Agenda item

To consider an update from Karen Elliott, Head of Quality Assurance and Partnerships and Quality Assurance Reviewing Officer.

The Executive Director for People – Children introduced the report and explained that this was an opportunity for members to hear about the important service of Independent Review Officers that hold the council to account on a case by case bases in respect of its function in relation to looked after children. A Quality Assurance Reviewing Officer was also in attendance to explain how this role was delivered at the present time and answer any questions of the Board.

The Head of Quality Assurance & Partnership set out the report and advised that it identified the context of the service, where the service was performing well and areas for further development including where urgent action was required.

As at the 31 March 2020 there were 474 children and young people in care that Dorset was responsible for and this had steadily increased during the last 12- month period. She further advised that 8% of the children in the care population were from black and minority ethnic groups which reflected the diversity of the Dorset school age population. Members were advised that sometimes children were coming into care at points of crisis in their family life where with earlier intervention this might be prevented.

It was noted that although there were some areas of good practice this was not consistent and social work practice needed to be strengthened. Members welcomed the Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO) report which was detailed and informative.

The following observations and responses were made:-

·         Concern was expressed regarding the delay in receiving the report with  the information available out of sync/date making it difficult for the Board to scrutinise actions. It was hoped that the report could come forward in a timelier manner in the future.

·         The Independent Reviewing Officer was not responsible for defending the authority’s decision or actions. That was the Board’s responsibility as corporate parents to consider the issues and their lines of enquiry to deal with and address issues. In response the Executive Director for People – Children thanked members for their comments and confirmed that the situation with unregistered placements had not got worse for Dorset but a very clear plan of action was now in place to resolve these matters.

·         Members welcomed that officers were working hard towards having all children back in the Dorset.

·         It was noted that some of the references to SMART plan objectives were inconsistent.

·         Concern was expressed in respect of the diagram at 5.15 of the report in relation to being safe and happy. In response the Head of Quality Assurance & Partnerships advised that these comments were made around housing provision, in respect of the neighbourhood or the environment.  However it was agreed that further conversations were needed to be carried out to gain a better understanding of what that means to young people. An update to a future meeting on progress was requested.

·         Acknowledged the importance to focus and concentrate on early intervention into the family as a whole.

·         Members were advised that the long term permanence plans should be reviewed every 6 months. Tracking meetings were held regularly to deal with this.

·         The QA managers were focusing on improving and creating quicker access to review meeting outcomes.

·         In response to a question regarding the number of children in care in Dorset, the Executive Director of People – Children advised that this was concerning and putting pressure on the system.  There was historic lack of significant early intervention as a factor but also too many children had been drifting. Now almost 90% had Permanence Plans with children departing the council’s care, but it was important that any change was the right move for them.

·         In respect of large families, the Executive Director of People- Children advised that this was complex work, where it was important to see the individual child. Important to manage the risk within the family where there were more children the greater the risk to be managed.

·         The Board welcomed the wish list and asked how this would be actioned, in response the Executive Director of People – Children confirmed that all the actions were within the “strengthening service plan” and these were reported to the partnership plan group monthly.  A excerpt was reported to the Board with the data set information.

The Board also heard from an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) who explained how an IRO captured young peoples’ voices particularly over the last few months during COVID.  It was the IRO’s role to ensure that each child was able to say what they wanted to say and explain how they engaged with them to build trusting relationships.

Decision

That the content of the Independent Reviewing Officer Annual Report be noted.