The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing presented the report, the purpose of which was to present the Committee with the 3-year plan to improve outcomes for children and families in Bridgend and which was intended to be subject to consultation and engagement over the summer period prior to submission to Cabinet in the Autumn for approval, highlighting how the plan had been developed and its aims.

The Chairperson thanked the Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing and Members discussed the following:

·         An overview of the staffing arrangements in Children’s Social Care, employment of agency staff to cover vacancies and resourcing teams above establishment to meet statutory responsibilities.

·         Practitioners’ caseload levels, differing levels of intensity and the need to work efficiently, safely and sustainably.

·         The strategic theme, ‘better intelligence and information systems’, the ICT systems used by various agencies, the project to improve WCCIS and an update on the implementation of the Signs of Safety model of practice including its role in improving the practice of information recording to ensure meaningful and timely information sharing.

·         The cost of implementation of the Plan, the detail of which would be submitted to Cabinet, spending through earmarked reserves and overspend and demographic impact on applications for grant funding.

·         Ensuring access to pre-statutory support for children and families and the range of factors contributing to the substantial increase in demand in children’s statutory social care including publicity of recent local tragedies, impact of the pandemic and professional awareness.

·         Seamless partnership working being fundamental to implementation of the Plan.

·         Streamlining the contact arrangements to avoid confusion over services and who to contact.

·         Whether the seven strategic themes set out in the Plan were the correct ones and all worked together.

·         The format of the ‘Three-year key actions by year’ table, possible inclusion of additional measures and how the Plan will be monitored.

The Chairperson advised that there were no further questions for the Invitees, thanked the Invitees for their attendance and, advised that they may leave the meeting.

RESOLVED:            Following detailed consideration and discussions with Officers and Cabinet Members, the Committee made the following Recommendation:

1. That an additional column be added to the Plan to include in a table, what actions demonstrate success and how those successes are measured.

and the Committee requested:

2.    That the Committee receive a quarterly update on the implementation of the Plan.

Clarification as to how the demographic, age profile, deprivation and any other factors affect the formula for applications for grant funding.