Agenda item

Report attached.

The Sub-Committee received a report and presentation that updated on the Quarter One 2021/22 (April to June 2021) performance information.

The report provided an overview of the services performance against the 13 performance indicators that have been selected for monitoring by the Sub-Committee.

It was noted that 7 of the indicators have been given a Red Amber Green status; RAG status. Five (72%) have a status of Green, One (14%) had a status of Amber and one (14%) had a status of Red.

The presentation highlighted the following areas of strong performance.

The report indicated that in the academic year 2019/20, 9 school inspections were undertaken of Havering schools between September 2019 and March 2020, pre the COVID-19. It was stated that the seven primary schools that were inspected retained their 'Good' outcomes and the two secondary academies inspected improved from ‘Requires improvement’ to ‘Good’. This also resulted in an overall percentage of providers judged to be Good or Outstanding by OFSTED increasing by 2 percentage points, which was 5.2 percentage points above the national figure.

The Sub-Committee noted that the rate of both fixed term and permanent exclusions in Havering have remained below the rates for England as a whole in both primary and secondary based on the latest available published data.

It was explained that as a result of the Inclusions Service working very closely with Havering head teachers, and the new roll out of the Inclusions policy, there have been no permanent exclusions The Sub-committee was informed that the Inclusions policy has been designed with an extra measures put in place to support schools to find alternatives to fixed term and permanent exclusions.

The percentage of looked after children with 2 or more changes of social worker in the last 12 months was noted as within target as at the end of the quarter. The Sub-Committee was informed that since the start of the pandemic, Havering has seen an increased turnover of social work staff, which particularly impacted on social worker changes for looked after children during the fourth quarter of 2020/21.

It was stated that there are still a number of vacant posts in the long term teams and staff recruitment and retention remains a high priority for the service in 2021/22. It Actions that have been taken to date include a review of pay rates to ensure Havering remains competitive; faster turnaround times for interviews when locum CVs come in (due to the increasingly competitive market); further expansion of the ‘grown your own’ ASYE programme; and working with colleagues in Communications to explore how ‘Choose Havering’ could be used as an external branding for recruitment purposes.

The service has also launched a robust permanent recruitment campaign and over the longer term, there are plans to look more broadly at pay, terms and conditions and career progression for the social work workforce to ensure that Havering is presented as an employer of choice for the profession.

The following areas that required improvementwas outlined:

It was explained that the percentage of looked after children aged under 16 who have been looked after continuously for at least 2.5 years and living in the same placement for at least 2 years remained relatively stable throughout 2020/21 but was lower than in previous years and remains below the London average (currently 67%).

It was stated that an improvement during the first quarter of 2021/22 was currently within the accepted tolerance level. A number of initiatives have been implemented over the last year with the aim of improving placement stability for looked after children.

A weekly high concern discussion also takes place within ISS, with similar aims but discussing the most complex cases and how to best support these children and their carers. 

The percentage of looked after children who ceased to be looked after as a result of permanency (Adoption and Special Guardianship Order) was noted as below target at the end of the first quarter.

It was explained that the primary cause of delay in adoption orders throughout the Covid-19 pandemic has been delays in court processes and Adopt London East (ALE) continues to work with courts to progress and chase Adoption Order hearings. The number of children with a placement order for adoption has traditionally been small in Havering but increased from two in 2019/20, to seven in 2020/21.

It was noted that timescales for conversion from placement order to adoption vary according to complexity, so the impact of this upturn in adoption orders may not be felt until later in 2021/22 or into 2022/23.

It was stated that the number of cases within the court service reduced during Covid pandemic however the Special Guardianship Order team continued to work with private and public law cases to support permanency within the family.

Officer were asked to provide future performance update that had been benchmarked with the statistical neighbours and also with the Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It was also felt that the report required to elaborate further on financial pressures that the service was facing.

In response to the school performance and improvement, the Sub-Committee was informed that all trajectory indicated that Havering schools were all performing above the national average.

The Sub-Committee asked for the Inclusion Policy that was recently reviewed to be presented at a future meeting.

A Member sought numbers of cases going through the court and suggested that the Cabinet Member for Children Services be urged to pressure the courts to extend seating and resolve the back log of adoption cases.

It was suggested to officers that the service lobby government for additional funding to cover the current financial pressures.

The Sub-Committee noted the contents of the report and presentation