Agenda item

To inform the Committee of the improvement plan of Children’s Social Care in response to the OFSTED inspection of December 2022.  The plan runs up until October 2024.

Mr Chris Coyle, Assistant Director of Children’s Services (Children’s Social Care and Tis) provided an update on the Children’s Social Care Improvement Plan. He highlighted that the plan had been developed following the most recent Ofsted inspection to address the areas requiring improvement within the inspection. The improvement plan covered areas including neglect, children with complex needs, partnership working and early help. The plan had also been formulated to address wider issues in relation to children and families.

The Committee was informed that whilst some targets within the plan were not as aspirational as they could be it was important that they were achievable. It was considered that often staff did not have the confidence in their own work to express and demonstrate what had been achieved and a key aim was to build the confidence of the workforce. The importance of partnership working was also highlighted and the required joined up approach that must be taken to address key issues.

Members queried whether other Council services were contributing as expected to Children’s Services improvement. In response, Mr Coyle advised that the Council was contributing as required. He noted that previously Children’s Services’ approach had been too insular, however, the service was now reaching out and seeking help and creating good internal partnerships as well as external partnerships. It was noted that some areas such as Early Help were particularly well supported.

In reference to fostering, it was noted that Blackpool had a higher level of internal foster carers per 10k population than many areas. It was considered that the internal offer to foster carers was attractive, however, it was acknowledged that further support could be provided. A model called Mockingbird which provided peer support was being explored.

Mr Coyle noted that the number of looked after children was being reduced slowly and safely and that the aim was to become more in line with statistical neighbours..

The Committee noted that a report in relation to the domestic abuse was due and it was agreed that this would be circulated to Members when released.

Members went on to discuss the sharing of information and in particular in relation to private fostering arrangements and the process for registering these with the Council.

In relation to the Improvement Plan itself it was noted that a number of actions had not been updated and targets not included and it was agreed that an updated version would be circulated as soon as it had been updated. In response to a question, Mr Coyle advised that it was difficult to demonstrate success as data and figures did not tell how effective services had been in making a difference to a child’s life.

It was reported that the improvement plan was scheduled to be updated early in 2024 and that it would be resubmitted to the Committee for further consideration at that stage.

The Committee agreed:

1.      To receive the domestic abuse review report when available.

2.      To consider the improvement plan progress in early 2024.

3.      To receive an updated copy of the improvement plan following the meeting once it had been updated to include the missing detail.