Agenda item

The service embarked upon a comprehensive transformation programme with a major restructure of children’s services completing last year to support the shift to a model based on early support and prevention. An update is provided here on the continued improvement of Surrey’s children’s services.  The COVID-19 pandemic has affected work across the service. This report provides further information on the impact of the pandemic on the improvement programme and priorities.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & CultureSelect Committee]

RESOLVED:

1. That the revised priorities and directorate plan for the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture directorate be agreed.

2. That the overall findings and feedback from the recent quality assurance activity included in this report and the impact on frontline children’s services resulting from delivery of the Children’s Improvement Plan be noted.

3.    That a further report to come to the September 2020 meeting was agreed – to include an update on the children’s improvement programme and the next steps for the re-inspection of Surrey’s children’s services by Ofsted.

Reason for decision:

It is not yet known when the next Ofsted Monitoring Visit or full re-inspection will take place following cancellation of the 7 & 8 April 2020 visit. The ‘Annual Conversation’ with Ofsted is scheduled for 11 June 2020 when we expect to have further clarity on how the inspection programme will proceed.

The revised directorate plan has been updated to reflect the evolving situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. While significant effort and resources are working to manage and mitigate the impact of the pandemic, we are committed to delivering the vital improvement priorities also included in the directorate plan. 

As outlined in the main section of the report, the improvement programme is progressing well with Surrey’s children’s services successfully delivering the actions from the improvement plan to address Ofsted recommendations from the 2018 full inspection. There are comprehensive scrutiny arrangements already in place for 2020 with involvement from Surrey County Council (SCC) officers, Members, partner agencies, the Department for Education (DfE) and other key stakeholders.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & CultureSelect Committee]

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families gave a detailed precis of the submitted report and highlighted that since last reporting to Cabinet at the 28 January 2020 meeting, the fifth scheduled Ofsted Monitoring Visit had been cancelled as all Ofsted inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The improvement programme was continuing to be delivered at pace despite the impact from the pandemic and shift of resources to support frontline services.

The submitted report provided further information on the impact of the pandemic on the improvement programme and the priorities for the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture (CFLLC) directorate. The directorate plan had been revised this month and further detail was included in the report.

The Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning stated that it was a strong report detailing the improvements made and the planned activities, highlighting the 1000 day programme, our graduated response model and early help and support services enabling children to live, learn and grow up locally and achieve their full potential, due to the right support being available in education settings.

In response to a question put by a Deputy Cabinet Member regarding improving handovers the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families explained that there were still some inadequate cases identified where handovers were not good between social workers and team managers.  She explained the ongoing improvements in management oversight and stated that supervision levels were up.  Vacancy levels were reduced  which would help to eliminate inadequate practices and there was a robust induction programme in place.

RESOLVED:

1. That the revised priorities and directorate plan for the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture directorate be agreed.

2. That the overall findings and feedback from the recent quality assurance activity included in this report and the impact on frontline children’s services resulting from delivery of the Children’s Improvement Plan be noted.

3.    That a further report to come to the September 2020 meeting was agreed – to include an update on the children’s improvement programme and the next steps for the re-inspection of Surrey’s children’s services by Ofsted.

Reason for decision:

It is not yet known when the next Ofsted Monitoring Visit or full re-inspection will take place following cancellation of the 7 & 8 April 2020 visit.

The revised directorate plan has been updated to reflect the evolving situation with the COVID-19 pandemic. While significant effort and resources are working to manage and mitigate the impact of the pandemic, we are committed to delivering the vital improvement priorities also included in the directorate plan. 

As outlined in the main section of the report, the improvement programme is progressing well with Surrey’s children’s services successfully delivering the actions from the improvement plan to address Ofsted recommendations from the 2018 full inspection. There are comprehensive scrutiny arrangements already in place for 2020 with involvement from Surrey County Council (SCC) officers, Members, partner agencies, the Department for Education (DfE) and other key stakeholders.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & CultureSelect Committee]