Agenda item

To inform scrutiny of the work undertaken by Children’s Services on a day to day basis and to update on the progress and implementation of developments within the area to allow effective scrutiny of services.

Mrs Del Curtis, Director of People presented the Children’s Services Improvement Report and the Chairman invited questions from the Committee.

The Committee discussed the recent Ofsted inspection result of ‘requires improvement’ for  the newly established early years provider and queried if the setting was still taking new placements and if measures were being put in place to make improvements. Mrs Curtis advised that the provider was being given support in order to make the necessary improvements and she would investigate and report back through the Chairman with regards to whether the setting was accepting new placements.

Members considered the findings from Lancaster University that one in four women who had already had a child taken into care would have further children removed from them by the Family Court and questioned how the statistic could be improved. Mrs Amanda Hatton, Deputy Director of People advised that parenting classes were already provided and that BetterStart was providing intensive family support to prevent pregnancy until the woman was ready. She highlighted the success of Hackney Pause, a project that worked with women in similar situations in order to break the cycle and create a positive future. Mrs Hatton reported that initial outcomes from the Hackney Pause had been very successful and it was hoped that the Pause Project could be replicated in Blackpool, subject to funding being acquired.

In response to further questions, Mrs Curtis advised that approximately 82 expectant mothers would be eligible for the Pause Project in Blackpool, most of whom had had a number of children taken into care previously. It was considered that a successful Pause project was critical to the town.

The Committee queried how the project would be monitored and measured, should it be implemented. Mrs Hatton advised that should BetterStart agree to fund and implement the project, outcomes would be considered nationally and locally on a regular basis. The type of information to be considered as part of the outcome measures would include the number of pregnancies, the number of babies removed and customer feedback.

Members discussed the performance indicators used to record data relating to the Families in Need Service. In response to questioning, Mrs Hatton advised that performance information was recorded for cases that were both  ‘stepped up’ and ‘stepped down’ in order to establish that the cases that were ‘stepped down’ had been successful in the long term. The Committee requested that further data be circulated following the meeting relating to the performance in this area.

In response to a query regarding recruitment and retention, Mrs Curtis reported a much improved picture than had been the case previously with agency use significantly reduced. She advised that although the size of a social workers’ caseload was monitored, the cases were becoming more complex.

The Committee noted that a large family of nine children had recently been taken into care and queried how the service managed the risk of such occurrences. Mrs Curtis advised that there had been a number of similar cases in recent history and that the need to take a large family into care could not be predicted and therefore had a significant impact on the budget. She assured the Committee that systems were in place to manage the removal of a large number of children at one time safely. In response to further questioning, Mrs Curtis reported that when a family moved to Blackpool no financial support was received from the authority of the area they had arrived from.

Members requested further information on the potential use of technology in order to enhance the number of young people participating in reviews of Child Protection Plans and queried whether it was safe and secure to use technology for such a review. Mrs Hatton advised that two apps were being considered, a specially designed app entitled MOMA, which had been nationally developed to allow young people to safely and securely communicate with social workers and whatsapp to provide a virtual group, although there was some uncertainty over the security of the latter and further investigation was required.

It was noted that a 100% increase in calls to the Emergency Duty Team had been previously reported and that as part of the budget reviews a review of the Team had been proposed. Members queried whether the increase in calls had been investigated and if the results would inform the review of the Team. In response, Mrs Hatton advised that the Council was working with Police and Hospital’s Trust partners in order to review the Team as there was a strong link between the Crisis Support offered by both organisations and the statutory Adult Mental Health Practitioner’s provided by the Council.

The Committee discussed the six Serious Case Reviews that had been undertaken since 2013 and the importance of learning lessons from the reviews. The Committee requested that any action plans developed from the Serious Case Reviews and the details of lessons learnt be presented to the Committee at a future meeting for detailed consideration.

The Committee agreed:

1.             To request that Mrs Curtis report back, through the Chairman, regarding whether the new early years setting was accepting new placements.

2.             That further data be circulated following the meeting relating to the performance in the Families in Need Service.

3.             To receive any action plans developed from the Serious Case Reviews and the details of lessons learnt to a future meeting of the Committee for detailed consideration.