Issue - meetings

To enable the Committee to maintain oversight of this issue and target scrutiny as required.

The Corporate Director of Children’s Services presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix ‘A’ to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The purpose of the report was to enable the Committee to gain an overview of the outcome of the full ILACS inspection and consider where detailed scrutiny should be focused.

The Committee discussed the presentation and comments were made, including:

• In response to a query regarding recruiting overseas staff, the Committee was advised that the service would assist with visas, offer a permanent post and have a lengthy introductory buddy scheme.  It was also noted that the staff being recruited currently did not reflect the diverse population of BCP, but more work could be done in this area.
• The Committee was advised that the recruitment of social workers was a national issue and that the front door was a challenging space which currently had 87% agency staff filling the roles.  It was noted that the overseas recruited social workers were being placed at the front door which would reduce the use agency staff.  The Committee was advised of the details of the social work recruitment and planning and made aware of the difficulties when rated as inadequate in comparison to neighbouring authorities who were rated as good and outstanding.
• The Committee was advised of work ongoing to stabilise the workforce and comparing BCP’s offer with others locally, including what package could be offered which would be attractive enough to entice agency staff to become permanent and provide more stability for the children and families being worked with
• The Committee discussed houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) and was advised that Ofsted found that the care provided to children in HMOs was not at an acceptable standard.  At the time of the inspection, there was 14 young people in HMOs and that had now been reduced to one.  A Committee Member advised that this matter was going to be considered by the Corporate Parenting Board and suggested sharing a report for information to ensure no duplication of work. ACTION – add to action sheet
• The importance of communication between social workers and service users was discussed together with the permanence of social workers to enable service users to feel comfortable and build a meaningful and productive relationship
• In response to a query regarding how best practice could be shared from the areas which had demonstrated improvements with those rated inadequate, the Corporate Director advised that this would come through the improvement plan
• In response to a query regarding what improvements had been made since the inspection and publication of the findings, the Committee was advised that some improvements had been made with pre-birth assessments by considering work done, reissuing toolbox training for social workers and changing the assessment process.
• The Committee discussed the varied workload of staff in different areas and it was noted that some had very large caseloads in comparison to others.  The service directors  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82