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 Family Services Department’s performance for the period October to December 2020 (Quarter 3).  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 11’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the discussion, the following points were raised:

i)                In response to a query around the charts provided with the report, it was stated that following the receipt of end of year performance data and comparative cost information, work had been carried out to compare Leicestershire’s overall performance position with other local authority areas.  The county comparator group included 32 two-tier and unitary authorities.  The latest available performance indicator data had been used and for most metrics, this was the end of year 2019/20 data.  The analysis used 247 outcome/performance indicators from nationally published sources.  A range of views were available including themes, indicators and quartiles.  In terms of children’s social care, Leicestershire had low spending and high performance.  For SEND, expenditure was higher, but performance was still good.

ii)               There had been an increase in children being electively home educated.  This was being closely monitored to ensure that the service was able to manage the increase within existing resources.  A member commented that elective home education could be a positive and proactive step for many families and children, although it could sometimes be seen as pejorative.  The Director agreed that this could be the case, but when the data had been considered, much of the increase had been in those children who had previously struggled in school and the parents had realised that home education was working better for the child.  Assurance was given that the local authority was doing what it could to support families by ensuring that there were resources within the team to monitor education and any potential safeguarding issues.  Work would also take place to better understand the cohort so that support could be prioritised to the right families. 

iii)             It was noted that the percentage of children having a dental check was low.  This primarily related to children in care and the figure was low as a result of being unable to visit the dentist due to Covid-19.  The service had worked hard to promote dental hygiene with young people and assurance was given that young people would be encouraged to attend a dental check when this was possible.

iv)             In relation to young people who were NEET, a query was raised around whether the Leicestershire figures were in line with statistical neighbour averages and whether a proportion could be attributed to Covid-19.  In response, the Director reported that some training providers had been unable to remain open over the period but it was anticipated that the numbers would start to increase in the near future as providers were able to reopen.  It would be necessary to consider the cohort in more detail, but assurance was given that in terms of care leavers, things were moving in the right direction.  Further work would be required with those in the youth justice system as these were currently over represented in the NEET cohort.

v)              It was asked whether a graph could be produced to show any link between deprivation and revenue.  Fair funding dashboards had been produced previously and showed the comparison between core spending power to deprivation.  The 2017/18 version was currently available on the County Council’s website as part of a consultation/campaign that had been carried out at that time.  Further information would be provided to the Committee.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.