Agenda item

The Sub-Committee received an update report that outlined the service was meeting its statutory responsibilities and continuing to evidence improvement against Ofsted recommendations.

The Sub-Committee noted that the long-term ambition of the service was to achieve at least a ‘Good’ grading against all of the key areas Ofsted measure against the framework. It should be noted that the framework is expected to change in 18-24 months.

The report informed the Sub-Committee that further to the submission of the formal response to the Ofsted’s recommendations the service was committed to making changes in  the short and long term, to raise social work standards.

The report detailed that Social Care Service was successful in receiving Innovation funding from the Department for Education. The investment would be distributed across the social care system but predominately across Fostering and Leaving Care. The investment would enable the service to innovate in these areas and enhance the offer available, which would be tracked and monitored as part of the Ofsted improvement programme.

The Sub-Committee noted that the service was working through the 13 Ofsted recommendations. Each recommendation had a defined set of management actions which were owned by specific senior officers within the Directorate. The management actions each have a timescale, a set of specific measures, key performance indicators and outcomes which benefit children, young people and families.

The report indicated that the Leaving Care strand had developed a dedicated action plan which was directly linked to the overall plan.  This was as a result of the grading received in the area, and the need for the service to fully understand the issues, mitigate risk and plan for significant service improvement. It would also help identify and plan for the dependencies with the Innovation programme.

The Sub-Committee received the following update on the monitoring progress:

1.    Children’s Services had a Transformation and Improvement Board, which was responsible for overseeing change initiatives and service improvement. It would also be the governance mechanism where all progress, monitoring and decisions take place for all Ofsted improvement actions. The Director of Children’s Services (DCS) was the Senior Responsible Officer, supported by the Assistant Director for Social Care and other key senior managers within Children’s Services.

2.    Progress against the Ofsted Action Plan would be monitored every month, with a report available describing trends, ongoing activity within the service and the impact the activity was having.

3.    As of June 2017, a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) had been agreed by the Board. Baselines and targets have been agreed, where applicable. A first draft report had been presented to senior officers and feedback had been gathered to ensure the report meets the ongoing needs of the service.

4.    Early measures show considerable improvement in a number of areas, including;

• A reduction in the number of Child in Need plans.
• A reduction in the number of Child Protection Plans.
• An increase in the number of social workers taking up permanent positions.
• An ongoing improvement in the timeliness of interventions in Early Help.
• Improved performance in the MASH
• More direct contact with Care Leavers
• Improved rate of Return Home Interviews completed within 72 hours
• Increase in allocation of independent visitors

It was also stated that as the Service reviews its delivery and strengthens the delivery of social care, the expectation was to achieve improvement across a number of measures. The Service had also taken measures to reshape the structures of delivery services in order to ensure there was capacity and the appropriate roles to deliver sustained improvements.

The Sub-Committee noted the following next steps by the Service:

1.     The delivery of a new business intelligence solution, Power BI from Microsoft, would enable the service to receive data in differing formats and enhance how the Ofsted indicators would be monitored. It would also allow for easier retrieval of reports, resulting in being able to manage areas of risk more closely. The service was proposed to start from August 2017.

2.     The Service would continue to monitor the performance of all Ofsted key indicators, against the Ofsted Acton Plan, managing risk and issue and ensuring all milestones and deliverables were agreed and managed.

3.     To continue to work with the Safeguarding Board and responding to their challenge and ensuring alignment in activity that was shared or had an overlap.

5.    To prepare for the next Ofsted quarterly meeting, expected in autumn 2017.

6.    To begin to plan for the new inspection framework being developed by Ofsted.

In response to an enquiry on the current progress, the Assistant Director of Children’s Services stated that the service was in a better place and position but there was still a significant journey ahead.

The Sub-Committee noted the improvement the Ofsted improvement and monitor progress update report.