Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Children and Family Services, the purpose of which was to present the Local Safeguarding Children Board/Safeguarding Adult Board (LSCB/SAB) Business Plan for 2014/15 and the LSCB/SAB Performance Management Framework, as requested by the Committee at its meeting on 11 November.  A copy of the report is filed with these minutes.

The Chairman welcomed Mr Paul Burnett, the independent Chair of the LSCB/SAB, to the meeting. 

Arising from discussion, the following points were noted:

(i)            The Performance Framework had been used to identify key priority areas that formulated the Business Plan for 2014/15;

(ii)          Several organisations, including the County Council, had rated themselves as ‘partially compliant’ in the 2013-14 section 11 audit (i.e. a self-assessment audit required under the Children Act 2004 to check an organisations functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people).  This had been due to the 2013 Working Together to Safeguard Children guidance that introduced several changes which were still being adopted at the time of the audit.  The independent Chair of the LSCB confirmed that such ratings were not a concern to the Board at this stage;

(iii)         There had been a significant increase in the number of referrals into the First Response, Central Duty team.   This was a trend being seen nationally.  The Board would monitor progress, but it was hoped that over the next 18 months figures would decline, as the introduction of Early Help Services fully bedded in;

(iv)         The timeliness of carrying out initial assessments for childrens social care had been highlighted as an issue.  An action plan had been put in place to respond.  However, the delays shown in the data resulted from a technical problem with the current electronic system, Framework-i.  This had automatically logged a number of children as requiring an assessment when one was not needed.  The Director reported that a manual assessment had confirmed that 97% of initial assessments required were conducted within the required 10 working day timescale, but acknowledged that it was important for this data was captured correctly;

(v)          Leicestershire County Council had a low number of private fostering arrangements notified to it when compared to its statistical neighbours.  The reasoning for this was being looked at by the Board and there were future proposal to hold a publicity campaign to raise awareness and encourage people to come forward with such information.  It was likely that some families feared contact with social services and providing information on the help and support that could be provided by the service would form a key part of this campaign to break down such barriers; 

(vi)         Further work would take place with partners (e.g. GP’s and schools) to ensure information regarding private fostering arrangements was being shared with the Authority.  Close joint working on this issue had proved successful in other authority areas;

(vii)        In response to questions raised regarding the private fostering publicity campaign, the Committee noted that this would be funded out of contributions made by the statutory agencies (resources had already been allocated as this had been identified as a priority within the Business Plan) and all age groups would be targeted as well as schools and other agencies that would have contact with children under 5 and young people over 16 years. 

(viii)      The LSCB now had a responsibility to monitor children placed out of county to ensure they were being regularly seen and reviewed.  This would be an area assessed by Ofsted under the new inspection framework.  Often children were based out of county for a specific reason.  However, it could result in them being more at risk of issues such as child sexual exploitation.  The Chair of the LSCB had written to some authorities in other areas who had not notified the Board of all children they had placed out of county;

(ix)         In response to questions raised, the Chair of the LSCB confirmed that the Board had no concerns regarding partner engagement in serious care reviews (SCR).  The Board oversaw the conduct of any such reviews, looked at the recommendations made and drafted the necessary action plans arising from these.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the contents of the report and the information now provided be noted;

(b)  That the priority and risk areas relating to children identified within the Business Plan for the Local Safeguarding Children Board/Safeguarding Adult Board for 2014/15 be supported;

(c)  That the contents of the Local Safeguarding Children Board Performance Management Framework together with the proposals to address areas of concern be noted.