To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from Members/Officers.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members/Officers

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 the 1^st September 2008.

None.

To receive for approval the minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee held on 28 April 2014.

RESOLVED:                                           That the minutes of a meeting of the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee dated 28 April be received as a true and accurate record, subject to:-

                                                 (1)           Councillor H Townsend being added to the list of Apologies for Absence due to her representing Wales in a dance competition.

                                                 (2)           It being noted that there was no need to list S Pryce in the minute entitled Apologies for Absence, as M Shepard was present representing the Communities Directorate.

The Chairperson on behalf of Members, gave a warm welcome to Councillor J E Lewis as a new Invitee on the Committee.

The Corporate Director - Children submitted a report, to present to the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee prior to its formal submission to CSSIW, the Annual Report of the Head of Service – Safeguarding and Family Support submitted for and within the Annual Council Reporting Framework.  This was the fifth Annual Report of the Head of Service following the introduction of the current arrangements for evaluating Social Services in Wales.  The process centred on self-evaluation, involve consultation with Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) and would continue to be the major source for CSSIW’s inspection programme.  The report was shown at Appendix 1 to the covering report.

            By way of background information, the Head of Safeguarding and Family Support, confirmed that in 2010 CSSIW introduced a new “Annual Reporting Framework” requiring all authorities in Wales to produce an Annual Report on the Effectiveness of their Social Care Services. The Annual Report delivers the council's own assessment of performance in respect of their social services responsibilities and focuses on strategic objectives and improvement priorities across the department.  This new approach to reporting is intended to:

§  see performance management accountability transfer from the national centre back to Council Members, Chief Executives, Directors, Managers and Officers;

·         present a recognisable picture to those delivering and served by their social services locally;

·         generate the core set of information needed by CSSIW to deliver their annual performance;

§  provide assurance function;

§  link much more immediately to business planning for priority improvement.

Work to develop this framework for annual reporting came from a commitment shared by the WLGA and ADSS Cymru to report openly and promptly on the effectiveness of each authority in meeting both needs and statutory obligations in social services, and also to link that report urgently to planned and continuous improvement. The Annual Council Reporting Framework places social services firmly at the heart of corporate and democratic local government. The Statutory Director for Social Services in Bridgend was completing an Annual Overview Report which had been informed by the annual reports of the Heads of Service for both the Safeguarding and Family Support Service and Adult Social Care.

            The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support, confirmed that the report had been considered by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and any recommendations for change, to improve clarity and readability, would be taken on board.

            The report at Appendix 1, would be submitted to CSSIW as a supplementary report to that of BCBC’s statutory Director of Social Services’ overview report.

            He added that key issues to note in the attached report included;

·         An overview of the primary aims of the Safeguarding and Family Support Service.

·         An overview of the range of service provided by the service.

·         An overview of performance

·         An overview of significant strategic and operational developments throughout 2013-14

A Member referred to page 18 of the Appendix document to the effect on children of parents drinking alcohol excessively.  He asked what steps were being taken to try  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Corporate Director - Children submitted a report the purpose of which was to update the Cabinet Committee on the progress made to develop a refreshed “Strategy to reduce the number of Looked After Children and Young People in Bridgend, now known as the “Looked After Children - Placements and Permanency Strategy”.

            The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support advised that Members would be aware that throughout the last decade, there had been a significant increase in the overall number of Looked After Children in Bridgend, which had resulted in major pressures upon Safeguarding and Family Support Services and associated budgets. Consequently, in order to direct a strategic response to the growing numbers of Looked After Children, the Council intended to publish its “Placements and Permanency Strategy” within which one of the primary aims was to reduce the number of Looked After Children (LAC) but also to take a whole systems approach to preventing the need for children to become LAC in the first place. 

He added that previously Committee had received comprehensive reports on statistical data and analysis of Looked After Children (LAC) in Bridgend, together with details of associated costs.  Members requested that an update on the newly developed Strategy be presented to Committee in order for Committee to comment and provide feedback.

            Attached at Appendix 1, to the report was the latest draft of the Council’s “Looked After Children - Placements and Permanency Strategy”.

