KSCB Board Meeting
Friday 9th September 2016
9:30am – 12:30pm
Kirkgate Building, Byram Street, Huddersfield, HD1 1BY
Present:
Bron Sanders / Independent ChairCaroline Rhodes / Kirklees Safeguarding Children Board Manager
Tahira Iqbal / Non-Executive Member
Christina Fairhead / Designated Nurse for Safeguarding Children, Greater Huddersfield CCG & North Kirklees CCG
Osman Khan / Superintendent, West Yorkshire Police
Clive Barrett / Head of Safeguarding, Mid Yorks
Gill Ellis / Assistant Director for Learning, Children & Young People, Kirklees Council
Mandy Williams / Interim Manager, Safeguarding Assurance, Well-Being & Integration – Safeguarding & Support
Mick Frost / Non-Executive Member
Nicky Hoyle / Consultant in Public Health, Commissioning, Public Health & Adult Social Care
Penny Woodhead / Head of Quality & Safety, Greater Huddersfield & North Kirklees Clinical Commissioning Group
Councillor Erin Hill / Council (Joint) Lead Member, Portfolio Holder Lead for Children
Julie Warren-Sykes / Assistant Director of Nursing, South West Yorkshire Partnership
Jeanette Tate / Head Teacher, Ravenshall School, Dewsbury
Victoria Thersby / Head of Safeguarding, CHFT
Carly Speechley / Interim Assistant Director, Family Support & Child Protection, Directorate for Children & Young People, Kirklees Council
Rachel Holmes / CAFCASS
Gini Whitehead / Head of Probation, Kirklees & Wakefield National Probation Service (NPS)
Robert Scott / Head of Community Support Services, Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing
Gill Parry / Designated Doctor for Safeguarding Children & LAC
Sarah Callaghan / Director for Children & Young People, Kirklees Council
Lee Thompson / Head of Safeguarding & Social Work, Well-Being & Communities Directorate, Kirklees Council
Amanda Taylor / Acting Operations Director, Action for Children
Andrea Walters / CAFCASS
Paula Adams / Locala
Jane Carter / Business Support – minute taker
Apologies:
Andrew Sinclair / Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC)Kerry Warhurst / Senior Nurse, Quality & Safety, NHS England
1. / Introductions, apologies, new members / changes in membership/ substitutes for Board Members:
BS welcomed attendees and introductions were made around the table as there were a few new members attending today. Jane Held (author of the CAMHS Review) was unable to attend but was included via a telephone connection for that item. BS apologised for the small room, but explained that we were not able to get Broad Lea House for the extended Board meeting today.
BS advised the group that there was an updated CSE strategy and Action Plan and these were handed to members. CR asked for anyone who was not able to stay for the afternoon session to get an Ofsted briefing pack from JC. The potentially imminent visit of Ofsted will be discussed this afternoon.
BS gave further explanation for the number of additional papers, stating that some of these would be for the morning meeting and some would be for the afternoon development session.. BS went on to apologise for the lateness of some papers which had only been received the previous day, but need to be discussed as they are to be included in the annual report which is planned to be completed before the next Board in December.
JWS stated that she had some concerns over the CAHMS report, in that it may not be fully factually correct and there had not been opportunity to challenge the content. She therefore did not feel the report should be signed off today. BS agreed that the late arrival of the final draft had not enabled full consideration and challenge of the content and suggested some discussion today and a reconvening of the reference group to consider the report in detail.
There were concerns expressed about the overall level of papers for today's meeting and it was felt there were too many papers to be able to read and make comment on. BS stated that she understood the concerns but stated that some would be needed for the afternoon session, and some were for information.
BS confirmed that the Wood Review which was due to be discussed this afternoon would now be put to one side until it was clearer how the current Government intended to implement it. Comment was made about the more recent “Putting Children First” and where this fitted in the Governments plans.
BS advised the group that CR is leaving the KSCB in October. BS went on to say that CR has helped progress the work of the Board in many areas and thanked her for her work with the Board.
2. / Declaration of interests:
None
3. / Previous Minutes and outstanding actions & SARC Update:
MF asked if the Board needed to have a copy of the public minutes in the meeting papers as we already have the finalized minutes from the previous meeting. BS confirmed that these are sent out to reflect the accuracy of minutes sent to the public and to give the Board members an opportunity to raise any issues.
SARC – PW explained that she had been to a meeting to look at a potential model going forward. Concerns were raised about the current state of play. She felt that it was important that NHS England need to be included and to provide an update.
4. / The change agenda/ Issues from agencies:
GW advised the board that the Probation Service is in the middle of restructuring, there will be an impact on staffing and the movement of staff. GW stated that the service will try to ensure that the transfer of cases is kept to a minimum, unfortunately there will be some moves that can`t be helped. She went on to say that HM Inspectors of Probation will be going to probation in the next week. In relation to safeguarding issues the impact will be minimal.
5. / CSC Development Board/ quality and sustainable Improvement:
SC noted the importance of partner engagement in the CSC Development Board including the need to ask partners what impact the learning has had on their organisations and why and to support the future developments.
CS noted that issues had been raised from KSCB about the quality of practice in CSC, as well as through an external report. Processes had not been consistent, and this had been result of cultural issues. She commented that it will take time to make all these improvements, but things are improving. The number of Child Protection cases is increasing, although they are lower than neighbouring authorities. CS went on to say that by lowering the threshold there had been a spike in numbers. There are too many placements out of Kirklees which are very costly and that there is a need for quality placements. There are additional pressures, eg unaccompanied asylum seekers, who need to be placed.
It has been previously agreed that there would be a standing item on KSCB for CSC to provide progress reports and evidence of improvement. LT provided a presentation to the Board explaining how Social Care is working to achieving excellence through quality, compliance and performance. This report included data.
CS asked for partners' support in the improvement is process. CS went on to clarify the different figures, including those children placed outside of Kirklees, and the percentage of those over 20 miles.
CS said that she believed that this is a different message from 6 months ago. Some of the challenges have included the need to take workforce with us. There is a quality improvement group and the management team are being open and transparent. CS noted the need to link with the Board's E&E workstream to demonstrate progress, and said that it`s necessary to have partners to be on-board. Partners must be responsible for some of this narrative and having knowledge of the continuum of need and thresholds.
NH asked if full wording rather than initials could be used for clearer understanding.
CS shared with the group some statistics in relation to CSC caseloads: these are in comparison to other authorities. Workers are currently working with a caseload of approximately 25, it used to be 40. Some workers have higher caseloads, and these are regularly checked.
The question was raised on auditing in CSC and who is doing this. CS said that coaching and mentoring is taking place and there is work ongoing with Service Managers and Team Managers to upskill for in house/management audits. An exit plan is in place with regards to the external auditors with a plan for managers to take this forward. This will include all audits. CS said there is now direct feedback with staff, and they now feel less threatened with these conversations.
GW said that the management footprint is now more visible and the line management span is limited to overseeing 175 cases. Teams have been created more equally, with team managers overseeing 7 Social Workers and Service Managers overseeing 7 team managers. CPRU provides a quality assurance role for other staff within Kirklees Council and for partners and will feed back to Children Social Care and also vice versa.
RC & PW asked about the performance figures and how these compare with other areas. CS said there are benchmarking figures and these are produced and presented at the Development Board. It is recognised there is a need to be able to identify trends and comparative analysis.
LSW discussed the challenge of working with significant numbers of agency staff, and the concerns that have been raised that information is not flowing, and there are delays in getting information. CS stated that Gill Addy has been around the area and it appears that there had been improvements. Issues are being picked up from performance clinic and improvements made.
6.&7. / Health and Wellbeing Board and Children's Trust Update:
EH stated that the main discussion at the last Health and Wellbeing Board was financial, and that there needs to be a focus on ensuring partners' priorities are all aligned and that everyone works together.
The Children Trust have a development day planned which will review the role of the Children's Trust going forward. As part of this review we need to look at the role and membership of each Board, and try to ensure that there is less duplication of attendance across Boards. Consideration will need to be given to how we make sure partners are engaged and kept informed, and that there is clarity about the purpose of the Children's Trust. Early Intervention and Early Help are crucial to the current development discussions. Both Boards need to discuss this matter and ensure they work in the same direction.
PW stated that partners need to be fully engaged in the development of the early help services. EH commented that one of the challenges is how do we measure the impact of early intervention SC said that the principles are understood, evidencing however is not always very good.
Evaluation and Effectiveness Update & Audit Framework:
BS informed the meeting that CB will be taking over as chair temporarily, in the absence of TQ.
There is currently a comprehensive data set taken over a 2 year period, but it has been identified that there is a need for a more succinct date set. The E and E workstream have identified 30 indicators, with 1 further indicator is to be added. This core data set will be brought to the Board on a more regular basis and are going to be a scorecard basis, to be able to see the data graphically. These will be ready for the next meeting. NH asked for more information in relation to the KSCB core data set and said we need the core indicators, not as spreadsheets but something more pictorial. The E and E Workstream are clear that there is now a need to move forward from just looking at numbers in terms of data and that there needs to be effective data which informs improved work with children.
A discussion took place with reference to the attendance of police at CP conferences, and compliance by West Yorkshire Police. It was agreed that there is a need to monitor all partner`s attendance at these CP conferences. OK said that some authorities were higher than normal in attendance and that he believed Kirklees is at the right level. Bradford Police attend every case. Officers in Kirklees attend the cases they are invited to. BS stated that it was appropriate to do this.
GW said that there is the issue of data protection. Only people who need to be in the meeting should be invited.
Some concerns were raised that some of the CP police data presented at the E and E workstream was not easy to understand with no one available to give an explanation. OK confirmed that an operational Police Inspector will attend meetings to discuss the indicator figures.
Audit Framework:
PW reminded the Board that in conversation with Ofsted, we need to confirm that appropriate action has taken place with regards to drift and delay, and that we recognise that everyone has a job in relation to addressing drift and delay. We need to say what we are going to do to move this along.
In response to a query, MF stated that SWYFT audits are not multi agency audits. They are single agency audits, but there is learning from these, so partners can take this back to their own agency.
SC spoke about the audits which are red, and suggested an escalation policy with regards to audits
BS said that through monitoring of the audit framework document any drift and delay will be picked up. However there is a need to get people to commit to the agreed audit programme with staff/resources.
8. / Early Help and Neglect Task and Finish group & Intervention and Prevention Strategy Update: