Agenda item

To review the feedback received from Ofsted.

The Committee considered the report which was set out in agenda pages 19-22.

Paul Senior informed that this was not a formal inspection, but it was an opportunity for Ofsted to hold the Local Authority to account.  The conversation had taken place with the Regional Lead Inspector and lead directors. This conversation had focused on education and social care.  The service had been asked to fill in a self-evaluation form prior to the meeting.  Paul felt that this had been a mature and candid conversation, the headlines were listed in the letter and there were a lot of positive comments.  The letter also showed the direction of travel.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Members noted that the letter contained many positive comments;

·           Councillor Miall was interested to know more about the service’s research involvement with Goldsmiths University;

·           Lisa Humphreys stated that the service had been invited to take part in a research into social work practice and management of child protection and neglect in affluent areas.  Wokingham was one of six Local Authorities involved in the project.  Wokingham was comparable to Kensington and Chelsea in terms of social work practice.  There were in the Borough a large number of people who owned a second home and often went abroad for work, not being available to see the social worker.  It was important to train Social Workers on how to conduct unannounced child protection visits to very secure properties and how to measure safeguarding for these children.  There was an assumption that in affluent areas children were not at risk of harm, but this was not necessarily the case;

·           Lisa Humphreys stated that increased legal capacity was needed to manage people who had access to their own lawyers;

·           Councillor Blumenthal asked if there had been any challenges or concerns raised by Ofsted.  Officers felt that there had not been any major challenges but it had been a useful conversation;

·           Paul Senior stated that the service had been well prepared for this conversation;

·           Carol Cammiss, Assistant Director Quality Assurance and Safeguarding Standards stated that Ofsted asked if the service would prefer a themed inspection, it had been useful to talk about key lines of enquire;

·           Patricia Davies, Interim Assistant Director for Education stated that Ofsted affirmed that the service was on the right track; the service had been honest and had presented evidence to back the information provided to Ofsted;

·           Councillor Shepherd-DuBey asked how the service dealt with the wealthy families that were able to hide abuse from the service.  Lisa Humphreys stated that the service had to apply the law in the same way that it applied to anyone else.  It was important to train and develop Social Workers to carry out unannounced visits.  It was important to raise awareness amongst all the professionals that may come into contact with children, such as teachers to work together through the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board to protect the children.  Lisa also informed that the private sector was involved in the Local Safeguarding Children’s Board;

·           Lisa stated that there were reciprocal agreements with the private sector, they were also legally required to report safeguarding issues;

·           Councillor Shepherd-DuBey asked if the increase in multi-academy schools would make it more difficult to monitor abuse.  Lisa Humphreys stated that safeguarding arrangements were often revised as a result of enquires and serious case reviews and a lot of learning lessons had occurred in relation to safeguarding;

·           Patricia Davies stated that academies bought into safeguarding services from the Local Authority and that any parental complaints that were received were be investigated;

·           The Chairman was very encouraged to hear that the service worked closely with teachers, as unfortunately that had not been her experience as a teacher at another Local Authority.

In response to a question Paul Senior stated that the service had an improvement plan which was regularly submitted to this committee.

RESOLVED That the report be noted.