Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Choudhry, W Gill, Mayo and Weston.

Members to declare any interests in matters to be discussed at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2023 as a correct record.

Resolved that the minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2023 are approved as a correct record.

To determine whether there are any additional items of business to be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent additional items of business to consider. 

To receive and comment upon the Adoption@Heart Annual Report 2022/23 and provide summary feedback to the next meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board.

The Board received the Regional Adoption Agency’s (RAA) Annual Report for 2022/23.  The provision of an adoption service was a statutory requirement and the Council was required to monitor the provision of adoption services. The agency had been operating for four years, following a government direction for all local authorities to deliver their adoption services through a regional agency, funded by the Department for Education.

Adoption@Heart continued to be an active member of the Midlands Together Collaboration (MTC), which had a shared aim to enhance placement choice at the earliest possible opportunity for children and to ensure effective arrangements and protocols were in place for providing longer term adoption support.  Placement figures for the MTC region were:-

·      145 interagency placements had been made for 206 children;

·      12 placements secured with RAAs for 13 children;

·      41 placements made with VAA partners for 60 children.

The focus this year had been the launch of the MTC Early Permanence Good Practice Guide.  This followed the launch of the National Early Permanence Standards and was in recognition of the need to that early permanence was considered for all children with a likely plan of adoption.  Since the launch of the Good Practice Guide in February and March 2023, referrals for Fostering to Adopt (FFA) placements had increased. The challenge for Adoption@Heart and other RAA’s was recruiting enough adopters to meet the increase in demand.

The Board noted the following headline data for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 Mach 2023:-

·      541 adopter enquiries had been received, compared to 609 the previous year; advertising was now being done on a wider scale to increase numbers;

·      there had been an increase n the number of complex assessments, which had adversely impacted on the completion of adoption assessments within six months;

·      a survey carried out by Adoption UK indicated that the cost of living crisis was having an impact, with adopters seeking to adopt fewer and older children;

·      40 adopters had been approved, of which 15 were approved within the six-month statutory timescale, this also represented a reduction in 17 adopters compared to the previous year;

·      as of 31 March 2023 there were 21 families approved and awaiting a match;

·      the new adopters approved did not reflect the cultural and religious heritage of the children awaiting adoption, so adopters were being asked to consider widening their criteria to reduce waiting times;

·      delays and witing times were being closely monitored;

·      there had been four formal complaints, learning from complaints continued to be a key feature of the service;

·      staffing was stable and vacancy rates continued to be low;

·      there had been one referral to the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) and the IRM had upheld the Agency’s original decision;

·      there had been one placement disruption and one placement that had not progressed beyond introductions, learning from both events had been fed back into the services and changes implemented where necessary;

·      from Autumn 2023 governance arrangements would be streamlined, with a new Strategic Partnership Board, replacing the Management Board  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30/23

To consider and comment on Sandwell Children’s Trust Draft Annual Review 2022/23 and receive the Sandwell Children’s Trust performance update 2022/23 .

The Board received the Sandwell Children’s Trust’s Annual Review and Performance Update for 2022/23.

The Trust was contractually required to report to the Board twice a year.  Progress against the performance indicators for the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 was set out in the Annual Review 2022/23, together with information about financial, workforce, and other performance areas.  The Review informed the Trust’s business plan on an annual basis.

Since April 2018 the Trust had been the subject of seven monitoring visits from Ofsted as well as a focussed visit, three inspection visits of the fostering service, a full inspection under the Ofsted framework and guidance for inspecting local authority services for children (ILACS) in May 2022, and most recently an inspection of adoption services in December 2022.  The judgement following the inspection undertaken in May 2022 was one of ‘Requires Improvement to be Good’.  With the judgement of ‘Good’ received by the fostering service in August 2021 and a judgement of ‘Good’ for the adoption service in December 2022 there was a clear trajectory of service improvement.

The Trust had undertaken a refresh of its Improvement Plan, utilising the feedback provided by Ofsted following the ILACS inspection, with an aim of becoming a ‘Good’ or better organisation. 

The Board noted the following key headlines:-

·      11 key performance indicators (KPIs) had been met, and three were within the contract tolerance;

·      a provisional surplus of £39k had been generated;

·      the key financial pressures related to the reliance on agency staff and placement pressures;

·      between June and September 2022 there had been significant staffing issues, which was reflective of the national and regional picture in respect of recruitment and retention of social workers;

·      to reduce the child of children not being allocated a social worker, the Council had supported the bringing in of five agency project teams during this period;

·      caseloads were lower at the end of the year than the beginning, however, Sandwell was still higher than statistical neighbours;

·      there had been an increase n the number of children working with the Strengthening Families Service;

·      the number of re-referrals had increased, and a deep dive had revealed a need to get better at preparing partners to provide support to enable the Trust to step down;

·      the rate of Section 47 enquiries continued to be lower than statistical neighbours and in line with England and West Midlands averages;

·      the rate of initial child protection conferences was now below statistical neighbours’, England and West Midlands averages;

·      the number of children with a Child Protection Plan had increased, but remained below statistical neighbours and England and West Midlands averages.

Following comments and questions from members of the Board, the following responses were provided and issues highlighted:-

·      the positive judgments from Ofsted had changed people’s view of Sandwell and the Trust had worked on its branding and values so social worker recruitment was in a better place than in previous years;

·      office accommodation and IT had also been re-modelled based on staff  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31/23

To consider and comment upon the Education Investment Area and Priority Education Investment Area developments.

Further to Minute No. 17/23 (20^th March 2023) the Board received an update on developments in relation to Sandwell being selected as an Education Investment Area and Priority Education Investment Area.

The Local Partnership Board had held a launch event in June 2023 for all Sandwell schools and academies. This had detailed the universal offer available to all Sandwell schools and the that for priority schools. The event had been well attended, with positive engagement from stakeholders.

Priority schools for each of the workstreams had now been contacted and invited to take up the support offer. Other schools could be added in the autumn term, subject to the outcomes of 2023 Key Stage 2 tests and Key Stage 4 examinations. 

Procurement of delivery partners was currently taking place.  Delivery of Key Stage 2 and 3 maths workstreams would likely commence in September 2023 and was being delivered by The Maths Hub.  Bids were currently being assessed in relation to the SEND workstream, however, no bids had been received for any of the other workstreams, which mirrored neighbouring LA’s positions, and tenders had therefore been re-issued.

To consider the establishment of a Scrutiny Review Working Group to investigate the impact of the Cost of Living on Attendance and Attainment in Education in Sandwell. 

That the Board considered the draft scope in relation to its review into the cost of living and its impact on educational attainment and attendance in Sandwell. 

The scope document set out the proposed areas of inquiry for the review and the methods to gather evidence.  The scope was not set in stone and could be revised according to the evidence gathered as the review progressed.

Resolved

(1)          that the scope for the review into the cost of living and its impact on educational attainment and attendance in Sandwell is endorsed;

(2)          that a working group is established to progress the review, comprising councillors Ashraf, Hinchliff and Pall; and co-opted members Barrie Scott and Yvonne Ologbo.

Standing item to consider and note progress on implementation of actions and recommendations.

The Board noted progress on actions and recommendations from previous meetings.

Standing item to consider the Children’s Services and Education Work Programme and future items on the Forward Plan.

The Board noted the Cabinet Forward Plan as it related to Children, Young People and Education.

The Director of Children and Education reported that the draft report had now been received, following the SEND area inspection and the final report was due to be published shortly.  The full report would be brought to a future meeting.

Members requested a report to a future meeting on the operation and success of Operation Encompass in Sandwell.

Resolved that the following items be added to the Board’s work programme for 2023/24:-

·      Outcome of SEND Area Inspection.

·      Operation and Success of Operation Encompass in Sandwell.