The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing presented an update on the action plan relating to the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) Inspection of children’s services in June 2017. She also updated the Committee on the progress made in addressing the recommendations and arrangements for monitoring any outstanding actions. This was a six monthly update following consideration of the report in January 2018.

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing gave a brief summary of the findings and explained that the Action Plan was monitored by the Early Help and Safeguarding Board which was chaired jointly by the Corporate Directors for Social Services and Wellbeing and Education and Family Support. The Inspection had taken place a year ago and positive progress had been made but there were some areas that required improvement. 

A member noted that most of the actions were green, a few were amber and she asked if there was anything that might not be completed in a reasonable time or anything not progressing as expected. The Head of Children’s Social Care explained that if there were any areas of concern then they would be coloured red. Most of the amber actions were long term pieces of work which would take time to achieve. A member was pleased to see the number of blue actions that had been completed.

A member asked what plans were being made in preparation for the change to the Cwm Taff area. The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing explained that the Bridgend part of the area plan would be transferred to Cwm Taff. A Transition Board had been set up by Cwm Taff and ABMU and staff sat on that board looking at work streams around partnerships. It was important to continue to provide a quality service and a Commissioning Officer had already established links with Cwm Taff. A member asked how staff were coping with the additional work. The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing explained that the teams were coping at the moment but she was concerned that staff would be unable to sustain the additional workload long term. The workload would continue to increase and additional resources would be required from Welsh Government. The Health Boards also required additional resources and a meeting had been set up to discuss the matter. It was recognised that this would be a huge piece of work for the Health Boards and it was important to make sure the partnership arrangements were maintained and that grants were disaggregated appropriately. The Cabinet Member Social Services and Early Help added that the additional resources would also be required after the transfer to bed new systems in.

A member asked how the actions were evaluated. The Head of Children’s Social Care explained that the officers updated the Action Plan and reported to the Directors and the Board for challenge. Progress was also reported to CIW.

A member referred to the recommendation in the report regarding the quality of front line staff supervision and asked if this service was being maintained and if there was capacity to continue doing this. The Head of Children’s Services explained that that the mangers were able to supervise the frontline staff and currently there were no vacancies. They were not concerned about staff turnover and the position was closely monitored at EXIT interviews.  The number of agency staff had reduced to two, one full time and one part time and they were due to finish early autumn when new staff were in place. It was recognised that a number of staff were newly qualified and they needed an induction and the right level of support. BCBC had recently been informed that it had received an accolade and been shortlisted to the final for support to staff in their first year of practice.

A Member asked if there had been any impact on the average number of cases allocated to each social worker. The Head of Children’s Services explained that they aimed for 18 cases and this figure was monitored closely. Some social workers had more depending on the complexity of cases.

A Member asked if there were problems with recruitment and retention. The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing explained that until recently there had been no vacancies but this had since changed. There were new quality assurance and supervisory processes in place and this had improved the position. Members asked if there were any recurring themes at EXIT interviews. The Head of Children’s Services reported that there were no recurring themes and there appeared to be a diverse number of reasons for leaving including promotion and the opportunity to work closer to home.

A member referred to the Festival of Learning, an event that had recently taken place where experiences and knowledge had been shared to benefit those who both taught as well as students and asked if there were any similar schemes in children’s services. The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing explained that they were looking to do work with the training unit and that in the last year they had met the 21 new starters at the start of the year and they would see them again at the end of the year to hear how they were settling in and to promote the positivity of Bridgend.

A Member asked how the council would increase the voices of children and families in shaping service planning. The Group Manager Children’s Regulated Services explained that children were instrumental in shaping the direction of travel. LAC met and presented their views and a young person had recently been appointed to join the Children’s Commissioning Consortium Cymru.

RESOLVED:                    That the Committee note the CIW report on the 

                                         Inspection of Bridgend’s Children’s Social Care 

                                         and comments on the associated Action Plan.