The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing submitted a report, the purpose of which, was is to inform Cabinet Committee of the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) review of Bridgend Social Services for the period April 2019 – March 2020 and to seek Cabinet approval of the annual review.

This report was presented and by the Head of Children’s Services and contributed to by the Head of Adult Social Care.

The background to the report, outlined that the code of practice for review of local authority social services in April 2019, outlined the  intention of CIW to write and publish an annual letter for local authorities, which would:

·         provide feedback on inspection and performance evaluation activity completed by CIW during the year;

·         report on progress the local authority has made in implementing recommendations from inspections and/or child and adult practice reviews;

·         outline our forward work programme.

The report confirmed that the annual review letter was published on 3rd August 2020 and the letter summarised the CIW review of Bridgend County Borough Council’s performance in carrying out its statutory social services functions from April 2019 – March 2020.

The content of the 2019-20 performance letter is informed by the performance evaluation activity undertaken by the inspectorate during the course of the year. This activity was the inspection of older adults’ services in September 2019, and various discussions and visits with the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate during the course of the year. Planned focused activity in March 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The annual performance letter was attached at Appendix 1 to the report. It summarised the strengths and areas for improvement in line with the principles of the 2014 Act under the headings of Wellbeing, People, Prevention and Partnerships. The content was an accurate reflection of the CIW discussions with the directorate and their ongoing findings which have been consistently shared with BCBC.

The action plan that has been developed following the inspection of older adults’ in September 2019 was attached at Appendix 2, for Members information.  

The Head of Children’s Services, assured Members that the improvements recommended by the CIW were being progressed, but there were also a significant number of areas of strength in this service area, which had been acknowledged by the CIW in their inspection.

She added that Children’s Assessment timescales were showing an improvement since the inspection in that targets at the end of March were hitting 74%, but these were now showing at 96%. LAC numbers were still fairly high, though some of the work relating to this area had been affected by the lockdown. The Head of Children’s Services was pleased to advise that there were no children currently in unregulated placements.

The Head of Adult Social Care, added that the Action Plan for Older People had been considered by Cabinet just prior to lockdown. Improvement targets within this were being progressed and where applicable, target dates for the completion of these were being identified in the Plan.

The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help was pleased with the progression being made and the strengths in both service areas that had been acknowledged by the CIW. There was always room for improvement as a result of these types of inspections and he was pleased to note that work was actively ongoing in areas where room for some improvement had been identified.

The Leader was also pleased with the report and requested that any outstanding actions that may remain outstanding be identified in conjunction with the consideration of the Annual Report which would be reported to Council at an appropriate future date. In the interim, he felt that a progress report to Cabinet should be awaited in 3/4 months time, in order that Members could monitor progress in both areas of Children’s and Adult Social Care.

The lead Officer’s advised that they were happy with this approach.

RESOLVED:                            That Cabinet received the report and endorsed the findings of the CIW as contained in the Appendices to the report.