Agenda item

To receive and consider the Children’s Services key performance indicators.

The Committee received the Children’s Services Performance Indicators report which was set out in Agenda pages 41-52.  Nick Hammond, Service Manager, Intelligence and Impact presented the report.

Nick Hammond stated that it had taken a long time to address the issues in relation to EHCPs.  The service had struggled over the last 12 months to appoint appropriately qualified and experienced workers and since 2018 was operating at less than 50% capacity.  This had severely impacted on the service’s ability to issue EFCPs within the required timescales.  He was confident that all outstanding plans would be finalised by December 2019 and that by March any new plans would be issued within the required 20 weeks.  Jim Leviers stated that two Task and Finish Groups had been set to address the issue of timeliness and quality of reports.

In response to a question Jim Leviers stated that the local authority should aim to have nil children out of the Borough.  Some initiatives had already been put in place to increase the capacity within the Borough, for example the expansion of Addington School.  He also stated that the Northern House School was in negotiations to break a deal with another academy trust.

In response to a question Jim Leviers stated that the introduction of the Children and Family Act 2014 had had a huge impact on the demand for services.

Carol Cammiss stated that it was necessary to develop more provision of places within the Borough.  She pointed out that the service would not bring back children from out of the area who were settled and doing well, so even with more places it would take time to reduce the number of children being educated out of the area.  However, there would always be a small number of children with very complex needs for whom the local authority would not be able to provide.  Also, there were no colleges in Wokingham.

In relation to Early Help, Nick Hammond stated that that indicator was only red because it was higher than the last quarter, however it was still within the target of 45 days.

Carol Cammiss stated that a piece of work was underway to understand the reason for the increased number of re-referrals and to address it.  

In relation to the percentage of children in care who had had more than one social worker in 12 months, Carol Cammiss stated that the service was more effective now.  She stated that strengthening the service for children on the edge of care was an area of focus.

Members asked about the number of Care Leavers who were placed in B&Bs.  Carol Cammiss stated that in the past if there was no other alternative, Care Leavers would have been placed in B&Bs.  It had now been agreed that Wokingham would not put Care Leavers in B&Bs.  She stated that the number of Care Leavers varied, in April there were 22 Care Leavers between the ages of 18-22, and that was a significant number.

In relation to Social Workers recruitment, Carol Cammiss stated that staff looked for stability in leadership, good working conditions and learning and development opportunities.  The long term aspiration was to reduce the number of agency workers to 10%.

Members asked to be informed of the number of excluded children in the Borough, including those with SEND.  Jim Leviers stated that in the 2018/19 academic year there were two permanent exclusions and 141 fixed term exclusions (excluding data from the Forest, Bohunt, St Crispins and St Teresa’s).  Carol Cammiss explained that academies were not obliged to let the local authority know this information.

RESOLVED That;

1)     The report be noted; and

2)     The number of permanent exclusions in the Borough, including the number of those that relate to SEND children, will be brought to the Committee for information.