Agenda item

Report of the Director of Children and Adults Services

The Director of Children and Adults Services submitted a report (previously circulated) to provide Members with an update on performance against key performance indicators.

The submitted report provided Quarter 2 (July-September) 2019/20 performance information in line with an indicator set agreed by the Monitoring and Co-ordination Group and subsequently by each individual Scrutiny Committee.

It was also reported that the indicator set had been realigned to the updated Cabinet Portfolios, agreed at Council on 5 December 2019.

The submitted report highlighted where Children and Young People were performing well and where there was a need to improve.  It was also outlined that where indicators are reported annually quarterly updates will not be available.

It was highlighted that the timeliness of assessments was at 92.7 per cent of assessments which was above the target of 90 per cent; 92.8 per cent of Initial Child Protection Conferences were held within 15 working days from the Strategy meeting being held/Section 47 being initiated; there were 100 per cent of children with a Child Protection Plan and 100 per cent of Children Looked After had an allocated social worker; and 23.1 per cent of Care Leavers were not in employment, education or training (NEET).

The areas highlighted for improvement in Quarter 2 were in respect of statutory child protection visits completed within 15 working days and 73.8 per cent of were completed within the internally set target of 10 working days; and 86.3 per cent of statutory children in care visits were completed within the timescale; and the number of children in care had increased to 278.

Members discussed in particular the number of children in care at the end of each month; the Assistant Director of Children’s Services advised Members of the work being undertaken and support in place to keep the child in the family where appropriate.

Members noted the Health Assessments and Dental Health Assessments and questioned if this could be incentivised to encourage older children to attend their reviews; Members were assured that the LAC nurse was able to capture those children that did not attend formal reviews via less formal methods.

Following a request by Members in respect of quality of practice, the Assistant Director of Children’s Services advised Members that quality of practice was captured as part of the improvement plan; a position statement outlined the improvements made as part of the plan, all of which added to the quality of practice; and a Quality Impact Statement would be provided at a future meeting.

 RESOLVED – That the performance information provided for Quarter 2 2019/20 be noted.