Agenda, decisions and minutes

Councillor Andy Dunbobbin declared a personal interest in the following agenda items because he was a Kinship Carer:-

Agenda item 4 – CSSIW Safeguarding and Care Planning Looked After Children Progress Report to include update on the demands of Children’s Services

and

Agenda item 5 – Fostering Services Inspection Report

Councillor Andy Dunbobbin declared a personal interest in the following agenda items because he was a Kinship Carer:-

Agenda item 4 – CSSIW Safeguarding and Care Planning Looked After Children Progress Report to include update on the demands of Children’s Services

and

Agenda item 5 – Fostering Services Inspection Report

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the Joint meeting of Education & Youth Overview & Scrutiny and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 4^th June 2015 and the meeting of this Committee held on 18^th June 2015.

            That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

The minutes of the meeting of the Joint meeting of Education & Youth Overview & Scrutiny and Social & Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee held on 4^th June 2015 and the meeting of this Committee held on 18^th June 2015 had been circulated to Members with the agenda.

            RESOLVED:

            That the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. 

(a)       That the details of the report and the developments that had taken place and were underway in relation to the discharge of the Local Authority’s duties in respect of safeguarding and promoting positive outcomes for looked after children be acknowledged; and      

(b)       That an update report be provided to a future meeting of the Committee on improvements to the service that were being considered.                  

The Senior Manager: Commissioning and Performance introduced a report to provide Members with a progress update on the implementation of the key findings after the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) Safeguarding and Care Planning of Looked After Children.  The report also provided an update on the demands on Children’s Services and how these were being managed. 

                        The Senior Manager advised that he was presenting the report on behalf of the Senior Manager Children’s Lead as she was unable to attend this meeting.  He detailed the background to the report and explained that CSSIW had undertaken a national thematic inspection that focussed on Safeguarding and Care Planning of looked after children and care leavers, who exhibited vulnerable or risky behaviours.  All 22 Welsh local authorities had been inspected with the findings of each of these inspections captured in a national overview report.  The final conclusions of the inspection were set out in the report in the form of a number of questions asked about practice and processes within the local authority.  The report provided an overview of the key developments the service had taken in response to those key questions. 

            Question 1 – Did the authority effectively discharge its corporate parenting roles and responsibilities promoting the stability, welfare and safety of looked after children and care leavers? 

                        The Senior Manager explained that a number of key activities had been undertaken by the authority, which were detailed in the report and included Bi-monthly Children’s Services Forum, annual Climbie visits, regular scrutiny reports and the Annual Pride of Flintshire event.  On the role of a dedicated Participation Officer, he said that the service was proud to have been able to retain the role and recruit Gwenan Roberts to the post.  The Senior Manager spoke of the work that had been undertaken and the relationship that the Participation Officer had built up with the looked after children (LAC) and care leavers.  He also spoke of the comments made by the Children’s Commissioner following her visit to the Pride of Flintshire awards about how impressed she was that the children and young people had led the day. 

                        The performance in relation to promoting outcomes for looked after children and care leavers had been positive throughout 2014/15 with a notable improvement in respect of educational outcomes.  The Senior Manager felt that some areas could still be improved and added that a dedicated LAC nurse had now been appointed which would assist in improving the timeliness of health assessments.  He commented on the issue of placement instability which had increased slightly in 2014/15 and explained that this was an area where further work was needed.  The Resources Service Manager advised that a number of key learning outcomes had been identified and processes had been put in place which included working more closely with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) colleagues and also officers being more proactive. 

                        The Senior Manager spoke of the need to strengthen the links with the early intervention service and advised  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

            That the continuation of effective progress made by the Fostering Service in supporting foster carers and looked after children effectively be endorsed.  

The Senior Manager Commissioning introduced a report to consider the Care and Social Services Inspection (2015) of the Flintshire Fostering Services and subsequent action plan (updated as of July 2015). 

The Resources Service Manager explained that the purpose of the inspection was to ensure that the service was fit for purpose and that the Council was meeting the statutory regulations.  The inspection team had identified a number of positive areas which were detailed in the report but there was also one area of non-compliance in which independent members of the Fostering Panel were employees of the Council.  This had now been addressed with the appointment of two new members not employed by the Local Authority. 

The Cabinet Member for Social Services indicated that the Fostering Team had won two accolades and there had been an increase in the uptake of foster carers.  Events had been held to promote foster caring and the service was performing well. 

In response to a question, the Resources Service Manager advised that Flintshire currently had 113 foster carers.          

            RESOLVED:

            That the continuation of effective progress made by the Fostering Service in supporting foster carers and looked after children effectively be endorsed.  

            That the updates be received. 

In response to a question from the Chair, Members indicated that no rota visits had taken place. 

                        The Contract Team Manager advised that during the previous six months, only 7 out of 20 rota visits had been undertaken and indicated that she had details with her of the outstanding visits.  For the newer Members on the Committee, she explained the purpose of rota visits and the type of facilities that Members would be required to visit and stated that rota visits were to be extended to independent sector homes.  She added that training could also be undertaken for Members who had not previously been on rota visits.  The Contract Team Manager sought clarification from the Committee of whether they would prefer to undertake rota visits within their ward. 

                        The Chair suggested that a list of outstanding rota visits could be provided for Members at each Social and Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting to allow the outstanding visits to be allocated to Members. 

                        Councillor Dave Mackie asked if an email could be sent to him as a reminder if he had not responded to an allocation of a rota visit within two weeks. 

                        The Contract Team Manager spoke of a one page profile for each Member that would be undertaking rota visits which could be sent to the facility in advance of the visit so that the operators would know who to expect.  She suggested that preparation of the profile could be undertaken in smaller groups which she was happy to arrange following this meeting.  The Cabinet Member spoke of the importance of having the profile in place and suggested that the Members who had already prepared their profile should promote its importance to other Committee Members.  The Social and Health Care Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator suggested that copies of the form be made available to the Committee following this meeting to allow them to complete it and return it to the Contract Team Manager. 

                        On the issue of the Forward Work Programme, the Facilitator advised that a planning session had been held the previous day.  She had met with the Chief Officer (Social Services) and had populated the Forward Work Programme which she had shared with the Chair.  A copy would be circulated to the Committee Members and the Facilitator asked Members to advise her if they had any suggestions for additional items.  She detailed the reports that were to be considered in the meeting scheduled for 22^nd September 2015 which would include a report on the ‘Review of Adoption Services following implementation’.  In response to a query from Councillor Mackie about whether the report would contain the new organisational structure, the Resources Service Manager provided details of what the report and appendices would consist of.                            

            RESOLVED:

            That the updates be received. 

                        There were no members of the public or press in attendance.