Agenda item

To consider a report on the Self-Assessment of BCP Children’s Services performance with the performance and improvement plan.

The Service Director, Quality and Commissioning, provided an update on BCP Children’s Services Self -Assessment 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 quarterly update enabled the Service to take stock three months after the social care restructure and also identifed areas for leadership attention and focus in 2020.

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

• When looking at Children in Care (CIC), the Committee was assured that the 14% of CIC who were placed over 20 miles from home were done so because it being necessary or desirable for an outside of area placement.  It was advised that 14% was a good outcome which outperformed the national and regional averages
• It was advised that the number of CIC at the end of December 2019 increased and was at the upper level.  These cases had been quality assured and the Committee was advised that whilst this increase was not ideal, the right decisions had been made to place these children in care
• The Service Director, Children’s Social Care, advised CIC were always kept as close as possible to their families and that children who were on the edge of care were worked closely with to try and avoid care where possible
• In response to a concern regarding the low Key Stage 1 results for the Children in Care, the Committee was advised that this was a small cohort of children and referred to approximately 8 or 9 children, who were mostly boys
• In response to a concern that 19 CIC were not currently on roll, the Committee was advised that the Virtual School peer review had identified this concern and there was a plan to develop bespoke packages for them to address this
• In response to a concern regarding the two CIC who had been permanently excluded, the Committee was advised that it was Children’s Services ambition that no CIC was ever permanently excluded and that work was being undertaken with schools to achieve this
• A Committee Member requested that future data provided included Key Stage 5 attainment levels
• There was some discussion over the indicators provided in the Self-Assessment which could make some of the data difficult to interpret.  The Service Director, Quality and Commissioning, provided an explanation around this, but advised he would consider how best to present the data in a clearer way moving forward
• In response to a query regarding the Committee scrutinising any Child Protection (CP) plans, the Committee was advised that an audit had been undertaken on repeat CP plans to ensure they were not being removed too early.  The outcome of this audit was that there was no learning required, the length between some CP plans could be up to 3 years and the Committee was advised of some of the possible reasons for the repeat plans
• There was discussion over the categories of neglect and physical abuse within CP plans, the Committee was advised that categories can different elements, for example BCP includes emotional abuse under the neglect category.  When looking at physical abuse the Committee was advised this related to risk as opposed to actual abuse
• In response to a query regarding the drift in CP plans, the Committee was advised this meant a child had been on a plan for too long without change being achieved within the family. 
• The Committee was advised that the Independent Learning Audits had provided a route to support practices, and from that the Service was now on a rolling quality assurance programme.
• A Member requested that in future a comparative authorities statistical data be provided rather than national and regional comparators, as it was felt this would be more beneficial when benchmarking
• A request was again made that an acronym sheet be included in any future reports.

The Chairman summarised the debate and felt that the Committee was particularly keen to be kept informed regarding BCP’s Children in Care. 

RESOLVED that the Committee noted the Self-Assessment and requested to receive it when updated quarterly via email and a Committee Report every six months.