Council and councillors

Councillor P Ainsley welcomed everyone to the meeting and stated that three deputations had been received and that, as a result, he had amended the order of business.  He also reminded all attendees that they should be courteous and polite as this was a public meeting. 

Apologies were received from Councillor S Webb.

To confirm the record of the meeting of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee held on the 24^th February 2022.

The minutes of the meeting held on the 24^th February 2022 were approved as an accurate record.

In accordance with the Regulations, Members are invited to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have and the nature of those interests in respect of items on this Agenda and/or indicate if Section 106 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 applies to them.

Councillor A Brown declared a non-pecuniary interest as he was a member of the family court.

There were no other declarations of interests.

To receive Report No. 80/2022 from Dawn Godfrey, Strategic Director for Children and Families and presented by Emma Sweeny, Head of Children’s Social Care giving an update on Children’s Services including the self-assessment and the OfSTED visit.

Report No. 80/2022 was received from Councillor D Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children's Services and was presented by Emma Sweeny, Head of Children’s Social Care.  During the discussion, the following points were noted:

·       OfSTED focused visit held in January 2022 and quality assurance work undertaken by an external agency in February 2022.

·       Areas identified that required improvement included the recording of data in relation to children missing from care. 

·       Processes were being followed but not recorded correctly on the Council’s recording system. 

·       Following the review of processes and the training of staff, the recording of work being undertaken and completed had improved. 

·       Quality assurance checks of the data recorded had already started to show an improvement in the quality of the data being recorded, especially information regarding the voice of the child.

·       No agency workers were employed within Children’s Social Care but staffing still remained an issue in other areas. The quantity and quality of social work staff was a national issue.

·       A local Workforce Development Strategy and a regional Workplace Development Programme were being developed to aid in the recruitment and retention of staff across Children’s Services in Rutland and across the East Midlands.

·       Significant improvements had been made since the OfSTED inspection two years ago and work was continuing to improve services. All the services within Children’s Services worked closely together to ensure that the right services were provided to children at the right time.

·       Councillor Ainsley thanked the Strategic Director of Children and Families, the Head of Children’s Social Care and all the team for their hard work and dedication in improving children’s services in Rutland.

RESOLVED

That the Committee:

a)         ENDORSED the actions taken in response to the areas for improvement identified by OfSTED and offered comment on any areas where they felt progress was slower than expected.

b)         NOTED the next steps being taken and any areas of risk to progress.

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The Head of Children’s Social Care left the meeting at 7.35 p.m.

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To receive any petitions, deputations and questions received from Members of the Public in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules 28 and 216.

The total time allowed for this item shall be 30 minutes.  Petitions, declarations and questions shall be dealt with in the order in which they are received.  Questions may also be submitted at short notice by giving a written copy to the Committee Administrator 15 minutes before the start of the meeting.

The total time allowed for questions at short notice is 15 minutes out of the total time of 30 minutes.  Any petitions, deputations and questions that have been submitted with prior formal notice will take precedence over questions submitted at short notice.  Any questions that are not considered within the time limit shall receive a written response after the meeting and be the subject of a report to the next meeting.

The Scrutiny Officer reported that three deputations had been received from members of the public and she reminded all attendees of the process as per Procedure Rule 28 of the Council’s constitution. 

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Mrs Tree Gillions joined the meeting at 7.35 p.m.

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Mrs Tree Gillions, on behalf of the SEND Action Rutland, addressed the Chair and the Committee with their deputation regarding the SEND service.

Councillor A Brown queried the statement in Mrs Gillions deputation that the ‘LA has refused to follow tribunal orders.’  Mrs Gillions clarified that some parents had informed SEND Action Rutland of orders issued at a tribunal which the LA, at the time of notification, had not actioned.

Councillor Begy asked what changes SEND Action Rutland thought would change the process for the better for parents.  Mrs Gillions stated that the correct processes were in place to support SEND children and their families but that the LA should be more pro-active in following the processes.

The Committee thanked Mrs Gillions for her deputation.

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Mrs Tree Gillions left the meeting and Mr George Toseland joined the meeting at 7.44 p.m.

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Mr George Toselandaddressed the Chair and the Committee with his deputation regarding the SEND service.

