Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Independent Chair of the Leicestershire and Rutland Local Safeguarding Children Board presenting the draft Annual Report of the Leicestershire and Rutland Local Safeguarding Children Board (LRLSCB) for 2018/19.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 8’ is filed with these minutes.  Any comments or proposed additions and amendments would be addressed in the final report before it was published.

Arising from the discussion, the following comments were made:

i)             The LRLSCB would cease on 25 September 2019 and would be replaced by multi-agency safeguarding arrangements which would be managed through a new Leicestershire and Rutland Safeguarding Children Partnership.  Operationally, it was the intention that there would be little difference to what was currently in place; the most significant change was that there would now be equal and joint responsibility between the statutory partners.  The final details were currently being agreed but the aim was to build on existing practices and to streamline these to avoid duplication.  A report had been presented to the last meeting of the Committee around the new arrangements – this would be recirculated.

ii)            In response to a query, it was stated that the new Partnership arrangements would build on what was already being undertaken well and, should any disagreements between the core partners occur, mechanisms would be in place to prevent this.  It had also been agreed to continue to have an Independent Advisor and their role would be to provide independent advice and scrutiny and to chair the Partnership meetings.

iii)           Concern was expressed by a member around the increase in the number of children who were electively home educated.  It was noted that this increase could be attributed to a number of reasons, not least because the department was now better at collecting information about the young people.  The way this was recorded had changed and the department was able to access the information more readily.  It was noted that parents made a decision or moved their child as a result of feeling that schools weren’t meeting their child’s needs; this could raise concern within the department but the additional monitoring enabled the department to work with schools and parents to better meet the child’s needs.  Reassurance was given around the robust monitoring and the work being undertaken with schools by the Inclusion Team, but this would continue to be an area of focus.

iv)           Concern was also raised that over a fifth of children who went missing in Leicestershire and Rutland were looked after children placed in the county from other areas.  It was noted that this group of children provided a significant challenge and work continued with partners to ensure awareness of these children when they were placed, the potential challenges that they may be experiencing and to ensure that there was a joint approach to support the children.  Lots of partnership working currently took place with the Police as a large number of young people were subject to vulnerabilities such as going missing and links to child sexual exploitation.  The new partnership arrangements would seek to enhance the existing joint working with the Police and Health.  The issues of missing and elective home education had been identified as key areas that would continue to be considered and monitored by the new Partnership.

v)            In response to a query, a key focus was to improve engagement with schools and the voluntary sector.  Discussions were currently taking place around how this could be achieved and how to promote messages within schools.  In terms of the voluntary and community sector, consideration was being given to identifying the best way to engage with this diverse group.

vi)           It was noted that the Board budget for 2019/20 no longer included funding for Serious Case Reviews.  Confirmation was given that the Board had sufficient reserves to support any current Serious Case Reviews.  Under the new arrangements, these would be replaced by Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews and there would be different approaches to ensure that any learning was received and distributed in a more timely manner.  Agreement had been reached for the 2019/20 budget for the new Partnership and this included an agreed amount for Reviews.  Discussions were currently taking place between partners around the budget for future years.  It was stated that there was a rigorous process to determine the route for a case and to disseminate the learning from cases, and the Cabinet Lead Member provided reassurance that potential cases were discussed prior to them reaching the formal Serious Case Review stage.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.