Agenda item

(To receive a report which provides an update on the content and progress of the original action plan devised from the Task and Finish Group of October 2013)

Consideration was given to a report which provided an update on the content and progress of the original action plan devised from the Task and Finish Group of October 2013.

It was reported that the Committee had agreed at its meeting on 18 October 2013 that there was a need for scrutiny to review and investigate the safeguarding arrangements in frontline social work teams.  This review was approved by Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 24 October 2013.  The key purposes of this review were to examine the robustness of safeguarding practice and to ensure sufficient support was provided to frontline social workers.

The Task and Finish Group completed the review and presented the final report to this Committee on 13 June 2014.  The report contained 17 recommendations which were nearly all accepted in full by the Executive on 1 July 2014 and were subsequently developed into an action plan to address the issues raised in the review.

The Executive Director for Children's Services provided the Committee with an update on progress with each of the recommendations as follows:

Recommendation 1 – this has been implemented, however, there was a delay with the survey being released, but work was ongoing;

Recommendations 2 & 3 – the strategy was in development, and it was on the forward plan to be considered by this Committee at its next meeting;

Recommendation 4 – one 'Closing the Gap' conference had been held and it was intended to hold another one in July 2015;

Recommendation 5 – a letter had been sent to secondary school head teachers.  There was also a national debate taking place on whether personal, social and health education (PSHE) should be part of the mandatory curriculum;

Recommendation 6 – there was an ongoing training programme in relation to signs of safety;

Recommendation 7 – options for Louth and Grantham were being explored;

Recommendation 8 – some internal standards had been set, and the amount of time that parents must wait to receive the review report had reduced;

Recommendation 9 – this had been completed;

Recommendation 10 – this had also been completed and was subject to a quarterly review;

Recommendation 11 – a more detailed update on this recommendation had been included at Appendix B of the report.  It was also noted that Samantha Clayton was leading on a significant piece of work around this.  There had been some really positive successes in terms of newly qualified social workers;

Recommendation 12 – work was continuing, and the authority was expanding the number of universities that it worked with;

Recommendation 13 – the case manager was leading on this work which was ongoing;

Recommendation 14 – officers were working with the university;

Recommendation 15 – the authority was working regionally to review the role;

Recommendation 16 & 17 – these recommendations were linked together and were linked with the procurement of the new case management system.  The time scale for the implementation of this system was currently July 2015, but it was acknowledged that there were risks associated with the implementation.

Members 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 commented that the communication between social workers and managers was very open and it was suggested that there were some social workers who should be invited to attend a future meeting of this Committee;

·         Another member also commented that they found the relationships within the teams to be very supportive, in particular the dynamic between new staff and experienced social workers was very good;

·         In terms of report writing, it was commented that an improvement in the standard of reports presented to the Adoption Panels had been seen;

·         It was confirmed that the neglect policy was on the work programme for the July meeting of this Committee;

·         Signs of Safety had been introduced consistently across all areas of business.  Members were advised that the authority was moving to the compliance part, as it was now expected that it would be used as all relevant staff had been trained;

·         In relation to parental training, it was commented that there was a drive from secondary schools to focus on the core subjects, and personal, social and health education (PSHE) was not a subject they were judged against, which was why there was a national drive to make this subject mandatory;

·         A briefing session on Signs of Safety would be organised for the independent members on adoption panels;

·         It was agreed that the capability framework for social workers and the Customer Service Centre advisor training programme would be circulated to the Committee;

·         It was commented that it had been an impressive experience meeting some of the frontline social workers;

·         Health services and the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG's) would be involved in elements of the work, such as the Neglect policy, and the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board;

·         It was queried whether the authority had considered working with the Open University in relation to recommendation 12, and officers agreed to look into this further.

RESOLVED

1.    That the content and progress of the action plan be noted;

2.    That the Committee continue to monitor the actions arising from the review and receive an update on the action plan in six months' time;

3.    That visiting frontline social work teams be an ongoing piece of work and visits for Mrs E Olivier-Townrow and Councillors S R Dodds, J D Hough and Mrs L A Rollings be arranged in the near future.