Agenda item

Children's Services Performance Indicators

To receive a report giving details of the Children’s Services Performance Indicators.

Minutes:

Sarah Sesay, Performance Manager, Social Care presented the Children’s Services Performance Indicators report which was set out in agenda pages 23-33.

 

Sarah Sesay stated that this was the corporate quarterly report.  Concerns had been raised at the last meeting in relation to the fact that the data presented to the Committee was three to four months out of date.  The service was currently working on a different template which would enable the production of more timely information.

 

Sarah Sesay talked in more detail about the some indicators as listed below.

 

Indicators relating to the percentage of Wokingham Borough state-funded Schools with current Ofsted rating of Good or better.

Sarah Sesay stated that this indicator had improved for primary schools, with Keep Hatch Primary School moving from ‘Requires improvement’ to ‘Good’.

 

There had been no changes to any of the secondary schools’ ratings.  Therefore this indicator continued to be amber as not all secondary schools had a rating of ‘Good’ or better.

 

The Northern House continued with its rating of ‘inadequate’, the special schools indicator continued to be red.

 

EA3: Percentage of Early Years settings in Wokingham Borough with an Ofsted rating of Good or better

Two independent providers were rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.  These independent providers initially refused support from WBC, but were now agreeing to work with WBC staff on improvements.

 

Percentage of children who entered care in the period and were placed more than 20 miles from their home (excluding unaccompanied asylum seeking children, children placed with parents and children in receipt of short breaks support

This indicator was improving, and it was important to note that the numbers were very small.

 

Percentage of all children all children in care at the end of the period who were moved more than 20 miles from their home (excluding unaccompanied asylum seeking children, children placed with parents and children in receipt of short breaks support

This indicator was improving.

 

EA11: 12-Month rolling voluntary turnover of qualified Social Workers within Children’s Social Care and Early Intervention Service

The service was aware of the importance of a stable social work workforce and was taking action to address this.  A workforce development strategy was being further developed to focus on the retention of the best staff, this was in parallel with an active recruitment drive.

 

Percentage of referrals in 2018/19 which are repeat referrals within 12 months of the previous referral to Children’s Social Care

There was a positive improvement of this indicator and the target was met.

 

Percentage of children who become subject to a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent time within 24 months

There was a positive improvement of this indicator and the target was met.

 

Percentage of children who became subject to a Child Protection Plan for a second or subsequent time ever

This indicator was more difficult to achieve as a child may have been subject to a Child Protection Plan as a baby and then again at the age of 17, for example.  However this indicator was improving and the target was being met.

 

VP7: Percentage of children leaving care who achieved permanence (adopted, returned home or special guardianship order is granted)

The definition of achieving permanence in this indicator was questionable, for example: an arrangement where a child who turned 18 stayed with his/her foster parents was not considered a permanent placement, however this was a positive arrangement.

 

This indicator deteriorated from the previous quarter.

 

The percentage of children leaving care due to being adopted, returning home, or becoming subject to a special guardianship order reduced in quarter 3.  Seven children left care in this period because they turned 18 and are therefore not counted in this indicator as achieving permanence.  Of those seven young people, one resides with family members, two remain with their former foster carers under a staying put arrangement, three remain in the same supported accommodation placement where they resided before they left care, and one is living in accommodation to support their high needs.

 

VP8: Percentage of child protection visits due in the period which were completed on time (within 10 days of the previous visit).

There was a slight improvement in performance in Q3 2018-19 and the indication is that there will be subsequent incremental improvements for this indicator as teams have had a particular focus on improving this area of work.

 

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

 

·           In response to a question Sarah Sesay stated that in relation to achieving permanence, some children could be adopted and some may have returned home;

·           In response to a question Sarah Sesay stated that the service often discussed how to best provide the information in relation to permanence.  There was an ongoing debate to decide if over 18 year olds should be excluded from this figure.

 

Sarah Sesay stated that it was hoped that the data would be presented in a different format for the next meeting, making it more up to date and relevant.

 

RESOLVED That the report be noted.

Supporting documents: