Issue - meetings

Report by David McWilliams, Assistant Director, Early Help and Family Engagement

Ian Thomas, Strategic Director, Children and Young Peoples Services, presented an update on the progress made in developing Rotherham’s Early Help Offer.

The report highlighted:-

-          Appointment to the posts of Assistant Director for Early Help, Heads of Service, Team Managers and Children Centre Leaders

-          Transfer of staff into the new locality team on 5^th October, 2015 and major review of all property in the Borough that would provide Early Help office space and Service delivery points

-          In excess of 30 different referral routes into Early Help each with its own criteria, assessment and evaluation and recorded across 8 databases

-          Review of the Early Help Assessment Team within the MASH and reconfiguration to secure more efficient and effective processes

-          0-19 Pathway almost complete.  It would be launched as an interactive online tool for all partners and practitioners as part of the Early Help Offer website

-          Progress in developing an online Early Help Offer with over 76 services and agencies having completed a service synopsis of what they offered and how it could be accessed

-          Monthly reporting of performance measures.  However, until the Case Management System (Liquid Logic) was operational it would continue to be an inefficient process with 7 different databases and systems to interrogate in order to extract the required data

-          Finalised Early Help Quality Standards and a new electronic Case Audit tool development and introduced.  All Team Managers and Heads of Service were required to undertake 1 Case Audit per month as part of the wider Early Help QA Framework

It was also noted that in October, 2015, the best ever NEET figures had been reported.  Rotherham’s final (NCCIS validated) figures were:-

Y11                     98% offers made (against a national average of 97%)

Y12                     97% offers made (against a national average of 91%)

Combined – 97.6% offers made (against a national average of 94.1%)

The Offer would go live on Monday, 18^th January, 2016.

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·           There were six Police Officers within the Integrated Youth Support Service.  A Sergeant had also been recruited and a Missing from Home Officer who would sit within the Early Help Office

·           The new Barnardos’ service, although not live until later in the month, was already taking referrals – there would be fifteen additional bodies out and about raising awareness around CSE working with schools and communities

Resolved:-  That the report be noted.