Agenda item

Children’s Services will give the Committee an overview of the key priorities and challenges for 2019-20 – as well as some of their achievements over the past year.

Steve Miley, Director of Children's Services, presented the report which gave the Committee an overview of the key priorities and challenges for 2019-20 – as well as some of the department's major achievements over the past year.

Steve Miley said he was very confident in the department's core services - social care had been rated good with outstanding features by Ofsted, the borough had excellent schools, and the recent SEND Ofsted review had been really positive. He stressed that this did not mean officers were being complacent - each service needed constant attention to maintain those standards. He then spoke about the areas that had been identified where changes needed to take place.

Services for adolescents

Officers explained that it was harder to get the outcomes the Council wanted with adolescents - both in education and social care. It was harder to achieve progress with older children because patterns of behaviour became entrenched and the roots of those issues often stretched very far back in their lives. The challenge was - could the Council design services that identified those children earlier so they could be better supported in school and with their family. It would require more intensive services than currently offered.

Emerging needs in mainstream education

Jan Parnell said there was a small but significant number of children who were disengaged from mainstream education. Officers were working closely with schools to improve inclusion in schools. They had commissioned a headteacher to put together a report on alternative provision to look at how to be more inclusive. There would also be an inclusion event for headteachers with expert speakers at Chelsea Football Club on 12 July.

Councillor Lucy Richardson said she applauded the emphasis on positive behaviour management - it was a key issue for parents. She asked if the Council could make this strategy transparent to everyone in the borough - particularly the third sector. Jan Parnell said she hoped to get a commitment that was broader than just schools at the conference. There was currently a pilot in 6 primary schools around mediating children's use of the internet, making it more positive. They were also running parenting classes in Children's Centres.

Steve Miley said there was an ambition for all services - and the wider community - to be trauma aware. To properly address challenging or troubling behaviour meant understanding the trauma behind it. Jan Parnell was developing a trauma-aware proposal with Early Help to broaden this work out.

Councillor Lucy Richardson asked if the Council had engaged with the 'Challenging Behaviour Foundation' - a charity for people with learning disabilities who have behaviour challenges. Mandy Lawson said the SEND team were working with the CCG on an intensive behaviour support offer that was based in the home and community (rather than clinic-based).

Matt Jenkins asked if there was more that could be done during school holidays. Jan Parnell noted that 16 primary schools were doing activities this summer but she wanted more. The Youth Offer will also help address this. Councillor Larry Culhane said the Council had recently seed-funded a project, working with the Young Hammersmith and Fulham Foundation, that was similar to the local offer but for young people. It would be an easy to use directory of activities online that made it easy to find out what's available in the area.

Councillor Lucy Richardson asked how officers were monitoring the effectiveness of transition services.

Mandy Lawson said they were pulling together a joint group with Children's Services and Adult Social Care to have joint oversight of transition tracking. Councillor Richardson asked if officers were keeping records of people who 'fell through the net'. Mandy Lawson said there were fewer of those cases - the gap was in the ASD pathway but officers were working on this with Adult Social Care through the joint ASD strategy.

Nandini Ganesh asked what about those young adults who weren't eligible for Adult Social Care. Mandy Lawson said their needs should be met through the community local offer and the industrial strategy.

The Chair asked for more information on the inclusion work. Jan Parnell reported that the Council had commissioned Gary Kynaston, the Headteacher of Hammersmith Academy, to do a review of alternate provision (AP) in the borough. The report will be shared with the Committee shortly. Officers were also reshaping contracts with a range of AP providers. It was a key issue for Children's Services. Councillor Larry Culhane said the review was a fantastic example of the new way of working - working in partnership with schools and academies. He thanked to Jan Parnell, Steve Miley and Gary Kynaston for a great piece of work.

The Chair asked if there were any outstanding issues following the separation from the shared services arrangements. Steve Miley said the major one was the Education which was very slimmed down. There were a couple of areas that needed more capacity:

·       Childcare lead

·       AP lead

·       Children's Services Commissioning

Jan Parnell noted that a new head of Early Years had been appointed and was starting in September.

The Chair asked what the key cost pressures for the department were. Steve Miley said the major pressures were:

·       The High Needs Block (services for children with additional educational needs) - this was a national issue. The current funding formula wasn't based on the actual number of children with additional needs or the complexity of those needs.

·       Looked after Children's placements - high cost placements reflected the higher levels of deprivation and social disadvantage in society today. The Council was committed to providing care for those children but costs can be very high.

Mandy Lawson added that the Council's commitment to ensuring disabled children don't need to go to out of borough placements would mean high cost individualised packages.

The Chair requested a progress report that set out more detail on the areas covered in the report - including key indicators, costs, pressures etc.

ACTION: Steve Miley

Matt Jenkins asked if the Industrial Strategy was addressing the issues with T Level qualification and a lack of work experience placements. Jan Parnell said officers had worked with schools and special schools to deliver placements. The team had also written a 14-19 strategy that aligns with the industrial strategy. The Council wanted to use its contacts to put together an offer for schools and was working with the Economy department to help build capacity to support T Levels in schools. Jan Parnell added that she was about to engage with Founders for Schools on an online portal that would provide matching offers of mentoring, talks to schools etc. The Chair asked for an update on this at the next meeting.

ACTION: Jan Parnell