Agenda item

Report of the Head of Children’s Social Care (Deputy Chief Officer) on the recent Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Services (CS/20/06), attached.

(Councillors Biederman, Connett, Dewhirst and Hannaford attended remotely in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and the Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority and Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Head of Children’s Social Care (Deputy Chief Officer) on the recent Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Services (CS/20/06), circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Report highlighted that Ofsted had inspected Children’s Services in January 2020, the full Report being available to view here. The Inspectors concluded that Children’s Social Care Services in Devon were inadequate having identified ‘serious failures’. This related to a small minority of care leavers living in unacceptable accommodation and the fact the Chief Officers and Cabinet Members were unaware of this situation, which meant a rating of ‘inadequate’.

Also highlighted was that some children who had suffered chronic neglect and emotional abuse were being left with families for too long (most evident in court (pre-proceedings). Findings in this area related to ‘getting to good’.

Inspectors also identified eight areas of practice that needed to improve including services to care leavers, quality of social work practice to assess, support and protect children who experienced neglect and the effective use of pre-proceedings, effectiveness of child protection conference chairs in responding to escalating risks, consideration of child protection medicals when children disclosed physical abuse or presented with injuries, permanence planning, quality and timeliness of life story work and the assessment of children looked after placed with parents and strategic oversight.

Inspectors also identified a number of areas of strength, for example early help for families, addressing exploitation and strong partnerships with key agencies, the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), the Adolescent Safety Framework, Return Home Interviews, the response to young people who presented as homeless, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO), private fostering, elective home education and arrangements to track children missing from education, visits to children in care, the work of the Virtual School and support for foster carers and for adopters.

The publication of the inspection report coincided with the announcement of new Government restrictions in response to the CV19 pandemic, impacting on the usual response mechanisms.

The Council had therefore published an improvement plan which could be viewed on the website and the Children and Families Partnership Executive would act as a temporary Improvement Board, overseeing the partnership response to CV19 and providing check and challenge of the Improvement Plan. An independent expert had also been secured to provide consultancy to the Council’s Chief Officer (approved by the DfE).

Furthermore, the Council had appointed a temporary Improvement Director and Improvement Lead to work alongside the Deputy Chief Officer.

The Report then highlighted the input of the Children’s Standing Overview Group to

scrutinise the Council’s response to the inspection report and examine the Improvement Plan.

There were additional resources required to support the Improvement Plan such as;

·         increased capacity for data quality, information and assurance teams;

·         increased capacity for corporate parenting and participation teams; and

·         increased senior leadership capacity to drive improvement

The budget requirement was estimated to be £2.2 millions in 2020/21, of which just

under £1.1 millions was recurrent and £1.1 millions a one off spend. For 2021/22 the

requirement was anticipated to be just over £1.6 millions, of which £1 million was recurrent and £618,000 a one off. Appendix A detailed the additional requirements and costings.

The Cabinet noted however that due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment to some posts might be delayed, but where possible, staff with relevant skills sets may be redeployed to bridge some of the gaps.

The Report outlined the Statutory Implications, under the Education Act 1996, and that

a draft Statutory Direction had been issued which set out that a Commissioner would be appointed. However, this appointment had been postponed until later in the year. The Statutory Direction would remain in force until revoked by the Secretary of State.

The matter having been debated and the options and/or alternatives and other relevant factors (e.g. financial, sustainability (including carbon impact), risk management, equality and legal considerations and Public Health impact) set out in the Head of Service’s Report and/or referred to above having been considered:

it was MOVED by Councillor McInnes, SECONDED by Councillor Hart, and

RESOLVED

(a) that the total investment of £2.2 millions in 2020/21 and £1.6 millions in 2021/22 (30 full time equivalent (FTE) staff), be approved;

(b) that of the total investment, 21.2 full time equivalent (FTE) employees at an ongoing cost of just under £1.1 millions in 2020/21, reducing to £1 million from 2021/22 onwards also be approved;

(c) that a one-off investment for 8.8 full time equivalent employees for a short-term period at a cost of just over £1.1 millions in the 2020/21 and £618,000 in 2021/22 be endorsed; and

(d) that Cabinet note, that due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, recruitment to some posts is likely to be delayed and therefore the profiling of costs across financial years could be subject to change.