Agenda item

At a meeting of the Committee in June 2012 Members agreed to receive a six monthly update on key children’s safeguarding issues. This third report, jointly prepared by the Assistant Director for Children’s Specialist Services and the Chair of the CYSCB updates the committee on national and local developments over the past six months.

Members received a six monthly report from the Chair of City of York Safeguarding Children’s Board (CYSCB) and the Assistant Director for Children’s Specialist Services which updated them on key children’s safeguarding issues.

Questions from Members to Officers included;

·        How had lessons learnt from the CYSCB’s thematic review into child neglect had been spread across all agencies involved in children’s services?

·        What was being done to recognise the need, rather than the troublesome nature of young people who were subject to Child Sex Exploitation?

·        What was the current situation in York in regards to the Government’s Trouble Families Initiative?

·        To what extent was an impact on the “Front Door” process being felt in York due to the changes outlined in the report?

It was reported that conclusions from the CYSCB’s review into child neglect had been disseminated to other agencies via;

·        The CYSCB conference (which had been attended by Professor Eileen Munro).

·        A full child neglect report to all agencies in the city

·        An audit report findings to all staff involved in children’s services.

·        Face to face meetings with staff so they could carry out good practice.

In regards to recognition of the need of young people subject to Child Sexual Exploitation, Members were informed that the Safeguarding Board hoped to meet with School Head teachers so that they could inform parents, to make sure that everyone was aware of the symptoms of Child Sexual Exploitation. Also the Safeguarding Board and Council planned to ‘turn up the volume’ on resilience to create a culture of safety for young people to be aware that developing sexuality was not just linked with exploitation.

It was reported that the Safeguarding Board had been notified that there were 315 Troubled Families resident in York.

However, the Board took the view to target a larger number and carried out work with Troubled Families through three hubs where social workers could work with the local communities. It was reported that through this work, agencies had managed to reach and help close to 700 families. Although this was a higher number than previously identified, Officers felt that this could be deemed to be a success as it showed a reduction in the number of children taken into care.

Regarding changes on the Front Door process, it was noted that the changes had acted as a catalyst. There was not a sense that there had been a reduction in engagement from the Police in the process and that allowed for the best intelligence about concerns to aid a preventative approach.

Resolved:  (i)      That the report be noted and that the Committee                       continue to receive summarised briefings of                                     cases reviewed by the CYSCB.

                   (ii)      That an updates on the following be included in                        the December 2013 scrutiny briefing:

·                              The review of the CYSCB.

·                              The trends in York’s Looked After Children                       (LAC)’s population.

·                              The preparation and planning arrangements for               York’s next inspection.

                   (iii)     That a progress briefing on the Children’s ‘Front                        Door’ development is presented to the Scrutiny                          Committee’s  June 2014 meeting.

Reason:              To allow Members to be fully informed on key                                      children’s safeguarding issues.