Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Director, Legal and Governance which provided an overview of performance across Children and Families Services since November 2019.

Hilary Brooks, Executive Director, Children’s Services; and Phil Bullingham, Service Lead, Safeguarding, Improvement, Governance and Compliance; were present and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the Panel. 

In discussions with the officers, the Panel noted the following:

• The presentation of the data had improved
• That fewer children had needed to be referred into statutory services, therefore more children had been referred into the Early Help service, which was a partnership service and not all the data for this service was tracked.
• There had been a focus on child protection planning and better management of the gateway into child protection proceedings.
• A recruitment and retention working group had been formed that had reviewed exit interviews and the working environment for staff.
• There was a shortage of foster placements locally and nationally and in the private sector.

RESOLVED

  (i)  That details of the scheduled learning event for social workers (CPD) is circulated to the Panel.

  (ii)  That the recruitment of foster carers is considered at a future meeting of the Panel.