·        The possible contributing factors to the higher rate of first time entrants in Swindon to the Youth Offending Service compared to the national and south west average, and the work being undertaken to reduce that number.

·        The work undertaken by the Council and its partners in putting children at the centre of all activity, and in taking a holistic approach to the development of Children’s Services. The Committee were advised that a more child-centred approach was being taken by the Children’s Health, Social Care and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee with the current recruitment for Children’s Representatives.

·        The process for completing the impact scale with young carers at the start / end of an intervention, which feeds in to a specific outcomes framework for young carers. 

Resolved – That Councillor Martin be thanked for attending the meeting to present her performance report and for her full and open responses to members’ questions and observations on the issues raised.