Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors David Chambers, Jo Monk and David Ross, Mr Tim Reid (Church Representative) and Tina Russell, Chief Executive of Worcestershire Children First (WCF).  The Chairman expressed his disappointment that the Chief Executive of WCF had given apologies and the Director of Child Protection and Through Care wasn’t in attendance.

Fostering Fortnight

The Chairman welcomed the Recruitment and Retention Team Lead - Fostering and Kinship and the Registered Manager for Fostering, who advised the Panel of the numerous events taking place as part of Fostering Fortnight in Worcestershire to promote fostering across the region and build networks. They showed a short video ‘ Out there’ which highlighted the significant impact that foster carers can have on a young person’s life, and the personal fulfilment that foster carers can gain from the role. The Chairman thanked the team and encouraged Members to attend and support the open morning taking place on 21 May.

Cllr Tracey Onslow declared an interest in Agenda Item 5 (Get Safe and Get There) as she was the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner. Cllr Kyle Daisley declared an interest in the same item as he was a Special Constable in the Warwickshire Constabulary.

Members of the public wishing to take part should notify the Assistant Director for Legal and Governance in writing or by e-mail indicating both the nature and content of their proposed participation no later than 9.00am on the working day before the meeting (in this case 9 May 2022).  Further details are available on the Council's website.  Enquiries can also be made through the telephone number/e-mail address listed in this agenda and on the website.

There was one public participant, Katrina Kear-Wood. Ms Kear-Wood asked questions relating to Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report and the Refresh of the Overview and Scrutiny Work Programme.

The Chairman thanked Ms Kear-Wood for her questions and advised that she would receive a written response.

(previously circulated)

The Chairman raised an issue in connection with the Minutes of the 23 February 2022 meeting. After the minutes of this meeting had been agreed by Members of the Panel and signed as a correct record by the Chairman at its meeting on 10 March 2022, Dr Nokes (who had submitted public participation at the 23 February meeting) requested an amendment to the Minutes relating to her submission. The request was reviewed by the Deputy Monitoring Officer, and although it was not usual practice, it was agreed on this occasion that an amendment (to add the word lawful) could be made to the following sentence:

‘She outlined her experiences over the last 4 years in which she had been forced to go to mediation twice to secure a lawful EHCP for her son…’

The Panel discussed this matter, and on being put to a vote it was agreed that the minutes of the 23 February 2022 Panel meeting should stand as previously agreed, and that the word ‘lawful’ should not be added.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 10 March 2022 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility (CMR) for Children and Families, the Director of Early Help, Children in Need and Family Front Door (the Director) and partnership representatives had been invited to update the Panel on developments relating to GET SAFE and GET THERE for 2021-22. 

GET SAFE was Worcestershire’s multi-agency partnership and collaborative approach to tackling criminal exploitation of children and young people.  In December 2021 this approach had been strengthened with the launch of the GET THERE initiative which supported 18–25-year-old care leavers and young adults with challenges faced in the transition to adulthood, recognising risks and vulnerabilities and building safety.

The CMR stressed the importance of the whole Council’s support for this partnership initiative. The Director introduced Det Sgt Steve Wiggins from the West Mercia Police, the Group Manager for Get Safe and a Get Safe Link Worker from WCF.  She also passed on the apologies of Supt Rebecca Love, who had been planning to attend.

The GET SAFE Group Manager highlighted the different statutory and voluntary agencies which were involved in the Partnership. A Strategic Partnership group met quarterly and focused on ensuring the strategic response was on track and the annual action plan was driving forward the delivery of the Strategy, addressing any issues that arose. There was also an Operational group who delivered actions and progress against the GET SAFE action plan. The Operational group, based in WCF, was made up of a team of practitioners and they worked directly with young people where criminal exploitation had been identified.

