Agenda item

The Chairman informed the Committee that there had been an error on the cover report and the report should be classified as Key.

The Strategic Director, Children and Young People introduced the Ofsted report to the Committee.

The Strategic Director, Children and Young People explained that a number of issues surrounding the quality of Children’s services had been identified and highlighted the need for greater scrutiny to improve the situation for Children in Barnet. He said he was accountable for the provision and the quality of the service and apologised to children that had not received high quality care. He stated the service would continue to strive forward with the goal of becoming the most family friendly Borough in Barnet.

The Strategic Director Children and Young People explained that part of the £5.7 million funding would contribute toward recruiting high quality social workers and that a plan had been devised to address the concerns highlighted by Oftsed to drive improvements in social work practise. The Operational Director for Early Help and Protection said a large sum of money would be put toward developing the work force and ensuring all frontline workers understood good practise across the service. She said work needed to be done to encourage good quality workers to Barnet, which would include promoting the career opportunities and developments available at Barnet. The Operational Director Corporate Parenting said housing and youth services were developing a new joint protocol to ensure there is a good robust assessment of needs. She said that there was a particular challenge around members of gangs who require 24 hour support.

Members of the Committee expressed concerns that there was a lack of flow of information between committees discussing items that affect children services, affecting the ability to scrutinise decisions. The Chief Executive said that information in respect of the Ofsted report and the improvement plan will continue to be brought to the CELS Committee. He said it was essential information be brought to the Committee in order for it to be properly scrutinised. The Strategic Director for Children and Young people agreed that improvements in the quality of information represented to the Corporate Parenting Advisory Panel (CPAP) were needed to enable Members to see and scrutinise the information and data. He also said deep-dives into particular areas would be done and that the results of these would be discussed at future meetings.

Members requested that reports brought to Committee were not just for noting, but were for approval and comment, enabling Members to be fully involved in decisions. The Strategic Director, Children and Young People said he was happy to make reports for approval, allowing members to input. He also said he felt further training on the key questions that should be asked and considered in terms of safeguarding and parenting roles would be helpful.

The Chief Executive said a review had been commissioned into the effectiveness of the Safeguarding Board. He said a number of recommendations had been made around the remit and make-up of the Board and and how to adequately fund it which needs contribution from the Police, Public Health and the Local Authority. 

The Strategic Director, Children and Young People said a complaints leaflet for Children in Care was crucial and was needed in order to outline the members of the CPAP or Local Council and reflect the critical role members play in helping children. He said the service wanted to work closely with Members to ensuring the right opportunities for engagement with young people were available to them. The Strategic Director, Children and Young People  said that he would pull together a member engagement plan for the September CELS meeting and identify a number of things that can be run regularly. He said a list of how members can get involved could be drawn up as a result of the deep-dive.

Following discussion of the report Councillor Coakley-Webb moved a motion to amend recommendation six of the report to the following wording: ‘That the Committee agree that Children, Education, Libraries & Safeguarding Committee meeting will have a standing item on the progress of implementing the Improvement Action Plan including where appropriate deep dives into areas of concern.’

Councillor Coakley-Webb then moved a motion to include the following as a recommendation, ‘That the Committee agree that Councillor Coakley-Webb and Councillor Thompstone arrange meetings to visit London Borough of Islington and Essex County Council’.

The Chairman moved to vote on all of the recommendations including the re-worded recommendation six and additional recommendation seven.

The Committee unanimously agreed to all the recommendations.

It was RESOLVED that:

1.    That the Committee note the findings of the Ofsted Single Inspection Framework carried out between 24 April and 18 May 2017 as set out in paragraph 1.13 and Appendix 1

2.    That the Committee note the guidance from Ofsted in relation to Local Authorities which have received an overall judgement of inadequate as set out in paragraph 1.17 to 1.24 and Appendix 2

3.    That the Committee note the guidance from the Department for Education in relation to Local Authorities which have received an overall judgement of inadequate as set out in paragraph 1.25 to 1.27 and Appendix 3 (pages 53 - 57) and note that a commissioner for Children’s Services will be appointed for an initial three-month period.

4.    That the Committee agree the draft Improvement Action Plan for consultation set out in Appendix 4 and delegate to the Strategic Director for Children and Young People in consultation with the Chief Executive and Lead Member authorisation to complete and submit the plan within the 70 day requirement for Ofsted.

5.    That the Committee note the draft LSCB Improvement Action Plan for consultation set out in Appendix 5.

6.    That the Committee agree that each Children, Education, Libraries & Safeguarding Committee meeting will have a standing item on the progress of implementing the Improvement Action Plan including where appropriate deep dives into areas of concern.

7.    That the Committee agree that Councillor Coakley-Webb and Councillor Thompstone arrange meetings to visit Islington and Essex County Council’.

Immediately after the vote the Chairman moved a motion to refer the report to Full Council as he felt that due to the important nature of the report it required greater member scrutiny.

Referral to Full Council was unanimously approved by the Committee.