Agenda item

Purpose of report: Scrutiny of service

To provide a summary of the performance information used to monitor work and progress in Children’s Services, including work with partners.

Witnesses:

Liz Ball, Head of Performance and Support

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

Mary Lewis, Cabinet Associate for Children, Schools and Families
Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing

Declarations of interests:

None

Key points of discussion:

1. Officers outlined that they were presenting the January 2017 version of the performance compendium. It was noted that this edition of the compendium noted a spike in contacts received in comparison to more recent reports. It also suggested that re-referral rates had increased. It was suggested by officers that an audit to investigate the causes of these would be completed in March 2017.
   
   
2. It was noted that, based on figures received after January, Child Protection Conference timelines had seen significant improvement, suggesting a positive improvement trajectory.
   
   
3. It was noted that there was close management scrutiny relating to Child Protection visits and that the service expected to see improvement in this area as a result of this.
   
   
4. Officers noted that there was a workforce profile in place to assess caseloads for social workers. It was explained that these were being examined and reviewed by assessment teams to ensure effective case management.
   
   
5. The Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing stressed that the service provided a monthly dataset which was reviewed by Cabinet Members and officers regularly. It was highlighted that this detailed level of data had not been available to Members and officers previously and that it showed significant improvement in the service’s data gathering skills.
   
   
6. The Board questioned why 82% of assessments were deemed to be requiring improvement. Officers noted that the service was targeting areas of practice that were identified as an issue regularly within audits. It was also noted that there was a workshop hosted to help resolve arising issues. It was noted by the Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing that the service was self-aware of its shortcomings and were working to continuously improve.
   
   
7. Officers highlighted that the workforce strategy and current cohort of students in the social worker academy were almost ready to enter active service, which was highlighted as a positive step towards resolving current workforce vacancies. It was also noted that there had been a freeze on the recruitment of locum social workers.
   
   
8. The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement highlighted that Early Help had a high service spend, but that it provided value for money in the preventative solutions that it offered, particularly highlighting the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), which would offer long term savings.
   
   
9. Members queried the allocation of resources and if there were any difficulties in some quadrants of Surrey, particularly highlighting the South East quadrant. The Cabinet Member for Children and Families Wellbeing noted that the MASH allowed for a central collation of resource that had previously not been present, which was working to resolve these issues, but that this was a relatively new resource which required the service to undergo a culture change to see maximum benefit.
   
   
10. Officers noted that the number of Child and Family assessments completed within the 45 day timescale had decreased in January, but that this still represented a significant improvement from January 2016. It was also stressed that there would likely be improvements upon normal operation of the MASH.

Recommendations:

The Board thanks officers for their report, it commends the depth of information provided in the monthly performance compendium. The Board recommends:

1. That the relevant scrutiny board in the new council is provided with examples of where use of this data has improved practice and outcomes.