The Committee will be asked to note the appointment of the Chair and Vice Chair for the forthcoming municipal year 2018/19.

The Commiteee noted the appointment of Councillor Mrs Beer as Chair and Councillor Murphy as Vice Chair.

Councillors will be asked to make any declarations of interest in respect of items on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To receive reports on business which in the opinion of the Chair, should be brought forward for urgent consideration.

There were no items of Chair’s urgent business.

The Committee noted the Education and Children’s Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s Terms of Reference.

Councillor McDonald (Cabinet Member for the Children and Young People) has responsibility for Children’s Social Care and the lead member for Children and Young People introduced the item.  Neelam Bhardwaja (Service Director for Children, Young People and Families) gave Alison Botham’s apologies.  Alison was currently involved in Torbay’s Children Services Ofsted.  Neelam provided an overview of children’s social care.  It was highlighted that –

(a)           they were working with schools and partners to offer assistance to people and young families when difficulties start to emerge as part of the early help offer;

(b)          they use best practice standards to ensure that the child was central to everything they do;

(c)           they were engaging with children and young people by listening to their voice and were working in partnership with agencies to give a united response to keep children and young people safe and supported;

(d)          they were undertaking a 10 year programme called Together for Childhood with the NSPCC which focusses on preventing child sexual abuse;

(e)          another project they were hoping to have in place in September 2018 called PAUSE which supports women that continually have their children taken away  This project started in Hackney and has been very successful in building self-esteem for these women;

(f)            with regard to recruiting and retaining of staff, they had improved the offer to staff by providing development opportunities and reviewing caseloads;

(g)           the challenges for Children’s Social Care -

·         continuing to manage demand;

·         managing 16/17 year old with complex behaviours and needs;

·         containing cost of residential placements;

·         planning for 0-25 agenda for Care Leavers;

·         successful transition to Regional Adoption Agency (RAA);

·         recruiting qualified experienced social workers.

In response to questions, it was reported that –

(h)          an independent person was brought in to quality assess their audit work and to give them an overview and assurance that they were on the right track with the grading of their work and to ensure that the were Ofsted ready;

(i)            caseloads were split across 150 social workers with each being allocated around 20 cases each, it was highlighted however that social workers work across a wide spectrum and caseloads would vary from team to team.  Weekly workload meetings take place to ensure that caseloads were manageable for social workers;

(j)            the current level of sickness was currently at 6.82% and the turnover of staff was currently at 14% with the national average currently at 15%.  It was highlighted that you would expect people to move and change jobs and exit interviews were conducted when an employee leaves the council;

(k)          they follow best practice standards on referrals and assessment;

(l)            with regard to long term stability of children in care, it was highlighted that the integrated team would help with the smooth transition and planning of young people post 18 years;

(m)         they want to reduce institutional placements and provide placement stability by building support around the person and the placement to stop the placement from breaking down.

Councillor Jon Taylor (Cabinet Member  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee agreed that for the following items to be scheduled into its work programme for the current year:

Refer to minute 5.

·         The role of the Regional Schools Commissioner.

·         Update from the Plymouth Children Safeguarding Board.

·         The legal framework for undertaking assessments.

·         A report on the Plymouth Education Board to include overview of the board, membership and terms of reference.

·         A report on School Transport (in relation to an untaxed school vehicle).