Councillor Begy asked Mr Toseland how the process could be improved?  Mr Toseland stated that communication was important but that it needed to improve between the Council and parents.  Mediation could help but personal experience had shown that it would not but confirmed that assessments had improved over the past couple of years.

The Committee thanked Mr Toseland for his deputation.

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Mr George Toseland left the meeting and Miss Fabienne Rose joined the meeting at 7.52 p.m.

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Miss Fabienne Roseaddressed the Chair and the Committee with her deputation regarding the SEND service.

The Committee thanked Miss Rose for her deputation.

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 Miss Fabienne Rose left the meeting at 7.55 p.m.

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To receive Report No. 77/2022 from Dawn Godfrey, Strategic Director for Children and Families giving an update on the SEND Service.

Report No. 77/2022 was received from Councillor D Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Education and Children's Services.  The report and a presentation were introduced by Bernadette Caffrey, Head of Early Help, SEND and Inclusion.  During the discussion, the following points were noted:

·       The Strategic Director of Children and Families informed attendees that a parent engagement event had been held in March 2022 for issues to be raised and discussed. 

·       There were approximately 300 Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) within Rutland and the vast majority of parents were happy and pleased with the service provided (77% fully satisfied).  

·       Any and all complaints were taken seriously and investigated thoroughly.

·       The Strategic Director of Children and Families agreed with the Committee that communication with all parents needed to be correct.  As a result, parental engagement workshops were to be established so that officers and families could work together to help produce a communication workplan.  The workshops would be led and facilitated by an external consultant who was also a parent of SEND children.

·       The Strategic Director of Children and Families confirmed that all tribunal actions must be carried out by the LA.  They were a legal order so the council could not and would not refuse to do them. 

·       The Strategic Director of Children and Families also confirmed that the use of barristers at a tribunal was not unusual.  Practice did differ across the country but Rutland was very small compared to other LA’s and had very limited resources i.e. no in-house specialist legal advice.  Rutland County Council had to employ external specialist legal services but processes had changed over the past 12 to 18 months to decrease the use of barristers but they were still needed in some cases. 

·       A regional contract had been developed with Global Mediation to provide mediation services.  No parent would be forced to partake in mediation but would be encouraged to do so as the council was always willing to do mediation.

·       The number of cases going to tribunal remained in single figures.

·       The Head of SEND, Early Help and Inclusion confirmed that there was an internal governance process, which entailed monthly performance reporting and an external governance process, which entailed quarterly completion of the regional and DfE performance dashboards. There were also bi-annual performance reviews with the Regional DfE SEND Advisor and NHS England Improvement Lead.

·       The Strategic Director of Children and Families confirmed that statutory timescales were identified but that there were no national targets to meet.  The service always strived for 100% but achieving this figure was not realistic especially when dealing with the small numbers dealt with by Rutland County Council. No statutory duties had been, were being or would be neglected but better communication with parents was needed to explain when a timescale was not met, the reasons why it was not met and what the LA was doing to ensure that it would be met in future.

·       In response to a question from Cllr Begy, the Strategic Director of Children and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To consider any questions with notice from Members received in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rules No 218 and No. 218A.

There were no questions with notice from members

To consider any Notices of Motion from Members submitted in accordance with the provisions of Procedure Rule No 219.

There were no notices of motion from members

To consider any matter referred to the Committee for a decision in relation to call in of a decision in accordance with Procedure Rule 206.

There was no call in of a decision

To consider the current Forward Plan and identify any relevant items for inclusion in the Draft Scrutiny Committee Annual Work Plan, or to request further information.

The Forward Plan is available on the website at:

https://rutlandcounty.moderngov.co.uk/mgListPlans.aspx?RPId=133&RD=0

Councillor Wilby requested that a review of the SEND Services be added to the forward plan.

To receive any other items of urgent business which have been previously notified to the person presiding

There was no urgent business

Future meeting dates will be confirmed at Annual Council on the 9^th May 2022

The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee would be replaced by the Overview & Scrutiny Committee and dates for that group would be confirmed at Annual Council on the 9th May 2022.

Councillor Wilby thanked the Chair and members for all their hard work and dedication in running an excellent Scrutiny Committee over the past year.