Councillor Lucy Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, presented the report which sought approval to progress with transformation of Children’s Services. Members discussed the proposals, noting that they were ambitious but necessary. Concerns were raised on the logistical challenge of improvements and the difficulty recruiting posts in a competitive market, and it was noted that the Council’s journey to rebuilding the service would take time.
Decision:
Cabinet:
1. Approved the proposed structural changes, including an additional 56.75fte increase to posts, as set out within the body of this report as a basis for consultation with affected staff; and
2. Delegated authority to the Executive Director of Children and Young People and the Cabinet Members for Children’s Services and HR and Corporate Affairs in consultation with the Director of People and Inclusion and Monitoring Officer to consider responses received from the consultation, produce a final version of the structure and to determine whether the final version is to be implemented or returned to Committee for approval prior to implementation
Reasons for the decision:
The proposal is sets out a plan of transformation of Children’s Services, necessary to both integrate and align services to improve the delivery of our statutory responsibilities across early help, social care, education and SEND.
As Executive director of Children’s Services this proposal is in my view necessary to improve outcomes for children and families in Bury and to meet the requirement to improve and imposed upon us by the DfE and to deliver transformation on SEND.
The proposal will;
· Enable the delivery of the social care improvement plan
· Support the role of the Bury in its duties to vulnerable children and education, and begin to lay the foundations to support the Education White Paper implementation
· Given the scale of change proposed, the work leading up to this proposal has been developed and supported by colleagues across the executive.
· As Children’s Services is currently subject of an Improvement notice, imposed by the DfE, the support of our DfE advisor is required, I am pleased to report that the outline proposals have been shared with both the DfE and Ofsted who are supportive of the plan.
Alternative options considered and rejected:
The rationale for the proposal is driven by the requirement upon Bury Council to improve Children’s Services, which includes the need to ensure compliance with statutory responsibilities and deliver the improvement plan - Bury Children’s Services are held to account by Ofsted and the DfE on the delivery of this. Given the seriousness of this, the proposal has been the result of collaboration within the council resulting in the proposal presented.