Issue - meetings

This report provides an update on the improvement of Surrey's children's services, an overview of our readiness for a full Ofsted ILACS inspection, a summary of the recent Ofsted Monitoring Visit (September 2021) findings/feedback, our response and any impact on our improvement priorities.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children’s, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet reviews the findings from the September 2021 Ofsted Monitoring Visit (focused on services for care leavers) and the updated improvement plan and priorities as set out by children’s services in response to feedback received.

2.    That Cabinet notes the progress made delivering the children’s services ‘Getting to Good’ plan, the improvement priorities resulting from the Ofsted Focused Visit in March 2021 and the services’ preparedness for a full Ofsted ILACS inspection.

3.    That Cabinet agrees to receive a further update on the progress made delivering the children’s services ‘Getting to Good’ plan and the overall inspection readiness in Spring 2022 (unless such an inspection has already taken place).  

Reasons for Decisions:

Children’s services improvement is a high priority for the Council. It is important that Cabinet is aware of the evidence of progress made to improve services so far, as determined by both internal and external scrutiny and of the ongoing, ambitious and innovative improvement plan which is driven by a focus on improving outcomes for children and families and goes well beyond resolving only the issues highlighted by Ofsted, the Department for Education (DfE) and the Commissioner.

The routine national inspection activity resumed in May 2021 and Ofsted are continuing to carry out the ‘Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services’ (ILACS) programme. Although the timetable for inspection is not notified in advance, we are anticipating a full re-inspection of Surrey's children's services between Spring and Summer 2022.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)

The report was introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families who explained the detailed work undertaken by children’s services including the feedback from the last Ofsted monitoring visit. The report also detailed the work that the service was doing to address the response for children who were experiencing neglect in their families and the work being done to strengthen the practice in our children with disabilities teams. The report also touches the recruitment and retention of social care staff. Members commented that it was clear that real and tangible progress was being made as stated in the letter from Ofsted. The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning stated that children services had been reviewed and evaluated by peer review and peer challenge and partners had fed back that they can see and feel the strength of practice. The family safeguarding model has been recognised and commended.

RESOLVED:

1.    That Cabinet reviews the findings from the September 2021 Ofsted Monitoring Visit (focused on services for care leavers) and the updated improvement plan and priorities as set out by children’s services in response to feedback received.

2.    That Cabinet notes the progress made delivering the children’s services ‘Getting to Good’ plan, the improvement priorities resulting from the Ofsted Focused Visit in March 2021 and the services’ preparedness for a full Ofsted ILACS inspection.

3.    That Cabinet agrees to receive a further update on the progress made delivering the children’s services ‘Getting to Good’ plan and the overall inspection readiness in Spring 2022 (unless such an inspection has already taken place).  

Reasons for Decisions:

Children’s services improvement is a high priority for the Council. It is important that Cabinet is aware of the evidence of progress made to improve services so far, as determined by both internal and external scrutiny and of the ongoing, ambitious and innovative improvement plan which is driven by a focus on improving outcomes for children and families and goes well beyond resolving only the issues highlighted by Ofsted, the Department for Education (DfE) and the Commissioner.

The routine national inspection activity resumed in May 2021 and Ofsted are continuing to carry out the ‘Inspecting Local Authority Children’s Services’ (ILACS) programme. Although the timetable for inspection is not notified in advance, we are anticipating a full re-inspection of Surrey's children's services between Spring and Summer 2022.

(The decisions on this item can be called-in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee)