Agenda item

To receive and consider a report containing the Ofsted findings following the inspection to WBC Children’s Services in November 2015.

The Committee considered the Ofsted findings report, relating to an inspection which took place in Wokingham Borough Council’s Children’s Services in November 2015. The Ofsted report was set out in Agenda pages 37-77.  The Chairman went through the report page by page inviting Members to make comments where appropriate.  During the analysis of the report the following points were made:

·           Judith Ramsden stated that the Ofsted report validated the service’s own self-assessment and peer review.  The service had elements of ‘good’ and the regulator had said that if the improvement plans were implemented the service would achieve a ‘good’ rating in the future.  Judith would soon be submitting an improvement plan to the government; therefore it was important to engage HWB in the plans;

·           Felicity reported that Ofsted had praised the efforts made so far to recruit more Foster Carers and suggested that this should continue.  Felicity stated that the Homes for Good project had attracted some people and three assessments had resulted from it, however it was important to target the right people;

·           Judith emphasised that it was important to engage parents in helping to safeguard children against the child sexual exploitation risks in the form of social media and the internet. Children spent a considerable amount of time at home in their own bedrooms with access to the internet without supervision.  Judith stated that it was necessary to raise awareness in the community around this issue;

·           Special guardianship orders were carefully considered by a panel that met monthly.  Felicity stated that the number of special guardianship orders could vary due to a number of reasons.  Sometimes relatives wanted to look after a child but underestimated the level of work and commitment involved, other times the child did not want to lose the support received by the Local Authority;

·           Members noted the point raised by Ofsted regarding young people not understanding the reasons for contact arrangements between LAC and their families.  Also the fact that questionnaires were completed but not consistently used to maximise planning for LAC.  This was recognised by Officers and would be addressed;

·           In response to a question, Judith stated that the virtual Headteacher was Jay Blundell;

·           Councillor Bray congratulated officers on the good achievements of the Adoption Services;

·           Officers accepted the point raised by Ofsted that performance manage systems should be improved to facilitate better understanding by middle management of service strengths and weaknesses.  The data available to managers was not in a user friendly format.  As a result managers were not able to fully scrutinise the data to ensure that quality was maintained and improved. This was an area that needed improvement;

·           Judith reported that work was being undertaken to improve the safeguarding of unborn children. Judith had raised the issue with the Royal Berkshire Hospital and the service would be monitoring pregnant women from families already known to the service;

·           Members asked about the Ofsted inspectors credentials.  Officers explained that most inspectors were accredited and experienced; there were different pathways to becoming an inspector.  The team that had inspected Wokingham was considered by all Officers to be good and fair.

The Chairman commented that the targets presented in the report were ambitious.  Brian Grady stated that it was important to move forward in the areas that needed improvement and not to get into a state of complacecy post inspection.

Judith confirmed that the impact of the plans would be monitored in three, six and nine months’ time.

It was noted that on page 83 where it said ‘initial awareness to be deleted’ it should read ‘initial awareness to be completed’.

RESOLVED That the Committee notes the report and requests to have a monitoring report and action plan for the next meeting with a comment on each action taken in a timely fashion.