Agenda item

The Chairman introduced the report and invited the Strategic Director for Children and Young People, Chris Munday to present the report. The Committee received the fifth report on the progress of the Improvement Action Plan, following the third Ofsted Monitoring visit.

Mr Munday spoke about the Monitoring visit letter at Appendix 1 of the report and the progress seen. He noted that further work is needed to drive and make consistent changes across the service.

The Monitoring Visit focused on the progress made in the area of vulnerable adolescents, including Children in Need, children subject to Child Protection Plans and Looked After Children. 

The Committee asked about the work being done in respect of vulnerable young people who are at high risk of gang affiliation or criminal exploitation.

Tina McElligott, Operational Director Early Help, Children in Need of Help and Protection noted that in order to meet the challenges in this area, services have been working closely with the Improvement Partner and partner agencies. 

She briefed the Committee about steps taken around vulnerable adolescents to ensure that young people are safe and the need to tackle challenges on a long term basis. The focus on improvement and the challenges ahead were recognised as part of the Monitoring visit and set out in Appendix 1.

The Committee noted the correction on page 24 of the Agenda to read

·         The establishment of a Tash Task and Finish Group

In response to a query about the Task and Finish Group, Brigitte Jordaan Operational Director, Corporate Parenting and Disability informed the Committee that a Group has been established consisting of Officers who will work towards a clear protocol and a review of savings for children in care.

The Committee asked about the arrangements of the multi-agency strategy meetings. Ms McElligott noted that continued efforts are being made to achieve improvements, this is yielding result in the level of partnership engagement between statutory partners and social care service; systems have been put in place such as a conference calling room to support continued engagement.

Mr Munday noted the importance of effective partnership engagement and informed the Committee that this issue is due for review by the Care Quality Commission. The Committee commended the engagement with partners from Health and Police which has been positive.

The Committee asked a query in reference to the information within the Data Dashboard – Ms McElligott spoke about the improvements made in relation to timeliness of assessments and decision making. This is reflected in the data which shows that timeliness has improved.

In respect of Independent Return Home Interviews, Officers explained the factors that affect this are young person take up and some delay in referrals for RHI’s reaching providers.

The Chairman thanked the Committee for the discussion.

It was unanimously RESOLVED:

1.    That the Committee noted the progress of the Barnet Children's Services Improvement Action Plan as set out in paragraphs 1.4 to 1.56.

2.    That the Committee noted details of Ofsted’s monitoring visit set out in paragraphs 1.11 to 1.20 and the monitoring visit feedback letter received from Ofsted attached in Appendix 1.

3.    That the Committee noted and scrutinised as above the performance information provided in Appendix 2.