Councillors and committees

Issue - meetings

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

Meeting: 18/10/2021 - Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee (Item 31)

31 QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS pdf icon PDF 206 KB

To receive any questions or petitions.

NOTES:

1.    The deadline for Members’ questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (12 October 2021).

 

2.    The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting(11 October 2021).

 

3.    The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

1.    A question had been received from Fiona Davidson.

 

2.    Asking a supplementary question, the Member asked what was now being done differently to accommodate more LAC within Surrey, highlighting that the proportion of looked after children (LAC) placed within the county had been increasing incrementally from a low point of 47.1% in April 2019 to 54.2% in October 2021.

 

3.    The Director – Corporate Parenting explained that the Service had a comprehensive sufficiency strategy and aimed to significantly increase the number of foster placements available within the county, as they wanted the majority of children to live within families, and whilst they had been successful at recruiting more foster carers during the COVID-19 pandemic, many had also left for reasons such as ill-health or retirement. Additionally, there were two frameworks used to commission third-party placements including foster carers, children’s homes and supported accommodation. The Director agreed that the rate of change was slower than she would like and cautioned that it was unlikely that 100 per cent of LAC would be placed within the county as, for some children, the best placement would be outside of Surrey, such as when living with extended family. Eighty per cent of LAC living within the county was described as an ambitious but realistic target. There was a balance to strike between accommodating more LAC in Surrey and moving them at a time which met their care needs.