Agenda item

Report of Interim Strategic Director, Care Wellbeing and Learning

The Committee received the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) annual report for the last financial year and the business plan for this year.

It was noted that the LSCB is a statutory multi agency partnership that meets six times per year to look at safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The role of the LSCB is to monitor effectiveness and coordinate what is done by partners for the purposes of safeguarding, also the Board must raise awareness of safeguarding and undertake Serious Case Reviews.

Last year the LSCB was chaired by Gary Hetherington and currently the Board is in a recruitment exercise for a new Chair.  The Board is obliged to publish an annual report on the effectiveness of safeguarding in the area, this is shared with this Committee, Cabinet, the Children’s Trust Board and the Health and Wellbeing Board.  The annual report also determines safeguarding priorities for the following year.

It was reported that the Government commissioned a review of multi agency strategic safeguarding arrangements and the Wood Report recommended a number of changes, including possibly disbanding LSCBs to set up new partnership arrangements. Government agreed in principle, however a Government steer is currently being awaited, therefore future requirements are not clear. It was noted that the Wood Report recommends the continuation of strategic multi agency partnership working, therefore it may be decided that the LSCB is still fit for purpose. It was agreed that the Committee would be kept up to date on any possible changes.

Over the last year the LSCB was inspected by Ofsted and was found to ‘require improvement’. Following this, seven recommendations were made, all of which have now been achieved and signed off. It was reported however that Ofsted was satisfied that the Board was meeting its statutory requirements but that some areas required strengthening, these were areas identified through self assessment. It was also found that a number of arrangements were strong, in particular around missing and sexually exploited children.  It was reported that progress has been made against all priorities, there has been an inquiry into child sexual exploitation and lessons have been learnt from Serious Case Reviews in other areas, as there has been none in Gateshead. The LSCB has also strengthened links to young people and communities, views of young people were sought through a recent engagement event. Taxi driver training events have also been held, this is now a condition on granting or renewing a taxi licence.  A sub-regional conference was also held with 500 professionals, including Social Workers, Health workers and Teachers.

The Missing, Sexually Exploited and Trafficked Group (MSET) discussed 43 cases due to missing and sexual exploitation concerns. The Child Death Review Sub Group considered nine child deaths, it was noted that this is the lowest number Gateshead has had and the majority of these deaths were due to premature births or as a result of life limiting conditions and were not modifiable conditions.

It was reported that there has been a 5% increase in the number of child protection plans over the last year and an increase of 38% in the number of child protection enquiries. It was acknowledged that this has inevitably led to an increase in the workload at a time when services are squeezed. It was noted that Gateshead continues to have the highest number of unborn babies subject to child protection plans and that this is reassuring as there are pre-birth assessments early and therefore less need to put in steps later. It was confirmed that the rate of re-referrals into Social Care remain low, this shows that families are receiving the services that they need at the first point of contact.  It was noted however that there has been an increase in the number of children being permanently excluded from school and higher than expected numbers of children being admitted to hospital for self-harm.

The Board previously agreed a three year approach in terms of business planning and three strategic principles were agreed; leadership, challenge and learning. Three strategic objectives were also established; protecting vulnerable children, preventing harm and improving outcomes.  In relation to leadership the Board will continue to strengthen links with the community and monitor the redesign of Early Help services.  In terms of challenge, an effectiveness framework will be implemented which will challenge the Boards performance, single agency audits will also be undertaken by partners. In relation to learning it was noted that young people will be listened to and their views be used to identify themes.  It was noted that task and finish work will be carried out on the issue of self-harm and the increase in permanent exclusions.

It was questioned whether the business plan would still stand if the Government steer was to remove LSCBs. It was confirmed that nothing would happen until at least the end of the year as legislation would need to be re-written if changes were intended to be made. 

It was queried as to who signs off the recommendations from Ofsted once they are achieved. It was noted that the Board sign off and then is reported to Group Management Team, it was confirmed that Ofsted would only return if there had been a judgement of inadequate. It was also noted that for long term issues an effectiveness framework is used as a benchmarking exercise.

It was questioned whether there is a lack of engagement with certain communities and whether this is specific to the LSCB or is Council wide.  It was confirmed that this is not an issue as there are now three lay members on the Board, there had previously been a member of the Jewish community represented, however he has since stood down and has not been replaced as of yet.  It was acknowledged that the Board has carried out the work recommended by Ofsted but there is still more to be done, for example rolling out the child sexual exploitation training to other areas such as the leisure sector.

It was questioned why there are no names against the membership list. It was noted that representatives change quite quickly and any named membership list would be out of date, however the positions would stay the same. It was confirmed that partnership arrangements are very strong and there is buy in at a senior level in all partner organisations.

It was queried what issues were identified as concerns for young people in Gateshead. It was noted that this was around safety on the Metro and in parks, however it was felt that this was more around perception rather than them witnessing any real incidents. It was suggested that, in the absence of park wardens, community leaders should be made aware of any issues in order to help tackle them.

It was questioned how the training to taxi drivers is provided. It was confirmed that taxi drivers must attend a one hour briefing with police around child sexual exploitation. The training highlights signs to look out for in terms of vulnerable young people and how to report any incidents of concern. There are examples of budget hotels being used so taxi drivers are made aware in case of dropping off young people at such places.  It was noted that in Newcastle there was examples of party houses where sessions were held and drivers need to be aware if they are dropping a lot of people off there.  It was agreed that a copy of the presentation and handouts provided to taxi drivers during their training would be circulated to the Committee.