To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008.

The following Declaration of Interest was made:

Councillor J Radcliffe declared a personal interest in agenda 4, Update On The Establishment Of A National Fostering Framework (Nff) And Current Work In Relation To In House Foster Care Provision as he is currently going through the adoption process.

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee of 24/01/2018

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the Cabinet Committee Corporate Parenting 24January 2018 be approved as a true and accurate record.

The Head of Children’s Social Care presented a report informing the Cabinet Committee of the background information about and update regarding the progress of work undertaken on establishing a National Fostering Framework in Wales.  She also provided an update on the Bridgend Foster Care service provision and the fostering service review that is underway.

The Head of Children’s Social Care explained that phase 3 commenced in 2017 and included the National Adoption Service (NAS) central team being expanded and developed in order to provide unity and support the coordination and leadership of the National Fostering Framework. She then outlined the work programme upon which the regional plans are being developed as detailed in 4.4 of the report.

The Head of Children’s Social Care advised that a review of Bridgend Foster Care is currently underway to ensure maximisation of the service potential and development of the approach model in a way that is consistent with residential Placement and Services remodelling project and the National Fostering Framework. She explained that the review is due to be completed by July 2018 and incorporates a number of workstreams as detailed in 4.9 of the report.  The findings will be collated into a report which will present recommendations and options with regard to any changes to systems, finance, policies and structure in the service.

A member asked for an update on the Welsh Community Care Information System (WCCIS) and the timeline for the establishment across Wales.

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing advised that across Wales, 13 Local Authorities are currently on WCCIS.  Merthyr were the last Local Authority to go live and RCT will follow shortly.  It is planned to be delivered across all Authorities in the next 18 months, the development of the modules is rolling out slowly. The Head of Children’s Social Care told the committee that the foster care module is live, with the foster care payment module due to go live in May.

A member commented that they understood in the past there had been difficulty in recruiting and retaining foster carers, could officers advise what the situation was currently? 

The Group Manager Childrens Regulated Services advised that there had been consistent improvement in Bridgend by 2 to 3 households each year. There had been a lot of work done by the Communications and Marketing team to promote the service and as a consequence we now have a good pool of foster carers within Bridgend.  The current carer recruitment and development programme is under review to improve career development opportunities for in-house foster carers and ensure that the Local Authority is competitive with independent fostering advisors. The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing explained that the push for recruitment is linked to the MTFS, if we “grow our own” we are spending less on outside placements.  The Chairperson urged members to promote the service whenever possible as the Authority is always looking to recruit.

A member referred to Workstream 4 – Finance “a review of the financial packages for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 170.

To consider any other item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should be reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

None