Issue - meetings

A report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills.

Following consideration of the Ofsted report at Cabinet, Councillor Tamoor Tariq, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills, presented the report which informed Cabinet of the findings of an Ofsted inspection of the Council’s children’s services. The inspection found the services to be inadequate. The report explained the form of intervention by the Secretary of State for Education and the action already taken to implement improvements. The report provided details of the framework for the Improvement Plan which the Council will submit to the Department for Education by 31st March 2022.

A copy of the Inspection report and improvement plan had been circulated to Members ahead of the meeting and in considering the report and the Cabinet Member’s statement the following comments and issues were raised:

Responding to a question from the Chair, the Cabinet Member reported that he and the Director of Children’s Services (DCS) met with staff in Children’s Services following the publication of the Ofsted report, to provide assurance, to thank them for their hard work and to discuss any issues they may have.  Following this meeting further meetings have been scheduled as well as a walking the floor event, to enable staff to raise any concerns with the Cabinet Member and the DCS.

Responding to concerns raised by Members in respect of the financial resources required to fund the improvement work; the Cabinet Member reported that additional resources would be made available to Children’s Services.  In order to address the inadequate Ofsted inspection, the Cabinet Member reported a whole system response is required across all of the different Council departments.

The DCS reported that following the Ofsted inspection findings work has already commenced to address the issues and concerns raised including, a sector led improvement programme.

Responding to a Members question the DCS reported that a quality assurance framework has been developed to review and system check the work undertaken by social workers.

The Cabinet Member reported that he welcomes the interest the Scrutiny Committee has taken in reviewing the Ofsted report. Following the notice of motion considered at Council last night he will ensure that update reports in respect of the improvement plan will be considered at Cabinet, Council and this Scrutiny Committee and would also ask that the Improvement Board minutes be shared with Elected Members.

Responding to a Member question the Cabinet Member acknowledged that there are staffing issues with the Social worker disability team, including the over reliance of agency staff; the development of a work force plan will seek to address this issue.

The Cabinet Member reported that school staff play a significant part in Safeguarding children, the relationships between the local authority and the schools in the Borough has improved considerably.

Responding to a question from a co-opted Member in respect of support for social workers, the Cabinet Member reported that a new social retention and recruitment process for social workers has been developed, as well as financial incentives, reduction in caseloads and a plan to reduce the reliance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6

A report from the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills is attached.

Councillor Tamoor Tariq, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills, presented the report which informed Cabinet of the findings of an Ofsted inspection of the Council’s children’s services. The inspection found the services to be inadequate. The report explained the form of intervention by the Secretary of State for Education and the action already taken to implement improvements. The report also sought approval to the framework for an Improvement Plan which the Council will submit to the Department for Education by 31st March 2022.

Members discussed the report thoroughly, noting the less severe interventions recommended for Bury, being a DfE advisor rather than commissioner. The advisor would work with the Council to develop the improvement plan and feedback regularly to DfE on progress made.

In response to Members’ questions it was noted that pressures had been known internally for some time with work underway before the inspection to address problems. This work was recognised in the Ofsted inspection and means the Council was in a better position to progress and implement changes. Members debated the briefings given to Opposition Members, but it was stated that these problems should be above party politics. With regards to scrutiny, this had been encouraged and a dedicated Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee set up to recognise this.

Councillor Tariq advised that, as Cabinet Member, he had been raising concerns for a long time and had been taking actions to improve the situation, and it was noted this was a managerial failure not a political one. Councillor Tariq advised that it was the responsibility of the Council as a whole to fix these problems, and he was confident we would do.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.   Noted the Ofsted report following the inspection of the Council’s children’s services; and

2.   Approved the framework for the Improvement Plan attached at Appendix 2.

Reasons for the decision:

To take swift and decisive action to address the areas for improvement identified by Ofsted.

Other options considered and rejected:

None.