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:
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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.
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It was noted that, based on figures received after
January, Child Protection Conference timelines had seen significant
improvement, suggesting a positive improvement
trajectory.
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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.
-
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.
-
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.
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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.
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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.
-
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.
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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.
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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:
-
That the relevant scrutiny board in the new council
is provided with examples of where use of this data has improved
practice and outcomes.