Agenda item

Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer Service 2016-2017

[Mandy Lee, Safeguarding Manager – Children, to present report]

Minutes:

Mandy Lee, Safeguarding Manger and Nicola Hale, Independent Reviewing Officer attended the meeting and Mandy Lee presented the Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Service 2016-2017 and highlighted key points.

 

Mandy Lee confirmed that the IRO service had remained stable, with an experienced and capable team and the team’s positive contribution had been recognised by OFSTED.

 

She confirmed that there had been a slight reduction in the timeliness of reviews and that appeared to be due to a spike in sickness and bereavements.  That situation had now improved and it was a priority for 2017-2018 to improve that further.

 

The participation of children and young people in their Looked After Children (LAC) reviews also fluctuated and improving participation was another priority for next year.

 

Quality assurance had also improved, with access to quality assurance data, with quarterly review reports provided to the Children’s Services Management team.  Future Action Plans would be looked at based on that data.

 

In addition to the information contained in the report and in response to questions from Board members, officers stated the following:

 

  • Work was underway to try and improve the uptake of the Mind of My Own (MOMO) app.  There appeared to be a discrepancy with the reporting as the data for the MOMO 1 app was only being picked up on the Dashboard; however, there was a further app, MOMO Express which many more children and young people were using.  An Action Plan had been produced and those using the app had been approached for input and the work formed part of several task groups.
  • The possibility of using current users as ambassadors was being considered as a way forward.
  • The MOMO Express was originally targeted for younger children and those with more specialised needs as it was more flexible and interactive; however, it had been found that many young people preferred it to the more two dimensional MOMO 1 app.  Feedback had been given to MOMO to try and make it more interactive.
  • If a young person was remanded then they were considered to be a LAC.  The number was usually small, at around 2% of all LAC.
  • If an IRO found evidence of good or excellent Social Work practice, then an Awards Form would be completed and recognition given to appropriate officers through the Line and Service Manager.  The service did not share best practice as a matter of course; however, the manager might choose to share it.
  • In respect of drift and delay, a permanence plan should be in place by the second review.  If the IRO found that that was not in place, they would be monitoring progress closely and escalating any concerns to managers.  Sometimes there were unavoidable delays, outside of the control of social workers; however, they would always be kept under review.

 

The Chair referred to paragraph 2.5 in the report and the reference to the change in legislation in 2011 and asked that in future reports the wording could be updated to reflect the current timescales.

 

Resolved:

That the Annual report of the Independent Reviewing Officer Service for 2016-2017 be noted.

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