Agendas, Meetings and Minutes - Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: County Hall, Worcester

Contact: Alyson Grice (01905 844962)/Samantha Morris (01905 844963)  Overview & Scrutiny Officers

Items
No. Item

262.

Apologies and Welcome

Minutes:

No apologies were received.

263.

Declaration of Interest and of any Party Whip

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families declared an interest in that a member of his family worked for Children's Services.

264.

Public Participation

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Head of Legal and Democratic Services in writing or by e-mail indicating the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 26 January).  Enquiries can be made through the telephone number/e-mail address below.

 

Minutes:

None.

265.

Confirmation of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting

(previously circulated)

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 22 November 2016 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

 

266.

Ofsted Inspection Feedback

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Children and Families, the Director of Children, Families and Communities, the Assistant Director (Safeguarding Services) and the Head of Strategic Infrastructure and Financial Recovery attended the meeting to feed back to the Panel on the findings of the recent Ofsted Inspection.

 

By way of introduction, the Director of Children, Families and Communities made a presentation to Members which included the following main points:

 

·       The Local Authority had last been inspected by Ofsted in 2010 under a very different inspection regime.  In 2015 an LGA Peer Review, led by Gloucestershire County Council's Director of Children's Services, had been undertaken as a result of concerns identified following self-assessment.  Following the Peer Review a Service Improvement Board had been set up and an improvement plan developed.

·       Since then, there had been significant financial investment in Children's Services – £11 million predominantly in placements – to provide sufficient resources for looked after children.  A major challenge had been recruitment and retention of staff at all levels which had had a negative impact on the pace of change.

·       The unannounced inspection had lasted for 4 weeks.  On the positive side, the inspectors had seen some very early signs of improvement.

·       It was noted that a number of the report's recommendations were not the sole responsibility of the County Council.  Some would involve working with partners in health and the police to ensure a whole Worcestershire system response.

·       The new improvement plan was a development of the back to basics plan which had previously been considered by the Scrutiny Panel.  The plan should be seen as evolution rather than revolution and took a whole system approach to service development.  It was informed by the Ofsted inspection and linked to the Corporate Plan and strategies developed by partners.

·       The 8 point plan represented a very large programme of work.  Each of the 8 outcome areas had 10-13 individual pieces of project work behind them.  The detailed plan covered more than the 14 Ofsted recommendations.

·       The responsibility for improvement went beyond Children's Social Care and beyond the Directorate of Children, Families and Communities.  Responsibility lay with the whole organisation and partnership working would be critical.

·       At a recent meeting with the Director, a senior inspector had indicated that he was impressed with the improvement plan and, in his experience, the County Council was further ahead than many local authorities were at this stage.  A good start had been made.

·       The Local Authority had 70 days to submit its improvement plan which gave a deadline of 3 May.  However, on 22 February the Improvement Board would be asked to sign off the plan to be sent to Ofsted.  Feedback so far on the work in progress had been positive.

 

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions.  The following main points were made:

 

·       It was suggested that the Cabinet Members and Officers present at the meeting were not those who had presided over the deterioration of the service.  The service had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 266.