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 May 2020.

Councillor Paffey, Cabinet Member for Children and Learning; Grainne Siggins, Acting Director of Children’s Services; Julian Watkins, Service Manager Children and Families; John Harrison, Executive Director Finance and Commercialism and Phil Bullingham, Service Lead, Safeguarding, Improvement, Governance and Compliancewere present and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the Panel. 

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

• The work that social workers had done to keep in touch with children during the difficult times created by the pandemic.
• Improvements to the Early Help offer had reduced the number of children whose needs had escalated to require support from the Children In Need teams.
• There was an increased risk of hidden harm during the pandemic due to the changes in the landscape in the community.
• The quality of Information Technology resources available to staff would be crucial to the efficient and effective delivery of support during the pandemic and future waves predicted.

RESOLVED

  (i)  That officers would examine the benchmarking data provided for LAC 1, Looked After Children, and update the Panel on the findings at 1^st October meeting of the Panel.

  (ii)  That an indicator measuring the number of looked after children in residential care placements be included in the dataset presented to the Panel.

  (iii)  That anonymised case studies, highlighting interventions by the Early Help Service that have prevented escalation to safeguarding services, would be circulated to the Panel before the 1 October meeting.

  (iv)  That briefing papers would be circulated to the Panel, in advance of the 1 October meeting, on the following:

a.  The development of City Council residential care provision;

b.  IT provision for Children’s Services in preparation for the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic;

c.  An update on the plans for a new IT system for Children’s Services.