Agenda item

To receive and consider a report giving details of the service’s key performance indicators.

The Performance Indicators report was presented by Nick Hammond, Service Manager Intelligence and Impact.

The following comments were made during the presentation and discussion of the report:

Dashboard Item 1 – Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

·           Nick Hammond stated that there had been a slight dip in the percentage of plans issued within the 20 week period, but was still above statistical neighbours.  He stated that in some cases parents had asked for addional  time to feedback/submit evidence, in other cases professional reports had been received late and where schools could not be named in a plan, these had been delayed until such a time as they could be;

·           Nick Hammond stated that the number of EHCPs were up 17% compared to this time last year;

·           In response to a question Sal Thirlway stated the statistics in Q2 had been impacted by a couple of cases of children moving into the Borough from out of the area, where their plans had been started with another local authority; and also by one member of staff having to take time off due to a family bereavement;

·           In response to a question Sal Thirlway stated that the figures showed an increase of 23 children out of Borough from Q1 to Q2.  Nick Hammond added that the out of Borough figures reflected the fact that there were no colleges in Wokingham and sometimes children chose to go to college out of the Borough.

Dashboard Item 2 – Early Help

·           Nick Hammond stated that the average length of time between referral and assessment completion had gone down, despite the significant increase in the number for referrals in Q2;

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked for an update on the internal review.  Adam Davis, Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care stated that the Early Help strategy was waiting be signed off, once that was completed there would be a task and finish group to look at the activity, but there had been a delay because of Covid.

Dashboard Item 3 – Children’s Social Care Front Door

·           Nick Hammond stated that it was encouraging that the number of repeat referrals had gone down, especially given the current circumstances;

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked if the pandemic was having an impact in the number of repeat referrals and he also asked about the complexity of cases;

·           Adam Davis stated that there had been an increase in the complexity of cases, but this was not linked to Covid;

·           Councillor Loyes asked for more detail about the open cases mentioned on page 31.  Nick Hammond stated that this referred to the service promptly closing cases where appropriate.

Dashboard Item 4 – Child Protection

·           Nick Hammond stated that these figures related to the reduced number of referrals;

·           Nick Hammond stated that the service had an internal non-statutory timescale of 10 working days for child protection visits, and there was a high percentage of visits occurring within the timescales.  He pointed out that most visits were still being carried out face to face.

Dashboard Item 5 – Children In Care

·           Nick Hammond stated that the percentage of visits to CIC within timescale remained stable.  It was positive that there had been a decrease in the percentage of children who had more than one allocated social worker in the period;

·           Adam Davis stated that some virtual visits had had to be carried out virtually for those children who were placed out of the area, in areas that were under strict Covid restrictions.

Dashboard Item 6 – Care Leavers

·           Nick Hammond stated that the service was in touch with 91% of Care Leavers, this represented 84 out of 92.  There had been a slight increase in Care Leavers who were Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET), it was believed that this was linked to the current situation;

·           Councillor Mickleburgh asked what actions were being taken to support Care Leavers who were NEET.  Adam Davis stated that the role of the Virtual Schools was extending to the ages of 16 to 21, the service was also looking into ways to ring fence apprenticeships to Care Leavers.

Dashboard Item 7 – Children Missing From Home/Care

·           Nick Hammond stated that the number of children not currently on a school roll had decreased significantly when compared with this time last year and there had not been any permanent exclusions in the period;

·           Councillor Swaddle asked that the narrative should state: ‘not on school roll or being educated at home’;

·           Councillor Swaddle stated that Members would be interested to know the numbers in relation to elective home education and whether these numbers were going up due the current situation;

·           Councillor Swaddle asked that Dashboard Item 7 be renamed in future as it now includes exclusions and EHE.

Dashboard Item 8 – Children’s Services Workforce

·           Councillor Helliar-Symonds asked if the agency staff were long term staff.  Adam Davis stated that some of them had been with the local authority for a long time, however the aspiration was to increase the number of permanent staff;

·           Adam Davis stated that there was a recruitment and retention strategy, the service had recently undertaken a number of newly qualified social workers.  He stated that it was important to create an attractive working environment to recruit more permanent social workers. 

RESOLVED That the report be noted.