Agenda item

To consider a report by the Director of Children’s Services which provides a summary from the Head of Service of the developments within One Adoption West Yorkshire since the last report in January 2018.

(Please note that Appendix No.2 contains exempt information and should not be shared with third parties)

(Report attached)

The Director of Children’s Services submitted a report and provided a summary of the developments within One Adoption West Yorkshire since the last report in January 2018 which included:

·  Staffing & HR

·  Accommodation and Service Delivery

·  Partnership Working

·  Performance Management

·  Interagency Budget (Confidential discussed in private session)

Members noted that staffing numbers remained stable, recent recruitment to posts would assist in covering the work left by vacancies. An area of concern was the Adoption Support Teams. It was reported that 3 members of staff had recently left the service with a number of others on long term sickness absence. Members were informed that the managing attendance team together with occupational health were working with individuals to address ill health in the service.

Referring to accommodation and service delivery it was reported that a number of staff were experiencing excessive travelling because the service was currently operating from 5 bases across the region. Members were informed the Senior Leadership Team were considering the following options

·  Remain in the current arrangements

·  Look at moving from 5 bases to 3 (so that the 3 teams in each area could be located together (as in the Leeds Office)

·  Move to one central office location for everyone but for staff to have touch down space in each local authority area to maintain relationships with local authority staff

Members were informed that consultation with staff was currently ongoing and involvement with asset management in each area was progressing.

It was the view of the Member from Wakefield that there was a concern about staff moving out of Wakefield to Bradford and that it was understood that ongoing discussions were underway regarding this. Members accepted that one central office location was the preferred option but understood that finding a suitable location would be challenging and supported further discussions with asset management.

Information Technology (IT) continued to be problematic, accessing the local authority systems from a portal on a Leeds laptop was difficult due to the use of different systems across the region and priorities given to this by local authority IT teams. However, the IT Project Team was working with individual teams to progress this.

It was reported that Partnership Working was progressing well, child permanence report training for social workers across the region had been agreed and subsequently commissioned by One Adoption West Yorkshire. In addition training in respect of sibling assessments was also being commissioned to improve practice in these areas.

Performance Management was the subject of a separate report on the agenda.

Members noted the information around the interagency budget arrangements.

Commenting on the budget arrangements Members expressed concern about the interagency budget pressures and suggested that further details about this were required ahead of the budgets being set in each local authority.

In summing up the Chair said that the transition continued to progress but further development of the IT systems was required.

RESOLVED –

(i)  To note and welcome the progress of the agency

(ii)  To support the further progression of these arrangements

(iii)  That further details about the interagency budget pressures be circulated to all Members of the Committee