Action:

Response:

1)

A letter would go out to Multi-Academy Trusts for their response;

3)

Nigel Denning would distribute the data in relation to the amount of foster carers which had successfully become a Plymouth City Council approved Foster carer after showing interest.

a)     

The report broke down the budgetary changes between previous and the current financial year;

b)     

Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) saw a reduction of £464,000 from 2022/23 to 2023/24 which was made up of additional cost of volume for placements which was received at £3.053 million, pay award adjustment, pension increase adjustment and additional Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) targets;

c)     

The MTFP targets saw the budget reduction decrease between financial years by £464,000;

d)     

The Education, Participation and Skills (EP&S) budget saw an increase between financial years of £1.827 million which was largely down to home to school transport;

e)     

In quarter three for 2023/24 there was an overspend due to increased costs due to sufficiency issues and the volume of children in the city;

f)      

There had been investment in home to school transport to EPNS of just over £1 million;

g)     

The ‘bottom-line’ for Children’s Services in Quarter Three was £1.859 million for EPNS and £8.929 million for CYPF which was close to £11 million over budget.

h)     

The budget had been exceeded due to placement costs, sufficiency and ensuring children were safe;

i)      

Without national intervention, all councils, including Plymouth, would not be able to continue;

j)      

A large pressure on the budget was home to school transport, and this was not just a pressure faced in Plymouth, but nationally;

k)     

Provisions had been maintained across the service despite the overspend;

l)      

The projections were done in October 2023 including how many children were in care at the time, however this number had increased;

m)   

Children’s Services had become a whole Council priority;

n)     

Plans were in place to contain the budget for the next financial year as much as was possible;

o)     

There was no reply to the letter sent to the Children’s Minister sent by the Leader of the Council which addressed profits and profiteering;

p)     

A key part of the strategy would be to bring children out of the area to be closer to Plymouth;

q)     

Proposed changes to foster carer council tax and payment would be shared.

a)     

Confidence had increased at the Council’s front door service;

b)     

Training had taken place regarding thresholds of need;

c)     

Manageable workloads for social workers was a key priority;

d)     

Councillors were urged to take part in Children’s Social Care’s Practice week sessions;

e)     

Recruitment of experienced social workers remained competitive and caseloads were identified as a key area to remain low in order to retain social workers;

f)      

Newly qualified social workers had protected caseloads for one year and then increased for years two and three but still capped;

g)     

The service would see increased funding for 2024/25. The managed team would leave but the structure would be permanent for another team and the service would be looking to actively recruit to those posts;

h)     

There was strong oversight of children and young peoples interventions and financial costs of those interventions;

i)      

The levels of referrals in 2022/23 were not right and Plymouth was not dealing with its referrals correctly and was part of the remedial work that was taking place and Plymouth was now in line with its statistical neighbours;

j)      

The number of child protection plans had significantly increased and was in line with statistical neighbours. Caseloads remained fairly static;

k)     

The task and finish group for the recruitment and retention offer would be looking at the key areas of focus identified by foster carers.

a)     

Plymouth had come to the end of the stabilisation and firm foundations of the plan and would be moving into develop, sustain and embed;

b)     

The report shared a self-assessment which was provided to Ofsted in the recent inspection;

c)     

Improvements in relation to the focussed visit of the Front Door at the end of 2022 had been achieved and sustained;

d)     

Stabilising the workforce leadership and additional investment improved recruitment and retention;

e)     

There was a clear understanding of strengths and areas of required improvement;

f)      

The workforce was able to demonstrate passion and commitment to make differences to children’s lives;

g)     

The Ofsted report would be published on 15 March 2024.

h)     

There were seven young people in unregistered placements and numbers have fluctuated. The children in those placements were not the same and had good move on plans to appropriate placements;

i)      

The target for children being seen alone by a social worker to gather their wishes and feelings was 95%. The performance reported included all children and it was acknowledged it was not appropriate to see some children alone;

j)      

Plymouth had shown its capacity to improve and sustain improvements under the improvement notice;

k)     

The age cohort of 5-9 years on a child protection plan;

l)      

Early help was a key offer for the city and the offer would be improved in the city;

m)   

Family hubs were integrated into the three year improvement strategy;

n)     

MASH had seen increased resource which had seem sustained improvement since the improvement notice was given.

a)     

The number of children receiving SEN support and the waiting times in assessment times;

b)     

How the Local authority held schools to account in how they spent their pupil premium;

c)     

The Education service and Councillor Cresswell’s continued and consistent engagement with schools in the city.

a)     

Absence and key points in which absence became an issue such as the transfer between KS2 and KS3;

b)     

The Plymouth inclusion and attendance toolkit;

c)     

Transitions work being undertaken by the city and the need to get it right;

d)     

The differences between Primary schools and its nurturing setup into secondary schools which were different;

e)     

The introduction of the transitions portal for Primary and secondary schools and the introduction of the Early Years to Primary transitions portal which would begin for 2024/25;

f)      

Toileting issues and the potential affect it was having on children and young people’s attendance;

g)     

Senior officers within the Council were challenging schools in relation to the issues around toileting;

h)     

There were 541 pupils electively home educated at the end of Q3 2023/24 which increased from the previous year from 396;

i)      

Severe absences of pupils in the city were increasing and were exacerbated at transition phases;

j)      

Continued communication with families to ensure they felt welcomed back at school;

k)     

Plymouth City Council’s attendance campaign which fed into the Department for Educations campaign and the need to revisit that campaign and embed practice;

l)      

The Council’s Electively Home Educated team were able to provide resources to families where the decision to electively home educate was positive;

m)   

The Council would understand children’s needs where being electively home educated was a decision that was taken by parents/carers where they felt they had no choice to try and get those children and young people back into school;

n)     

Children who were electively home educated but had a ECHP;

o)     

Lack of SEND placement sufficiency within the city and the focussed piece of work to build places immediately and setting out a longer term strategy;

p)     

Satellite provision within Plymouth’s existing schools;

q)     

Falling roles in relation to primary schools;

r)     

The need to keep children and young people in their communities;

s)      

The Graduated approach and requirement to keep some children and young people in mainstream school.