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.

None.

To receive for approval the minutes of 26/11/20

RESOLVED:                        That the Minutes of 26 November 2021 be approved as a true and accurate record.

The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support, submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to update the Corporate Parenting Committee on progress with implementing the Bridgend Youth Justice Service improvement plan which was developed following Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) inspection of Western Bay Youth Justice and Early Intervention Service, in December 2018.

The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support, by way of background information, confirmed that the Bridgend Youth Justice Service (Bridgend YJS) was a statutory multi-agency partnership that has a legal duty to co-operate in order to secure appropriate local youth justice services. The service was funded from a variety of sources including UK Government, Welsh Government and statutory partners (ie Bridgend County Borough Council, South Wales Police, the Probation Service and Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board).

The Western Bay Youth Justice and Early Intervention Service (WBYJEIS) was subject to a full joint inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP) in December 2018, the findings of which were published in March 2019. The inspection concluded that the WBYJEIS received an overall rating of inadequate. The findings of the HMIP inspection concluded that nine of the twelve inspection domains were rated as inadequate, one was adequate, one was good and one was outstanding.

The Group Manager Integrated Working and Family Support advised that, on 19 April 2019, Cabinet agreed to the disaggregation of the WBYJEIS and that the new arrangement would be for the Bridgend’s Youth Justice Service to sit within the portfolio of an existing group manager within the Education and Family Support Directorate.

The service now continues to be subject to monitoring by the Youth Justice Board (YJB) and significant scrutiny from a variety of sources including UK Government and Welsh Government, he added. However, due to the impact of COVID-19 it was presently unknown when a re-inspection of Bridgend YJS will be undertaken.

A restructure of Bridgend YJS was concluded in September 2019. This restructure led to the service becoming a part of the Integrated Multi-Agency Prevention of Complex Cases Teams (IMPACCT) hub working closely with the edge of care teams. This move had provided better joint working, sharing of skills and resources and reduced duplication of work for children, young people and families. The restructure had also led to the creation of lead practitioner posts, which provided the service with the opportunity to deliver robust supervision, quality assurance of work and line management of staff. These were areas highlighted within the inspection as a cause for concern. The lead practitioner posts were recruited to in October 2019, with both lead practitioners in post in January 2020.

He continued by stating that Quality assurance work had commenced within the service. Feedback from this, had highlighted that there was an improving picture in respect of the quality of assessments. However, further work in addressing risk of harm and safety and wellbeing had been identified. In response to this, independent training approved by the YJB had been commissioned to support staff in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 222.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to present to Members of the Committee the Independent Reviewing Service (IRO) Report, in line with The Independent Reviewing Officers Guidance (Wales) 2004, along with the IRO Service Action Plan.

She advised that the appointment of Independent Reviewing Officer’s (IRO’s) by Local Authorities was a legal requirement and their core functions are governed by legislation and guidance as follows:

•           The Adoption and Children Act 2002;

•           The Independent Reviewing Officers Guidance (Wales) 2004.

The Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) service has an authoritative role, in assuring the quality of care planning is achieved, it was explained.

The Independent Reviewing Service report (attached at Appendix A to the report,) covered the work of the IRO service from April 2019 to March 2020.

The report contained performance information in respect of the statutory reviewing of Children who are Looked After, including children with plans for Adoption and Young People with Leaving Care LAC/Pathway Plans (under 18) by Bridgend County Borough Council. It also included information on children subject of a child protection plan and reviews of these plans at Child Protection Case Conferences.

The report further detailed information that related to regulatory requirements in respect of resolution case disputes, IRO caseloads, participation and consultation of young people in their Reviews, challenges and achievements in the reporting period and service priorities for 2019-20.  

As well as the guidance referred to in paragraph 3.1 of the report, additional IRO guidance and practice standards were introduced at the beginning of 2019. IRO’s had worked to improve tracking and monitoring as advised within the Practice Standards and Good Practice Guide, Officers confirmed.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing stated, that as described in the report, the IRO’s chaired/reviewed 2,022 meetings between April 2019 and March 2020.  1,506 quality assurance audits were completed relating to these meetings also.

In her conclusion of the report, she advised that the IRO service had continued to work with the safeguarding teams to improve practice around child protection conferences and this had been extended through to other agencies such as the Health Visiting services, School Nurses and Midwifery Services. The next stage of events, was to work at improving the quality of Looked After Children reviews on a multi-agency basis.

She stressed finally, that continuous service improvement is always sought after and as such the Independent Reviewing Service aimed to continue to have a greater impact in terms of improving the quality of the lives of care experienced children and young people.  The IRO Service Action Plan at Appendix A, reflected the areas of focus for improvement over the next 12 months for the service, which would be under constant review in order to ensure actions proposed were being met.

In support of the report, a power point presentation (together with a short video) was given by the Group manager IAA and Safeguarding/Independent Reviewing Manager, with the support of Social Services colleagues.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 223.

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.