[The Chair to welcome everyone to the meeting.]

Cllr Rita Potter, Chair, welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised it was also being live streamed to the press and public.

[The Chair will explain how the meeting will proceed, how questions are to be asked and any matters of meeting etiquette.]

Cllr Potter explained the process to be followed during the meeting for asking questions and reminded everyone that microphones should be muted and cameras off unless they have been invited to speak.

The Chair reminded the panel that the meeting was being held during a pre-election period which began on Thursday 3 March 2022 and that it was important that during this politically sensitive period care should be taken to avoid showing or giving the impression of showing any bias, favour, or support to any candidate for election or any political party.

There were no apologies recorded for the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

[To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record]

That the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2022 be approved as a correct record.

[Brenda Wile, Deputy Director Education, to present update]

The Chair invited Emma Bennett, Executive Director of Families to give a verbal update on recent developments on the SEND Written Statement of Action (WSOA). The document was submitted to Oftsed in February 2022 for approval.

The Executive Director of Families advised the panel that the Council had received confirmation that Oftsed had approved the WSOA document without any amendments.

The Executive Director of Families acknowledged the work of Brenda Wile, Deputy Director of Education, and her team in co-ordinating the response and preparing the document for submission to Ofsted.

The WSOA document will now be presented to Council for approval next week.

The Executive Director of Families advised the panel about the future governance arrangements for reviewing progress.

The panel were invited to comment on the briefing.

The panel thanked the presenter for the update and welcomed the progress made since the Ofsted inspection of SEND report was published. The panel welcomed the positive steps and the work done across the Council to draft a plan which should deliver improved outcomes for SEND children and their families in the future.

Resolved:

The panel agreed to note the update.

[Rachel King, Head of Childrens Service- Specialist Support and Sandra Ashton Jones ,Head of Adult Service- Mental Health, to present report]

The Chair invited Rachel King, Head of Children’s Service - Specialist Support and Sandra Ashton Jones, Head of Adult Service- Mental Health, to give their presentation on the work done across Wolverhampton to identify and support adolescents at risk of exploitation. The Head of Children’s Service outlined the different forms of exploitation and the vision and expected outcomes from the Tackling Violence and Exploitation strategy.

The strategy document was developed by members of the partnership to respond to the different forms of exploitation. The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that a key aspect of the vision is strengthening the response and the early identification of vulnerable people to reduce or prevent any risk of them being exploited.

The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that the partnership response to all forms of exploitation was developed following a review in October 2019. The review considered how well the different services were working together to identify and strengthen pathways of support for young people and improve the co-ordination of services. The aim was to reduce the risk of young people being involved in activities that could lead to them to being exploited. The Head of Children’s Service commented on the importance of the community supporting the work of the Hub which helps to also build resilience within the local community.

The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel on the key developments since the strategy document was published, for example, the introduction of a new exploitation screening tool and the development of a comprehensive online training package available to all professionals. 

The Head of Children’s Service commented on the development of work around supporting the transition of children into adulthood and the closer working relationships between professionals in children's and adult services.

The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that the original plan behind the establishment of the Hub was that it would support people aged up to 25 years but there has since been a recognition of the needs of older people which has led the development of an all-age exploitation strategy. The aim of the strategy is to facilitate a consistent and systematic sharing of information around the areas of risk so that professionals can build a better understanding of what is happening for people at risk of exploitation and to develop a clear plan for intervention. The Head of Children’s Service advised the panel that a briefing meeting is held every morning which is chaired by the Exploitation Hub Manager. The purpose of the meeting is to review all reported overnight missing episodes.

The Head of Children’s Service introduced Sandra Ashton-Jones, Head of Adult Service- Mental Health, to brief the panel about the work of the Power2 Team. The Power2 Team is a multi-disciplinary team and partnership programme which supports vulnerable young people aged 11 – 25 years considered to be at the risk of exploitation and or family breakdown.

The Head of Adult Service advised the panel that in April 2020 the service was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

[Jennifer Rogers, Principal Social Worker, to present report]

The Chair invited Jenny Rogers, Principal Social Worker, to present the report. The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that annual health check report covers social workers in children’s and adults. The focus of the presentation will be on the responses on the social workers in children’s services.

The Principal Social Worker outlined the background to the decision to introduction of the social work health check survey. The aim of the survey is to identify areas of strength in social work practice and where extra support is needed. The survey findings are also used to assist with workforce development planning and continuous improvement.

The survey was extended from social workers to include the wider frontline adults in children's workforce as well. The survey response rate was slightly higher in adults social workforce compared to children workforce. The Principal Social Worker accepted there was room for improving the survey response rate and added that lower response may have been due to timing when teams were still facing ongoing challenges with responding to the impact of COVID.

The Principal Social Worker briefed the panel on the main findings from the survey, in terms of areas of strength and areas for development. The overall survey shows generally positive progress compared to the previous survey.

The Principal Social Worker detailed the key actions which have been developed to address the areas highlighted in the survey and added that there were no surprises in the areas listed. The Principal Social Worker commented that a key theme across both health check surveys responses was a desire for a better work life balance which has become blurred as people continue to work remotely and there is an acceptance that further work is needed to improve the situation.

The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that across children's social work and workforce, the issue of workload manageability has decreased slightly since last year but acknowledged the existing staffing challenges had been exacerbated as a result to Covid 19.  The service will be aiming for better and earlier advertising of training courses, and more progression and variety of training. The Principal Social Worker commented that over 96 per cent of social workers said that were satisfied with the support they receive informally from their manager at times when needed most.

The Principal Social Worker commented on the key actions being developed to address the areas of concern highlighted in the survey responses and shared quotes about their experiences of working for the Council.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report and presentation.

The panel queried the role of the peripatetic social work team. The Principal Social confirmed the role would be like that of a supply teacher where they would be used where needed.

The panel queried if the use of the team would cause a delay in the recruitment of a permanent workers. The Principal Social Worker reassured the panel the introduction of the peripatetic team would not lead to any delays in recruitment. The aim would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.