Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Children’s Services which provides Members with a further update on the implementation of the Children Act 2004 and which summarises the recent developments within Children’s Services

Further to Minute No. 45, 12^th October 2006, the Board received an update from the Director of Children’s Services on the implementation of the Children Act 2004 in Leeds. The report also provided Members with a detailed summary of recent developments linked to the provision of children’s services.

Appended to the report for Members’ information was an Action Plan advising Members of the progress made in relation to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Board’s inquiry into the implementation of the Children Act in Leeds.

Rosemary Archer, Director of Children’s Services, was in attendance to advise Members of the main issues detailed within the report and respond to any questions raised.

Following a brief overview of the key points within the report a question and answer session ensued. The main areas of debate were as follows:-

·  The ways in which the impact of Council activity on children and young people was being assessed and how such processes were becoming routinely embedded within the decision making structure;

·  The procedures established which would enable children and young people, in addition to other partners, to have a greater opportunity to influence the provision of children’s services in Leeds;

·  Issues relating to the Executive and support arrangements which had been established for the provision of children’s services;

·  The wide ranging levels of need for children’s services in Leeds and the ways in which such need was being managed;

·  The integral role to be played by the Scrutiny Board in relation to the delivery of children’s services in Leeds and the need to ensure that the visibility of the Board’s work in this field was maximised. In response, the Director of Children’s Services undertook to ensure that Members’ views on this issue were taken into consideration;

·  The possibility of the Board monitoring the extent to which young people and families were consulted on the delivery of children’s services in Leeds;

·  Members highlighted the sophisticated way in which the Youth Council operated and emphasised the need to ensure that the Youth Council continued to be integrated into the Council’s scrutiny and decision making processes;

·  Members requested further information relating to the staffing structure of the Director of Children’s Services Unit, including the responsibilities of each role. In response, Members were advised that although the information currently available could be provided in the interim, a more comprehensive staffing structure was proposed to be circulated to Members in the future, when all relevant posts had been filled;

·  The strategic and thematic nature of the senior roles in the Unit, and how this was reflected in job titles which were not felt to be easily understandable for the public;

·  The role which was intended to be played by the ‘Locality Enablers’ and the specific localities in which they would work;

·  Members raised concerns over the uncertainty experienced by voluntary organisations with regard to the commissioning of children’s services and enquired when the arrangements for the commissioning of such services would be finalised and disseminated to all concerned;

·  The wide range of Council services and the large volume of resources which fell within the Scrutiny Board’s remit and the extent to which the Board had the capacity to comprehensively scrutinise such an extensive range of service provision, balanced against the need to maintain one strategic overview body for all children and young people’s services;

·  The costs associated with the new posts being created within the Children’s Services Unit, whether recruitment to such posts would complete the Unit’s structure and the funding available for such recruitment;

·  Members expressed the need to receive budgetary information relating to the provision of children’s services. In response, the Board was advised that such information could be submitted to the Board at the time of the next update on Children’s Services scheduled for April 2007;

·  Members welcomed the proposal to appoint a Director of Adult Social Services, stressed the importance of developing a link between children’s and adults’ services in Leeds and discussed the possible need for a Scrutiny Board to be established which would solely focus upon the provision of adult services. It was then proposed that Members’ views on the issue could be relayed to Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration;

·  The possibility of the Contact Service in Leeds being expanded to include private law cases, in a bid to reduce the level of delays which had been experienced. In response, the Board was advised that the suggestion could be referred to Social Services for consideration;

·  The availability of Government guidance regarding the governance arrangements to support schools which were developing children’s centres and extended services;

·  The ongoing attempts to train the workforce within Residential Services and the current levels of staff turnover in this field;

·  The lack of child and adolescent mental health services listed within the health priorities for 2007/2008;

·  Members sought clarification on the arrangements for the free 7.5 hour session which was being offered to 750 2 year olds as part of the Pathfinder Status achieved by the Early Years Service and questioned whether parents of young children would be given the opportunity to access community and voluntary sector organisations in addition to the local authority;

·  The role which was played by Area Management Boards in Leeds and the extent to which they were fully operational in each area of the city;

·  The actions taken to ensure that the reasons given by schools to exclude pupils were appropriate;

·  The possibility of future reports concerning the provision of children’s services being split between those which addressed strategic issues and those which considered the functional aspects, in a bid to enable such a wide ranging issue to be considered in a more comprehensive way. Members also requested that the Director of Children’s Services was accompanied by appropriate officers when presenting similar reports in the future, so that the extensive range of questions arising from such reports could be answered.

·  The Board extended its congratulations to Education Leeds for winning the Public Sector Power 100 award within the category of ‘Team Excellence’, and to the North West SILC for its good Ofsted report.

RESOLVED –

(a). That the contents of the report and Members’ comments arising from the report be noted;

(b). That the information requested by the Board be forwarded to Members for consideration;

(c). That the Board’s views which relate to the scrutiny of adult services be relayed to Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration.