Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee with an opportunity to consider the report produced following the review of the accountability framework for the Independent Chair of the Lincolnshire LSCB which was undertaken in October 2014)

The Committee received a report which provided details in relation to the review of the accountability framework for the Independent Chair of the Lincolnshire LSCB which was undertaken in October 2014 by Paul Burnett, an experienced LSCB chair and former Director of Children's Services in two local authorities.  It was noted that the review took place during the Ofsted inspection, but was not connected to this process.  The purpose was to scrutinise the local authority's accountability framework for the independent chair of the LSCB and ensure that it was compliant with statutory guidance set out in Working Together 2013 and Section 14A of the Children Act 2004.  The review also considered the inter-relationships between the LSCB and other key forums across the partnership geography of Lincolnshire.

Paul Burnett presented the report to the Committee and explained in more detail some of the strengths and areas for improvement that he found during the review.  Firstly, he thanked the Executive Director of Children's Services and the authority for the time they had given to him as well as their transparency and honesty throughout the process.  In explaining his findings, some of the main points highlighted to the Committee included:

·         The strengths significantly outweighed the areas for improvement;

·         Some of the methods and processes encountered were now being implemented by the LSCB's in Leicestershire, Rutland and Nottingham;

·         One of the strengths noted was the strong interpersonal relationships which were in place between the Chair of the LSCB and the authority, which were challenging both professionally and politically, and it was found that issues were openly discussed which led to good quality outcomes;

·         There was very strong evidence that the LSCB's priorities and needs were informing other partnerships, and could have an impact on the public protection agenda;

·         There were some small development areas noted including the need for closer communication when setting performance goals with the Chief Executive, and it was also suggested that a log should be kept of the challenges made to the Board;

·         It was noted that when people worked well together they did not always record everything, such as the challenges to the Board, and an audit trail of evidence was important in order to show that due process was being followed;

·         Another area for improvement was the relationship with the Health and Wellbeing Board, which needed to be more challenging and robust.  The LSCB should be holding the Health and Wellbeing Board to account in terms of ensuring safeguarding was included in the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, and the Health and Wellbeing Board should be challenging the LSCB in its delivery of strategic health plans;

·         Overall it was found that there were very strong arrangements in place, which was supported by the outcome of the recent Ofsted inspection, and that the authority was going beyond its statutory requirements in terms of safeguarding.

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:

·         A councillor commented that he was a member of the Health and Wellbeing Board and the recommendations in relation to the Health and Wellbeing Board had been noted and would be reported back;

·         Members were pleased to hear that Lincolnshire was leading the way in some areas;

·         Members were advised that there were a number of pressures within safeguarding and frontline social workers were seeing an increase in their workloads, however, this was a trend which was being seen nationally as well, but it was not on the same scale in Lincolnshire as it was nationally.  It was noted that demography was also impacting on the increased referral rates;

·         It was noted that there was a link between safeguarding children and drink, drugs and domestic violence;

·         Caseloads had increased due to the complexities of family's needs, which meant that social workers were often involved with the same family longer than previously.  The aim was to keep caseloads at an average of 16-18 families;

·         The additional £400,000 which had been allocated to children's safeguarding would be used to recruit more frontline social workers;

·         Concerns were raised regarding the Health and Wellbeing Board and its overall link with the rest of the Council;

·         One member commented that they had attended a LGA forum on safeguarding where Lincolnshire's safeguarding Toolkit had been referred to, and it was good to know that the authority was ahead of other areas;

·         Concerns were also raised regarding the targets which were set for the Independent Chair of the LSCB.  Members were reassured that the targets were negotiated with the Chair, but that it was important that the Chief Executive did have clear targets and performance indicators for the Chair;

·         It was important that the Chair had a clear performance framework in which to work, and the review demonstrated that Lincolnshire County Council was doing this effectively;

·         It was commented that the scrutiny review which had been carried out on frontline social care in 2014 was very good and gave members a lot of confidence in the safeguarding arrangements;

·         In terms of member involvement in the review, there had been a focus on the strategic leads, but it had come through in interviews that there was good training of members in safeguarding.  It was also a strength that there was a dedicated safeguarding scrutiny sub-group.  Evidence had also been seen that individual members of the council were able to seek information and guidance from the authority, and that there was openness and transparency within the system;

·         Wider community engagement was one of the major challenges in safeguarding, but the Ofsted report had complimented the LSCB on its ability to get its message out.

RESOLVED

1.    That the report and comments made be noted;

2.    That the identified strengths and areas for development be noted;

3.    That the Executive and the LSCB be asked to draw up an action plan to address the areas for development identified in the review.