Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member of the Month update be noted.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families introduced her update report. The following key points were made:

• Transformation Assurance Board- As part of her commitment to continue to embed change in Children’s Social Care, the Cabinet Member had taken on chairmanship of the Children’s Social Care Transformation and Assurance Board. The Board provides oversight of transformation activity in children’s social care. The Board is supported by external independent members and had cross party member representation.
• Family Safeguarding Model- the directorate had recently launched a ‘Phase 2’ implementation of the Family Safeguarding model in children’s social care and had been successful in securing funding from the Department for Education that enables them to work in partnership with the Centre for Family  Safeguarding from November 2022 to March 2023.
• Building Belonging Programme- The Building Belonging Programme would provide a multi-agency approach to preventing children and young people with complex needs entering the criminal justice system. The partnership had been successful in a bid for funding from NHS England to implement a pilot in one district in Surrey.
• Foster carer remuneration- Recruiting and retaining in-house foster carers was  key to the

sufficiency strategy of providing Surrey homes for Surrey children. Currently 51% of children in foster care, excluding those living with Council foster carers from their own kinship network, are placed with Independent Fostering Agency carers. Investment totalling £2.7m had been  approved to bring fostering allowances and skills payments more in line with competitors and to reward and incentivise areas of fostering that are more complex or difficult to recruit to.

• Staff were thanked for their hard work during the three week joint targeted inspection. Findings and recommendations would be made available in due course.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet Member of the Month update be noted.