Agenda item

Purpose of report: Scrutiny of Services

To provide the Scrutiny Board with an overview of the findings of the Ofsted report and the timelines for the improvement plans.

Declarations of interest:

None

Witnesses:

Caroline Budden, Deputy Director for Children, Schools and Families.

Julie Fisher, Interim Strategic Director for Children, Schools and Families

Peter Martin, Deputy Leader of the Council

Linda Kemeny, Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement

Key points raised during the discussions:

The presentation that was delivered on this item is submitted as Annex 4 to these minutes.

The Deputy Director for Children, Schools and Families provided the Board with an introduction to the report, highlighting that the Council had volunteered to take part in a multi-agency inspection being piloted by Ofsted. The Board was advised that in April 2014 Children’s Services had amended its delivery model in relation to Children In Need, in response to consultation with service users and partners. This change had been intended to provide greater support around early help. The Board was informed that when the Ofsted inspection began there remained some discrepancies in the extent to which the new delivery model had been rolled out across Children’s Services. This proved to be significant in the inspectors’ assessment of the service. It was stressed that the service was redesigned in order to improve children’s journeys through Children’s Services in order to provide the best possible protection for children at risk in Surrey.

The Deputy Leader of the Council provided more details on specific concerns detailed in Ofsted’s report. Both the Referral, Assessment and Intervention Service (RAIS) and the stepping down process were criticised, and it was felt they did not provide children with the level of protection and support that Ofsted would expect. Inspectors also felt that the Council and its partners should have a more robust approach to combating Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) although the Deputy Leader highlighted that responding to CSE was a challenge for local authorities across the country. The Deputy Leader informed the Board that he was chairing a cross-party Improvement Board which was responding to issues highlighted in the Ofsted report. The Improvement Board would also closely scrutinise the improvement plan ahead of its submission to the Department for Education (DfE).

The Interim Strategic Director of Children, Schools and Families advised the Board of concerns regarding the inspection process was conducted and informed Members that the Council had made a formal complaint to Ofsted. This complaint was not upheld. The Board was informed that the Surrey Safeguarding Children Board (SSCB) also lodged a complaint about the manner in which they were inspected and this had resulted in the Ofsted’s report on SSCB being set aside.  Officers highlighted that Children’s Services did recognise that there were key areas where improvements needed to be made and that work had already begun to address the concerns raised in the report.

·         Further detail was requested on the time frame for implementing the changes required to improve Children’s Services. Officers indicated that the improvement plan would include a detailed timeline for the steps required to address Ofsted’s findings. In many cases, plans had already been implemented to tackle specific concerns raised by the inspectors. For example, monitoring and tracking systems for social work teams had already been introduced. A process had also been developed to ensure an independent person was available to interview any Looked After child that went missing once they returned to ensure that there was an understanding of the reasons they went missing.

·         The Board was informed that an Independent Principal Social Worker has also been appointed to ensure there is someone in the Service who could robustly challenge decisions made by the Senior Management Team. It was advised that delivering sustained improvements in the Service would require changes that would take longer to implement, such as improving recruitment and retention in order to attract high quality social workers and incentivise them to stay at Surrey County Council.

·         The Board drew attention to previous Ofsted inspections of Children’s Services and questioned why lessons had not been learnt from the results of past Ofsted reports. The Deputy Leader advised the Board that local authorities across the country were working to meet new challenges, such as CSE which has increased the pressure on Children’s Services, particularly in relation to its safeguarding obligations. The Board was further informed that there Ofsted had increasing expectations on what they expected local authorities should be able to deliver.

·         Members inquired about an additional £2 million that had been allocated to support Children In Need, and asked whether this was new money allocated to the Service or if it had been moved from another part of the Directorate. The Deputy Leader confirmed that the £2 million was entirely new money that had been allocated to Children’s Services.

·         Clarification was sought on whether Children’s Services has received an increased number of referrals as a result of CSE. The Deputy Director for Children, Schools and Families confirmed that the number of cases handled by Children’s Services had increased as a result of CSE and that a response has been developed by the Council in accordance Ofsted guidance. It was also advised that distinctions between the strategic and operational response to CSE had been made clearer within the Service to ensure that the accountability for protecting children was placed at the appropriate level.

·         The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement explained that safeguarding children against CSE was a responsibility shared by partners across the county. An event was organised by SSCB which brought together representatives from partner agencies and explored how best to protect children in Surrey from CSE. Attention was being paid to educating younger children about the dangers of CSE, this included a new play entitled ‘In the Net’ which is aimed at primary school children. It was stressed that CSE was something which could happen in Surrey and that steps needed to be taken to ensure that children were proactively protected from harm.

·         Further information was requested on the nature of the complaint made by Children’s Services to Ofsted about the inspection. The Deputy Leader reiterated that the inspection was a pilot and that there had been issues around the process used by inspectors to assess service delivery and performance. The Board was informed that the multi-agency framework used in the inspection had been withdrawn. The Council and its partners had raised concerns about how the inspection process could sometimes be detrimental to the work local authorities were trying to do.

·         The Board expressed the view that schools did not feel sufficiently supported by Children’s Services in fulfilling their safeguarding duties. In particular, staff shortages were felt to have resulted in a lack of continuity in relationships with social workers. Officers commented that there was a need to develop an effective partnership approach so that agencies and partners across the county, including schools, were engaged in safeguarding children. It was acknowledged that the caseload assigned to each social worker required careful management and that a shortage of staff had led to caseloads being high for individual social workers. The Board was informed that a recruitment and retention strategy had been devised in order to address the difficulties in recruiting social workers. Officers advised that recruiting social workers would always present problems for the Council by virtue of where the county is located. It was highlighted that prioritisation was paramount for social workers to ensure that they concentrated on supporting those most at risk.

·         The Board suggested that a monitoring report could be circulated to provide Members with insight into how the improvement plan is progressing.

·         The Board requested more detail on how the social work academy operated by Children’s Services had improved training for social workers. Officers advised that the academy offered enhanced training for ten newly qualified social workers annually in order to provide them with well-rounded experience. Plans were being developed to open a second academy on the other side of the county to increase output.

Recommendations:

The Board thanks the Improvement Board for is work to date, and recommends:

1.    That the Ofsted formal action plan, with timelines, is shared with the Board following its agreement with the Department for Education, and a further update on progress is brought to the 30 October 2015 meeting.

2.    That the strategy on recruitment and retention of social workers is shared with the Board at a future meeting.

3.    That a joint session is organised with the Education and Skills Board to explore the multi-agency approach to safeguarding in schools and other education provisions.

Actions/ further information to be provided:

None

Board next steps:

None

The Board broke for lunch at 12.30pm. The Board resumed at 1.15pm.