Agenda item

[Emma Bennett, Director for Children’s Service to present report]

Louise Haughton, Principal Social Worker, presented the update report on progress in delivering the priorities detailed in the 2018 -2019 Children and Young People Service Improvement Plan. The Principal Social Worker outlined the changes to the layout and content of the report. The panel were advised the service was on track to deliver priorities in the plan by the end of Q4.

A further progress report will be presented to the panel after June 2019.

The Principal Social Worker explained that a key change to drafting a plan was to bring together performance data and the experiences of parents and children into a single document.

The panel were advised that work is being done by the communications team to produce a video to further embed restorative practice across the workforce to support the changes in the service. This was given as an example of work to deliver the vision for the Children and Young People Service.

The panel were invited to comment on the report.

The panel queried if there was a child or parent friendly version of the Improvement Plan document. The Principal Social Worker advised that there is no other version of the document but agreed to discuss the idea and report back to a future meeting of the panel.

The panel queried what work is being done to capture the experiences of children and young people who receive support from the service. The Principal Social Worker commented on the change in focus to improving the quality of practice in addition to collecting information used to measure progress against performance indicators. As part of the work done to improve the quality of the service, social workers will speak to children and young people to find out what their experiences are of the service.  The aim will be to collect the information more consistently to get a better picture of the overall experiences of young people. The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that the service has introduced a programme for managers and heads of service to observe practice of people supporting families and young people to provide information about their experiences.

The panel queried what happens in situations where a parent or child declines the offer of support.

The Principal Social Worker advised the panel that if a parent declines the offer of a support then no further action would be taken, unless there are safeguarding concerns. In this situation the matter would be referred to the child protection service if there were child protection concerns. The service would try to work with the young person or family to build trust by explaining the benefits of getting early help.

The panel queried the reasons for the delay in progressing the establishment of the Regional Exploitation Group and the implications for work to respond the challenge of child sexual exploitation in Wolverhampton. The panel commented on recent cases in neighbouring authorities where gangs had been convicted of abuse. The Head of Service People commented on the different response needed where the person is under 18 or over 18 where there are concerns about possible abuse such as sexual exploitation. The Head of Service People advised the panel that if the person is over 18 then the person would be assessed as an adult and where the person was under 18 then there would be an assessment of the level risk. The approach would be to involve the necessary support services that could work with the young person to reduce the level of risk.

The panel queried the support available to young people with disabilities. The panel were advised that in this situation support would be provided on basis of the education plan till the person was aged 25 years, as they would still be considered as being vulnerable in this situation.

The panel queried the support offered to children with autism as there was concern that schools were not meeting their needs. Andrew Wolverson, Head of Service People advised the panel that a briefing on the autism strategy drafted by Rob Hart, which details the plan for supporting children and young people, was previously shared. The scrutiny officer agreed to re-circulate a copy to the panel. The panel agreed to add the topic to the agenda for discussion at a future meeting. The Head of Service People commented on the importance of schools working positively to support children with autism.  The panel commented on the concern that children in this situation were often the target of bullying at school and it was important to support them.

The Head of Service People added that the Council will work with schools to devise appropriate interventions to support children and there is expectation that alternatives to modified timetables, temporary exclusion should have been attempted first. These options should be considered by schools as a last resort. The Head of Service People commented on the work done with headteachers to promote sources of advice for schools and pupils, for example, online counselling services who can refer a young person to more specialist support, if necessary.

Resolved:

1.    The panel comments on the Children and Young People Service Plan to be noted.

2.    An item on autism strategy to be added to the agenda for the panel meeting on 27 March 2019 for discussion.