Agenda and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare:

·         Any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·         Any prejudicial interests or

·         any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests they might have in relation to the business on the agenda or other general interests they might have within the remit of the Board. None were declared.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 2 December 2013.

Resolved:  That the minutes of the last meeting of the Corporate Parenting Board held on 2 December 2013 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting members of the public who have registered to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Board’s remit can do so. The deadline for registering is 5pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5pm on Tuesday 4 March 2014.

Anyone who wishes to register or who requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officers for this meeting, details of whom are listed at the foot of this agenda.

Filming or Recording Meetings

Residents are welcome to photograph, film or record Councillors and Officers at all meetings open to the press and public. This includes the use of social media reporting, i.e. tweeting.  Anyone wishing to film, record or take photos at any public meeting should contact the Democracy Officer (whose contact details are at the foot of this agenda) in advance of the meeting.

The Council’s protocol on Webcasting, Filming & Recording of Meetings ensures that these practices are carried out in a manner both respectful to the conduct of the meeting and all those present.  It can be viewed at http://www.york.gov.uk/downloads/download/3130/protocol_for_webcasting_filming_and_recording_of_council_meetings

It was reported that there were no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Independent Reviewing Officers undertake a crucial role in the lives of looked after children and young people. They have an independent oversight of the care planning arrangements for each looked after child. They Chair the child care reviews, in which the progress of the child’s care plan is scrutinised.

This report summarises the progress in relation to this crucial area of work in promoting the best outcomes for looked after children and young people.

Members considered the draft 2013 Annual Report of the Manager of Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO). The draft report provided a detailed overview of the service in 2013-14 including information on the reporting period, the legal, statutory and national context of the IRO Role, the structure of the City of York Council IRO Service, IRO caseloads and unit performance (including data on the number of reviews, timeliness of reviews, participation in reviews, consultation prior to reviews and the distribution of review records), the profile of Looked After Children in York and the IRO impact on the outcomes for children and young people (including dispute resolution and escalation, quality assurance audits and referrals for advocacy). The report also outlined the five key priorities for 2014-15.

The Head of Service (Resources), Children’s Social Care and the Principal Advisor/Interim IRO Manager attended the meeting to present the report.

Members noted that while the purpose of the report was to meet the statutory requirements established by the IRO handbook (2010), the report also recognised and responded to the findings and recommendations of the Thematic Report in relation to an evaluation of the effectiveness of IRO’s entitled “Independent Reviewing Officers: Taking up the challenge” published by Ofsted in 2013.

Members were informed that caseloads were currently too high and noted that IROs also chaired child protection conferences which, while enabling them to maintain their skills, took up a significant amount of their time. There were advised that authorisation had now been obtained for two additional sixth-month posts (one full time and one part time) and it was likely that these would be would be advertised through secondment opportunity and external advert. Members were advised that the posts were temporary to take into account of future Looked After Children projections, which indicated a decrease. Members asked that an update on recruitment of staff be provided at a future meeting of the Board.

Members noted that the Unit was currently located within the Children’s Social Care Service however there was a question of where it would be best located to achieve independence. While there were good reasons for the unit reporting to the Assistant Director, Children’s Specialist Services, the independence of the unit was also a critical requirement.

With regard to the timely review of children, Members acknowledged that reduced capacity had impacted on performance and in turn achieving the timescales in which reviews have to be held. While only 79% or reviews had been completed on time during 2013, officers advised that they were confident that they would be able to meet the performance target of 90% this year.

With regard to participation in reviews, Members acknowledged that it was important to have a number of different methods of engaging with children and young people and to aim for high levels of participation through attendance. Members noted with interest the opportunity for children and young people to partially chair or co-chair their own reviews. Members asked to see some comparative data on looked after  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

Members are asked to consider the Board’s workplan for the 2014-15 municipal year

Consideration was given to the Board’s work plan for the 2014-15 municipal year. It was agreed that the suggested items for consideration detailed at the bottom of the current work plan, and listed below, be fed into a draft work plan for the forthcoming municipal year. These were:

·        The emotional well being of looked after children

·        Promoting a positive sense of identity for all children

·        Update from Service Manager and the elected Member with responsibility for visiting children’s homes.

·        Feedback from the Glen in the wider context of short breaks.

·        A briefing note to be provided to the Board on lessons that could be learned from the Daniel Pelka case in Coventry.

·        Profile of Looked after Children in the City – twice yearly update requested.

·        Update on Strategic Partnership Arrangements

In addition to the above issues, it was agreed that it would be beneficial for Corporate Parenting Board Members to meet with both foster carers and members of the Show Me That I Matter Panel.

Resolved: (i)      That the work plan be approved.

                   (ii)      That a work plan for 2014-15 be drafted to include the suggestions detailed above.

Reason:     To ensure that the Board has a planned programme of work in place.