Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Chief Executive and Director of Children and Family Services which presented an update of the Children and Families performance at the end of quarter four of 2015/16.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 10’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion the following points were raised:-

(i)          Concern was expressed that the percentage of children becoming subject to a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time had increased.  The Committee was assured that this was an area of concern for the Department, which had already identified that there had been a period when child protection plans might have been ended too early.  As child protection plans were multi-agency, joint cases audits were currently being carried out by the Safeguarding Board to understand the causes of poor performance, although it was not thought that any children had been at risk during this period.  Work was also being undertaken with adult social services to embed the changes and the recovery action plan had been reviewed.  It was expected that it would take time for the changes to take effect and demonstrate improved performance.  The Child Protection Panel, which had already considered this issue in detail, would continue to monitor performance.

(ii)         The Department had early learning and childcare advisors who worked with childminders to ensure that they provided a good quality service.  The advisors targeted their support to those childminders who were not rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted to help them to improve.  If this was not possible the childminder would be deregistered.

(iii)        Members highlighted the importance of physical literacy to the wellbeing of children, including ensuring that they got a good start in life.  It was noted that the County Sports Partnership had an early years physical literacy programme which worked with relevant service providers including childminders.  The Ofsted good practice guide for school readiness included requirements related to physical development; officers undertook to share this with the Committee.

(iv)       Concern was expressed that the educational attainment of looked after children could be affected by a high number of placements.  The Committee was advised that the Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Adoption had undertaken some research which had identified that placement instability had a negative effect on emotional health and wellbeing and ability to learn.  The County Council had participated in the research and the Head of the Virtual School was involved in national work in this area and had reported to the Children in Care Panel.  However, it was also important to be aware that a child could not be kept in a placement that was not right for them.

(v)        Both academies and maintained schools had responsibility for the educational progress of their pupils.  The County Council supported schools through the Leicestershire Education Excellence Partnership (LEEP) which identified areas of underperformance and targeted resources accordingly.  Last year, the focus had been on maths and on reading and writing for boys during key stages one and two.  This work was starting to have a positive effect on performance.  The County Council, like the diocese, also had an overview of performance across schools and could share examples of good practice.

(vi)       It was noted that Supporting Leicestershire Families Programme reported progress to the Health and Wellbeing Board and that a new subgroup was being established to provide more robust governance arrangements for this piece of work.  Officers undertook to circulate the Annual Report of the Programme to the Committee for information.

(vii)      The removal of levels by which performance at key stage two could be measured had resulted in the need to develop a formula so that comparisons could be made with performance in previous years.  It was expected that the lack of nationally defined levels would result in some difficulty in comparing performance with other local authorities.

(viii)    Ofsted had recently written an open letter regarding the state of education in the East Midlands.  The Committee was pleased to note that the letter, which had been critical, had not referred to Leicestershire County Council.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the performance of the Children and Families Service at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015/16 be noted;

(b)  That officers be requested to circulate the research paper by the Rees Centre for Research into Fostering and Education on the links between placement stability and the educational attainment of looked after children;

(c)  That officers be requested to include details of the indicator testing readiness for school, including physical literacy requirements, in the performance report to the next meeting of the Committee.