The Group Manager explained the benefits of the ‘contextual safeguarding’ approach and the GET SAFE risk assessment which was available for use by all practitioners. The importance of working within the community to raise awareness of criminal exploitation was also highlighted, and for instance, during the recent location of the Knife Angel in Worcester City Centre, the GET SAFE team had been proactively involved.

The Panel was informed of the format and purpose of the weekly multi-agency GET SAFE meetings, with a focus on reviewing the risk assessment forms completed by professionals and then agreeing an appropriate response pathway. The importance of identifying and recognising vulnerabilities and then sharing that information across all partners was crucial to ensure that a co-ordinated approach across all agencies could be undertaken. In Autumn 2021, the implementation of the West Mercia Police knife crime prevention and awareness programme, ‘Steer Clear’ was also incorporated into these meetings.

The GET SAFE Link worker then provided details of two recent case studies which herself and one of her colleagues had been involved with. She explained the process of how she receives a new referral from the weekly GET SAFE meeting and then what her role involved, including regular contact meetings and interventions with the CYP as a trusted adult, exploring options available to the CYP and completion of an intervention plan. The Director advised that the trusted adult role was important as it gave the Link Worker the flexibility to respond to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 531.

The Independent Chairman of the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) had been invited to present the WSCP Annual Report for 2020-21.

The Independent Chairman advised that this was the second annual report of the WSCP since it replaced the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Board in September 2019. This report covered the period October 2020 to September 2021. He reminded the Panel that there were three statutory safeguarding partners in a local authority area, these being the Chief Executive of Worcestershire County Council, the Accountable Officer of Hereford and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning and the Chief Constable of West Mercia Police who have to ensure arrangements were in place to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in their area. In Worcestershire the WSCP has the role of supporting the three partners to fulfil that responsibility. The three partners were required to publish a report at least once in every 12-month period to set out their progress including specific feedback such as evidence of the impact of work carried out and analysis of where further progress was still needed. There was also a statutory obligation to share the report with the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.

The Independent Chairman advised the Panel that he chaired the WSCP’s Executive group which was the strategic decision-making body which met regularly to ensure that agencies were working well together and contributing effectively. A key role was for the group to identify emerging issues and problems and respond to them promptly. The Executive group was made up of representatives of the three statutory safeguarding partners and chairs of the support groups. The Executive was supported by four support groups as follows:

·       Get Safe Partnership group which focused on how partners could contribute to joint working. The Group had completed a profile of child exploitation in Worcestershire for use in multi-agency training. Further work had also been carried out on an action plan to introduce the GET SAFE approach and this had led to a network of services working together to support children and young people at risk of exploitation. Adding to this strong base, guidance had been produced during the year for professionals working with vulnerable young people in the 18-25 age group, under the GET THERE initiative. The Independent Chairman advised that he had previously run advisory sessions for councillors on child exploitation and he was planning to set up further sessions to set out the challenges ahead.

·       Quality Assurance Practices and Procedures Group (QAPP) which worked to ensure that the Levels of Need guidance was understood and properly applied by all agencies and that child protection processes were of a high quality. Performance Indicators and audits were used to enable the quality of practices to be assessed and responded to effectively. During the year two serious allegations of abuse in education settings had been looked at.  In conjunction with the University of Worcester, the group had also been reviewing the effectiveness of all aspects of early help services via interaction and feedback from  ...  view the full minutes text for item 532.

The Panel was asked to consider suggestions for the 2022/23 Work Programme, prior to it going forward to OSPB.

The following items had been suggested by the Director of Children’s Services and the CMR for Children and Families:

·         Quality Assurance in children’s services including complaints and voice of the child

·         Domestic Abuse – Children and Young People

Cllr Boatright requested that an item on Autism provision and the availability of places within education settings be included on the work programme.

The Panel agreed to the above 3 items being added to the Work Programme, along with the Update on GET SAFE and GET THERE requested earlier in the meeting. 

The Chairman wished to place on record his thanks to the WCF Officers, Partners and Scrutiny Team for their support during the year.