Agenda item

To receive a presentation in respect of the Children’s Services Blueprint for Change.

The committee was provided with a presentation with regard to the Children’s Services Blueprint for Change which covered:

·                Delivering for Dorset’s Children and Families including the vision for the service

·                The case for change

·                How we will work

·                Structure of services including central and locality based teams

·                The timeline for the process

Councillors considered the issues arising from the presentation and during discussion the following points were raised:

·                A discussion was held in respect of children being home educated and the need to support families to get children back into school if necessary.  Additional resource was required in order to do more work in this area. It was noted that along with existing links with schools, as part of the new structure and plans for locality based teams, there would be more people within the communities with good links to children and families in order to provide additional strength in this area

·                Consultation on the principles of service delivery was being undertaken with bodies such as charities where applicable

·                In response to a question, detail was provided of different ways of assessing mental health in children

·                Within the new structure there would be officers focusing on children excluded from school who would link closely with schools.  There was also a multi-agency meeting where issues were discussed

·                Reference was made to work undertaken with older children including careers guidance and work where education was not the right place for a child

·                Children’s Services was positioning within the community, working with partners including charities and the voluntary sector, and the role of these type of organisations was recognised.  The council had its role to play and would also provide support to other organisations in their roles in the area

·                The council would be working with partners including schools to determine the best location for hubs

·                In response to a question, it was confirmed that although services would be locality based, there would be a central responsibility to ensure consistency in the quality of service provided

·                A discussion was held in respect of corporate parenting

·                Reference was made to work on new banding and protocols being considered by the Housing Executive Advisory Panel and it was noted that the council had benefitted from having a Personal Assistant with specialism in housing options.  There was recognition that the service could benefit from having greater capacity and flexibility

·                Reference was made to the council’s brokerage arrangements and it was noted that discussion was being held about the most efficient ways of working in this area

·                The role of voluntary and charitable organisations in youth centres/work was raised.  In response, the Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Help noted that the decision for the council not to provide youth centres had already been taken and examples were provided of youth centres continuing to be run by external groups.  The council’s focus was now on providing an outreach service to support youth work and children in need

·                In response to a point raised, it was confirmed that the council worked with and supported all schools as required.  Locality working would further assist in this area

·                A discussion was held with regard to recruitment of unfilled posts in this area

·                A discussion was held in respect of the safeguarding issues in the area and specific reference was made to the process for child protection conferencing, the design of processes and approaches and a focus on quality of data including the recording of ethnicity

·                In respect of domestic abuse issues, work was taking place on reinvigorating the social work process.  Further work was to be undertaken in this area including the provision of a toolkit for all staff

·                Performance data was made available to groups such as the Corporate Parenting Board and the Schools Forum

·                Further thought would be given to information provided on the Blueprint for Change including the running of workshops where appropriate

·                A request was made for the timeline associated with the Blueprint for Change to be included in the Councillors area on the Intranet

The Chairman thanked the Portfolio Holder and officers for the presentation and recognised the amount of work being undertaken, which she hoped would make a big difference to the outcomes for children and families.  However, she recognised that further work was to be undertaken and asked for the committee to receive an update at an appropriate time.