Agenda item

The Sufficiency Strategy sets out how Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP Council) intends to meet its sufficiency duty as laid out in section 22G of the Children Act 1989. This requires local authorities to take steps that secure, as far as reasonably practical, sufficient accommodation for children in care within their local authority area.

The Manager, Access to Resources Team (ART) presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'F' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The Sufficiency Strategy sets out how Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole Council (BCP Council) intend to meet its sufficiency duty as laid out in section 22G of the Children Act 1989. This required local authorities to take steps that secure, as far as reasonably practical, sufficient accommodation for children in care within their local authority area.

The Portfolio Holder confirmed that the Strategy would be going to Cabinet only for approval.

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

• In response to a query regarding the seven key priorities, the Committee was advised that each of those priorities was underpinned by others and that they all fed into the action plan.
• In response to a query regarding the need to register provision for Children in Care (CiC), the Committee was advised that Priority five in the strategy dealt with this and BCP had been successful in minimising this type of provision and was working with local providers to ensure their offer was registered and regulated prior to September.  It was highlighted that some providers were exploiting this change and had increased charges to address it.
• Suitable local provision was discussed and it was noted that the services edge of care offer supported enabling families to stay together where possible, however if alternative provision was required, sometimes the risk of exploitation meant that the service user had to be relocated out of the local area.
• A Member of the Youth Parliament was pleased that in capturing voices of young people, the voice of the MYPs was being reflected and wished to continue to work with Officers in this area. (Action)
• A Member expressed the importance of all the Strategies and Plans being linked to the Children and young People’s Plan to ensure there was dynamic engagement between them.
• The service was asked to double check the figures in the strategy, in relation to the percentages of BAME detailed as there was two different figures which did not correlate. (Action).
• When considering how the Committee could scrutinise the strategy moving forward, it was discussed that qualitative responses would be very beneficial to see what difference the strategy was making for the children and young people
• A request for the equality impact assessment to be shared with the Committee once completed was made. (Action).
• The Committee requested an update once a review had been undertaken to Committee in early 2022. (Add to Forward Plan).
• Accommodation was discussed and it was noted that the six studio flats had been a great success, whilst some had been accessed in times of crisis, they had provided a great step in preparing the young people for independence.  The Committee noted that the service had a clear housing pathway and transition for when young people were ready
• Foster carers were discussed, together with the issue of available housing.  It was noted that the Services partnership with Housing was very strong.

The Chair summarised discussions as follows:

• Unregulated provision, residential and suitable local
• Capturing voice of MYPs
• Dashboards - qualitative
• Data – check BAME
• In line with good and outstanding for 2022
• Foster carers
• Supported flats

RESOLVED that the Committee endorse the Sufficiency Strategy to Cabinet.