Issue - meetings

Report attached from Jeanette Richards, Executive Director of Children and Young People

Further to the publication of the agenda the Chair agreed to change the Improvement Plan to item 6.

Andrea Stone, Interim Director of Social Care and Early Help provided an overview of the Childrens Improvement Plan, the report was provided to members ahead of the meeting.

Members were reminded that Bury Council had an Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) carried out by Ofsted between 25 October 2021 and 5 November 2021, which judged services to be inadequate. Following this an Improvement Board meets every two months to scrutinise and review the performance and quality assurance auditing.

The most recent Ofsted monitoring visit in November 2023 focused on care leavers, and inspectors noted that they did not see the same pace of progress in relation to improvement that they had seen in other areas on previous visits.

Members were invited to ask questions and raised the following themes:

·         New internal infrastructure – Heads of Service now complete assurance reports to the Director of Social Care and Early Help to be scrutinised and improve performance.

·         Struggles in recruiting to the post of Clinical Psychologist – however, members were informed by Jeanette Richards, Executive Director that there is a successful applicant to take forward to interview.

·         Consultation with young people and what they want the service to look like – Members were informed there is regular consultation with the Children in Care Council, Care Leavers Forum and Youth Council.

·         Business Support – It was clarified that support is now derived from the Children and Young People Department and not the Corporate Core.

·         Liquid Logic – Work is being done to improve the system and a report on outcomes will be produced in the next few weeks.

·         International workers – Members were informed twenty two workers were identified, seven have joined and four start on the 11^th March 2024.

It was agreed:

·         The update be noted.

Report attached from Jeanette Richards, Executive Director of Children and Young People