Agenda item

To receive a report from the Director of Children and Families which informs the Scrutiny Board of the planned actions to respond to the recommendations of the ILACS inspection 2022.

In introducing this item, the Chair explained that last year the Scrutiny Board had considered the findings of Ofsted inspectors following the two-day focused visit to Leeds Children’s Services in July 2021 and more recently in relation to the inspection of children’s social care services that was undertaken in late February/early March 2022 in accordance with the ILCAS framework.

The report submitted by the Director of Children and Families presented an update on the outcomes of the ILACS inspection that relate to the front door focused visit recommendations, as well as setting out the planned actions to respond to the recommendations that had stemmed from the ILACS inspection.

The following were in attendance for this item:

·  Councillor Fiona Venner, Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships

·  Julie Longworth, Deputy Director of Children and Families

·  Shaheen Myers, Deputy Director of Learning

·  Ruth Terry, Chief Officer for Social Work

The Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships gave a brief introduction and in doing so, had made reference to the Child Friendly Leeds Awards event which had taken place on 5^th July 2022 and marked the celebration of Child Friendly Leeds’ 10th birthday. The event had showcased the diverse talent and achievements of the city’s children and young people, as well as highlighting and celebrating those people, places and organisations that are dedicated to making Leeds a child friendly city.  Linked to this, the Executive Member particularly acknowledged the strong commitment and hard work of frontline staff and other key partners in maintaining an outstanding judgement by Ofsted, but also stressed that the Council would not become complacent and is keen to continue to learn and improve in collaboration with partners and also via the engagement of scrutiny.

The Deputy Director of Children and Families then gave a brief overview of the planned actions in place to respond to the recommendations that had stemmed from the ILACS inspection.

In consideration of the report, the following issues were discussed by the Board:

Ø  Improvements to contingency planning – The Board acknowledged that a program of practice improvement is to be developed in relation to contingency planning and that part of this work will include a review of the electronic record that is used to record children’s plans to ensure there is a clear and usable section for contingency planning, which will also help prompt regular reviewing of such plans.

Ø  Caseloads of social workers – The Board discussed social worker caseloads and sought clarification of current caseload levels for children's social workers, particularly as it was acknowledged by Ofsted that caseloads are high for some workers, including for some newly qualified workers.  The Deputy Director of Children and Families acknowledged again that caseloads are not what they want them to be and that while the service is working to address this matter locally, the position is reflective of challenges facing the social work sector nationally in terms of workforce vacancy rates and recruitment difficulties.  A Board Member put forward a suggestion that the Board may want to explore a way of obtaining a representative view from the social work sector.

Ø  Response to a personnel query – In response to a query raised by a Board Member in relation to a personnel matter involving social work staff, the Deputy Director of Children and Families and Executive Member for Adult and Children’s Social Care and Health Partnerships advised that it would not be appropriate for them to comment on any confidential personnel matters and particularly within a public meeting.  The Board Member then sought legal clarification surrounding access to information rights of Scrutiny Boards, to which the Chair agreed to progress after the meeting and to share with Board Members in due course.

RESOLVED –

(a)  That the contents of the report and the comments made by the Board be noted.

(b)  That specific progress on recommendations from the front door focused inspection be noted and that the Board approves completion of the actions taken.

(c)  That the recommendations from the ILACS inspection and the actions set out in relation to these be noted.

(d)  That the Chair progresses the request for legal clarification surrounding access to information rights of Scrutiny Boards and shares this with Board Members in due course.