Agenda item

To receive and consider a report giving details of the Ofsted inspection outcomes and the action plan.

The Committee considered the Ofsted Inspection Outcomes and Action Plan report which was set out in agenda pages 21-40.  Viki Elliott-King presented the report.

Viki Elliott-King stated that the service had undergone a full Ofsted inspection in June 2019 and the outcome was ‘Requires Improvement’.  Ofsted had identified five areas for improvement and required that an action plan be submitted by 17 October 2019.  Ofsted had also identified many areas of good practice, however the result reflected the fact that quality was not consistent across the board.  Ofsted recognised that the service was on a trajectory of improvement.

Carol Cammiss stated that Ofsted the findings were in line with the service’s own self-evaluation.  The leadership team understood where the challenges were and the work to improve those areas that were identified by Ofsted as needing improvement had already started.  Additionally, Ofsted was pleased with the progress made since the earlier inspection.

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

·           In response to a question Carol Cammiss Social Workers’ caseload was reduced as a result of a review of all the children in need cases;

·           Carol Cammiss explained that an added difficulty in Social Worker recruitment was that it could be more difficult to recruit Social Workers to work in certain areas;

·           Carol Cammiss stated that the recent churn in senior leadership had been unsettling for staff and impacted the recruitment of staff.  She also stated that poor practice was not accepted in order to retain permanent members of staff;

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked if there were any areas of concern that had not been identified by Ofsted.  Carol Cammiss stated that the inspection had been very rigorous and that many areas of good practice had also been identified.  She stated that she had been honest with Ofsted in saying where the service was and what was being done to address areas that needed improving.  She stated that, provided that the senior leadership team remained stable, the service was on course to achieve its targets as outlined in the improvement plan;

·           In response to a question Carol Cammiss stated that a more robust reporting system was being put in place to monitor the adoption service provided by Adopt Berkshire;

·           Members asked for more information on the comments relating to Corporate Parenting Board (CPB).  Carol Cammiss stated that Ofsted felt unsure that CPB was adding value to the children.  The service was aware that CPB needed reforming before Ofsted’s visit and had already been working on a proposal to make it more efficient.  This proposal would be submitted at the next meeting of CPB;

·           Councillor Bray agreed that CPB needed to improve the way it operated in order to gain Members’ commitment;

·           Members asked for more information relating to recording systems.  Carol Cammiss stated that the service used two systems: MOSAIC, which was the information system where most children’s information was recorded and Electronic Document and Records Management System(EDMRS).  Ofsted identified a difficulty in navigating between the two systems.  This was known to the service and it would be necessary to work with the provider to find a system that could do everything that was needed;

·           In relation to the issue of parental consent, Carol Cammiss stated that parental consent was sought in most cases.  However, sometimes due to the very high statutory responsivity, the service might have intervene without parental consent; 

·           Members asked about the monitoring of children being home educated.  Carol Cammiss stated that when the local authority was informed that a child was being home educated they would contact the family and assess the child if there was parental consent, however parents were not obliged to agree.  Jim Leviers stated that the legislation stated that this was a matter of parental choice, therefore the local authority did not have the right to intervene.  Also, there was limited data on the number of children being home educated;

·           Members asked to receive information on the number of children being educated at home, including age groups and any other information that is available;

·           In response to a question Jim Leviers stated that home educators would have to register with Ofsted when they reached a certain number of children.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The outcome of the Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services 2019 be noted;

2)     The action taken so far in response to the identified areas for improvement and the next steps be noted;

3)     A report containing information on home educated children in the Borough be brought to the Committee; and

4)     Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee will review the proposals to strengthen the work of the Corporate Parenting Board.