Agenda item

The Panel was presented with a joint report by Worcestershire County Council (WCC) and Worcestershire Children First (WCF) which had been submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) and set out details of progress made during WCF’s first year of operation.

The Director Children’s Services (who was also Chief Executive of WCF) reminded Members that the County Council was still under the direction of the DfE.  Part of that direction had been to set up an alternative delivery model and WCF had been launched on 1 October 2019.  The top priority had been to improve outcomes for children and Worcestershire remained the only local authority which had improved its children’s services prior to the alternative delivery company being set up.  Relationships between the County Council, WCF and partners were important in improving outcomes.

In summary, the first year had seen very good performance across the piece and the trajectory of improvement was upward even during the COVID pandemic.  The Director expressed her thanks to all staff involved and to scrutiny for its critical friend approach.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and the following main points were raised.  The Director of Children’s Services also confirmed that she was happy to answer any questions by email after the meeting if Members preferred.

·       A Member welcomed the excellent report.  It was confirmed that the good relationship between WCF and WCC had not happened by accident but was the result of good leadership and staff relationships.  The setting up of the company was a construct and, in reality, the same staff were working in the same way, in the same place and within the same legal framework.

·       The Director of Children’s Services was accountable to the County Council but was also a demanding customer in relation to WCC support services, such as legal, property and HR.

·       Another Member welcomed the report and praised staff for their achievement.  She went on to remind the Panel that some scrutiny Members had been sceptical about whether the Panel would get the same level of information and support from WCF, but she was able to report that this had not been the case.

·       In relation to the increase in contacts to the Family Front Door relating to domestic abuse, a question was asked about whether additional support and training would be provided for staff, both social workers and staff in schools.  In response, the Director of Children’s Services expressed concern about the ‘hidden harm’ agenda following the return to school in September.  She reminded the Panel that an increase in contacts did not necessarily mean that all referrals represented children at significant risk of harm.  However, the volume of contacts meant that it was more difficult to identify those cases.

·       The Panel was reminded that the workforce at the Family Front Door was made up of experienced and permanent members of staff who were able to deal with the volume of referrals.  Work had been undertaken to look at hidden harm areas such as county lines, parental drug and alcohol misuse, parental mental health and unemployment.  Staff were identifying these issues and responding appropriately.

·       Concern was expressed that COVID had resulted in greater difficulty in moving children on to permanent arrangements and the impact on children of this delay.  Members were reminded that family courts had been closed at the start of the pandemic which had caused delays; however, courts were now open.  The challenge for WCF was to control the number of children and young people who needed to go into residential care by, for example, services like Supporting Families First (formerly known as edge of care).

The Chairman thanked all of those who had attended for this item.