Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee with an opportunity to comment on the outcomes of the Ofsted inspections of children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers)

The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee was invited to consider a report which set out the outcomes from the inspection of Lincolnshire's Children's Services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers which was carried out during October/November 2014.

The Committee was advised that at the time of the meeting, 1/3 of local authorities had been inspected, and Lincolnshire had received the second best judgement in the country, being rated as outstanding in adoption performance, and rated as good in the following areas – children who need help and protection; children looked after and achieving permanence; experiences and progress of care leavers; and leadership, management and governance.

Some areas for improvement were identified which included ceasing the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless 16 and 17 year olds and young people leaving care; reviewing quality assurance activity; improving the rate of progress and educational outcomes for children looked after; taking action to reduce offending rates of care leavers.

In response to some of the areas identified for improvements, members were advised that the authority very rarely made use of Bed and Breakfast accommodation, but this option would sometimes be necessary in an emergency.  In relation to the quality assurance activity, it was reported that officers had used Ofsted's criteria, and so had challenged this area, however, there was no right of appeal.  It was acknowledged that there was a need to continue to improve the rate of progress and educational outcomes for children looked after, however, Lincolnshire was already 3% above the national average.  It was also noted that three of the areas for improvement under social work practice related to IT systems, and these should be improved following the move to the new system Mosaic in April 2015.  The need to reduce offending rates of care leavers who received a custodial sentence was challenged by officers as there were only 11 young people who were in custody, and nationally this was a very low figure.  It was agreed by the inspectors that this could be removed from the report, but it was left in the findings.

Members of the Committee were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         It was difficult to measure the impact of preventative work on child sexual exploitation (CSE) as it was not known what could have happened if that work had not been carried out;

·         It was an aspiration for FAST teams to be co-located;

·         In relation to CSE, Ofsted was very process driven, but the relationship between the child and the worker was very important.  This was a different type of harm and so needed a different approach;

·         Bed and Breakfasts were only used as emergency accommodation for care leavers or those 16/17 year olds that presented to the authority as homeless.  It was hoped that a new contract would be awarded which would provide for crisis accommodation and crash beds;

·         The authority worked with a network of B and B providers who were all DBS checked and could provide support;

·         It was commented that it had been an extremely thorough inspection;

·         Members were advised that the report had been published on 6 January 2015 and the authority had 70 days to produce an action plan.

The Committee wished to record its thanks to the officers for all their hard work during the inspection, and looked forward to seeing the action plan.

RESOLVED

1.    That the report and comments made be noted;

2.    That the action plan in response to the Ofsted Inspection be considered at a future meeting.