Agenda and minutes

Councillor Jarvis declared a personal interest in Minute No. 16 (Domestic Abuse Update) as she was an unpaid trustee for Rotherham Rise.

There were no questions from members of the press or public.

Corporate Parenting Panel

Councillor Cusworth provided Members of the Select Commission with a written summary of the last meeting of the CPP which was circulated by email. Councillor Cusworth also commented on how productive the meeting was and thanked the Head of Service for his work in developing the work programme.

Resolved:-  That the minutes of the previous meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 4^th July, 2017, be approved as a correct record for signature by the Chair, subject to the following corrections:

Present: Councillors Brookes, Khan, Marles and Sansome.

Apologies for absence: Councillors Cooksey and Elliot.

Minute No. 7 (Evaluation of Barnardo’s Reachout Service) - KPMG’s contribution to the project was £1,229k.

To nominate one Member to represent the Select Commission on the above Panel for the 2017/18 Municipal Year

No nominations were received. The Chair asked the Senior Adviser (Scrutiny and Member Development) to circulate details to Members of this Select Commission and seek expressions of interest.

Councillor Hoddinott gave a brief introduction to the report and introduced the following officers in attendance for this item:-

Ms. K. Hanson – Assistant Director, Regeneration and Environment

Mr. S. Barstow - Head of Service, Community Safety, Resilience and Emergency Planning

Mr. S. Parry - Neighbourhood Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour Manager

Ms. M. Raven - Domestic Abuse Co-ordinator

The incidents of domestic abuse had risen in Rotherham, which followed a national trend. Following the discussions at Improving Lives Select Commission in December 2016 and the scrutiny review of 2013, Councillor Hoddinott outlined progress and areas for further development; with all actions from the 2013 scrutiny review listed.

These actions include:

-          The Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVA) Service was now permanently funded;

-          The Council had prioritised the elements of the Supporting People budget related to domestic abuse;

-          Since December 2016, an audit and ‘top level review’ of Safer Rotherham Partnership (SRP) had taken place which had reported positively on the direction of travel and a further Peer Review had been scheduled later in year;

-          The Domestic Abuse Strategy was not yet in place but was being submitted to the SRP Board in August 2016.  Although the Strategy had been delayed, an action plan had been developed (attached as Appendix A);

-          The Domestic Abuse Priority Group (DAPG) had been re-established to lead on this work;

-          More work was required to tackle the issue of perpetrators and support to victims at a multi-agency level involving the Council and the Police;

-          Further oversight of what provision and how agencies were working together, including voluntary sector provision was required;

-          Ensuring that governance and quality assurance were robust.

Attention was drawn to the issues highlighted by Councillor Hoddinott to assure Members that the issues highlighted would be addressed in the Strategy and were due to discussed at DAPG, with a final draft submitted to the SRP Board in August.

Discussion ensued on the report with the following issues raised/clarified:-

Was there an understanding of why there was an increase in incidents? – Rotherham was not unique in terms of a rise in incidents although there had also been a historic underreporting of incidents; the Council Plan had a priority action to tackle domestic abuse and, rather than monitor levels of reporting, the Strategy would now monitor outcomes for victims.

Why had the commissioning of the independent peer review been delayed?  - An initial overarching review of community safety was undertaken by Blackburn with Darwen Council as a priority. It covered all aspects of the Partnership including leadership and governance. A secondary review would now be undertaken by Salford Council in light of their experience of the Ofsted framework and child-centred focus.

What findings emerged from the “deep dives”?  – The exercise was undertaken by Commissioner Ney and Councillor Hoddinott. It was a discussion with partners to examine processes; risk assessments; support for victims and how perpetrators were dealt with. It also  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73.

The Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Service, with Ms. R. Wall, Head of Service Safeguarding and Quality Assurance, and Mrs. S. Wilson, Head of Service Performance & Planning, gave a presentation which covered the 2016/17 year-end performance in relation to Early Help and Family Engagement, Children’s Social Care and Education and Skills:

What is working well

-        Early Help received 3,914 contacts during the last 12 months evidencing the improvements made in embedding Early Help

-        Timeliness of engagement with families in Early Help improved from 18.4% to 53.7%

-        98% people who completed the Early Help exit survey rated the Service as good or excellent

-        The number of re-referrals into Social Care had decreased evidencing a more robust approach (30.7% to 27.6%)

-        Following an increase in demand for assessments to be undertaken, a new team was established and as a result timescales within 45 days improved from 85.9% in February to 92.9% in March 2017

-        The number of children in need (CIN) with an up-to-date plan continued to perform well during the year - 93.8% in March 2017 (82.7% overall during the year)

-        Completion of Initial Child Protection Conferences in 15 day timescale remained above national average at 91% and reviews were maintained at 100% for 8 months of the year ( 98.6% for the year overall)

-        86.4% of Looked After Children (LAC) visits ( local standard of 4 weeks) improved from 80.2% in 2015/16

-        SYP made 17 convictions for Child Sexual Exploitation during the year and 327 referrals were made to post abuse support services

-        Early Years Found Stage, Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 (progress 8) were all above national average

What are we worried about

-        Only 6.5% of Early Help assessments were completed by partners (75 out of 1,150)

-        39.4% of Early Help Assessments completed in 35 working days

-        29% of the targeted range of families for change achieved the Payment By Result outcome

-        Section 47 rates are significantly higher that statistical neighbours despite an in year reduction - 251.8/10k pop

-        There had been increase of those children on a Child Protection Plan (CPP) who haD been made subject to a plan for a second or subsequent time (4.7% to 8.4%)

-        A reduction on the number of children on a CPP who had had a visit from 99% to 88.4% during the year

-        A reduction in the number of children who were ceasing to be Looked After due to permanence from 40.1% to 28.3%

-        Only 68.2% of LAC had an up-to-date Personal Education Plan (PEP)

-        A reduction in the number of children who had 3 or more placements, however, this continued to be high (11.3%).  There has been a reduction in the number of children who had had a stable placement for over two years (67.6%)

What do we need to do next

-        Ensure that the right service at the right time  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

Resolved:-  That the next schedule meeting be held on Tuesday, 12th September, 2017 at 5.30 p.m.