            The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support stated that this Placement and Permanency Strategy described the placements the Authority wanted to provide and commission for its LAC, and focused on how to improve current arrangements to in turn improve outcomes for children in care.

Children’s Services were driving a ‘whole system’ approach to supporting LAC and keeping families together, and together with the Early Intervention and Prevention Strategy, these would form a multi-agency response to driving improved outcomes for children, he added.

            The focus in the Strategy was on describing what will change in relation to work with children in care or at risk of coming into care. The Strategy contained an action plan for the future rather than an attempt to cover every detail of the current services and support.

            The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support concluded his submission by advising that the Council had awarded additional funding of £66,169 from the Change Management Programme Fund to cover the associated costs for a project manager to lead the Permanency and Placement Strategy from the date this person takes up her post, i.e. mid-June 2014.

            The Deputy Leader noted the key objectives of the Strategy as outlined on page 8 of the Appendix to the report, and asked if Substance Misuse should also be included as an added objective.

            The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support confirmed that consideration would be given to this.

            The Chairperson whilst commending the Strategy, felt that it should also refer more to other key agencies that the Social Services Department worked with, i.e. partners to  include  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Corporate Director - Children submitted a report to the Cabinet Committee in line with the Independent Reviewing Officers Guidance Wales (WAG 2006).  The report, aided by a PowerPoint presentation, provided an overview of the role and function of the IRS.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support advised that the Independent Reviewing Service in Bridgend comprised of eight workers of which there were six full-time equivalent IRO posts.

In Bridgend County Borough Council, he advised that IRO’s Chair Child Protection Conferences were commissioned under the All Wales Child Protection Procedures and LAC Reviews under the IRO Guidance (Wales).

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support then confirmed that the population of ‘Looked After Children’ in Wales had increased by 24.49% between 2007/8 and 2012/13, and gave examples of some charts reflecting the increase in Bridgend County Borough, particularly in the last year or so.

In terms of LAC between the 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014 there were 146 instances of children having “become looked after”.  This represented a near equal gender split of 46% female and 55% male.

He then broke this figure down in both percentages and actual numbers of LAC there were in each of the different areas of the County Borough.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support then gave the legal status of LAC for the period 1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014, in terms of those children that were subject to an Interim Care Order, those on Remand, under Police Protection, subject to an Emergency Protection Order, and instances where the parent(s) ask for the child to be looked after, including details of statistical information regarding the age of these children, for the same period.

The Presentation then outlined information regarding the different Permanence Plan types, for example:-

·         Long Term Foster Carers (153)

·         Parallel Planning (98)

·         Long term relatives or friends (47)

·         None (40)

·         Placed with parents (26)

·         Adoption (19)

·         Residential placement (12

·         Eventual return home (8)

·         Supported living (5)

·         Remaining with birth family (3)

·         Other (1)

The next tranche of data included the following information:-

                        Length of time Children Looked After at 31 March 2014 for:-

                        1 year              -           Approximately 117

                        1 - 2 years       -           Approximately 125

                        3 - 5 years       -           Approximately 85

                        6 + years         -           Approximately  88

The next section of the Presentation, then gave details of LAC Reviews due between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, and compared the number of reviews due (on a month by month basis) compared with the number of reviews held in compliance with statutory timescales.  The average overall percentage of reviews held within this period in accordance with statutory timescales averaged out at 96.6% which confirmed a high and level of performance in this area.

The Head of Safeguarding and Family Support then shared with Members the number of second LAC reviews due comparable with a Plan for Permanence in place during the course of the last financial year.  These statistics showed an overall percentage of 93.4%, which  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Corporate Director - Children submitted a report that sought approval for the proposed Informal Forward Work Programme (IFWP) for the above period, attached at Appendix 1 to this report.

               RESOLVED:         That the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee agreed to approve the

                                                         Informal Forward Work Programme appended to the Officer’s report,

                                                         subject to the further items being added as detailed above, and to

                                                         invitations being extended to the recommended Invitees also outlined

                                                         above.

The meeting closed at 11.40am.

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.