Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 3 March 2020 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Resolved: -

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 3 March 2020, be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

To receive declarations of interest from Members in respect of items listed on the agenda.

Councillor Jarvis declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 9, Response to Domestic Abuse during the pandemic, as she was a board member of RISE.

To consider whether the press and public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of any part of the agenda.

There were no items requiring the exclusion of the public or press.

To receive questions relating to items of business on the agenda from members of the public or press who are present at the meeting.

There were no questions.

To receive communications from the Chair in respect of matters within the Commission’s remit and work programme.

There were no communications.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Interim Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services and the Joint Assistant Director  - Inclusion and Support Services attended the meeting to present a report that provided proposals to members on different options for providing them with relevant and accurate performance information regarding key performance indicators in the Children and Young People’s Directorate in a way that enabled members to provide effective scrutiny and challenge to officers.

It was noted that in June 2018, following consultation with a group of members, the Improving Lives Select Commission began to receive a weekly tracker that provided performance information on selected measures of interest. In February 2020 the frequency of the report changed to monthly as it had become apparent that many of the measures did not lend themselves to weekly reporting as the incremental changes were often small meaning that changes and trends in performance were not always  easy to identify and monitor.

The change of frequency of the weekly tracker had been discussed at the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission on 3 March 2020 after members of the committee had expressed concern about the change of frequency of the tracker report (Minute No. 58), and it had been resolved that the Chair should discuss the circulation of the report and future methods of performance monitoring with the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working. The officer’s report set out four proposed approaches to performance monitoring for the future for the committee to consider.

The Deputy Leader noted the concerns that members had had regarding the change of frequency of the performance tracker, but advised that the proposed option of members receiving detailed monthly scorecards and then being able to request more detailed information on selected performance indicators was a more effective method of performance monitoring as well as being more sustainable to produce with regard to staff resources. The Joint Assistant Director noted that the production of the weekly tracker did create some duplication of work for staff and that the monitoring of data weekly could potentially lead to a misleading picture of performance being shown, or for developing longer term trends being missed. The Interim Strategic Director advised that the proposed method of performance monitoring provided an opportunity for members to take part in more detailed and in-depth performance monitoring than was currently the case.

The Chair acknowledged the reasons that had led to the frequency of the performance tracker being changed and for changes to the methods of performance monitoring being made, but noted that she would have preferred for the concerns about the frequency of reporting to have been raised with the committee before any changes had been made.

Members noted that the weekly performance tracker had been introduced after observing good practice at other local authorities and in response to Rotherham’s history where elected members had been seen as not knowing what was going on with regard  ...  view the full minutes text for item 70.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Interim Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services and the Assistant Director - Children’s Social Care attended the meeting to present a report on re-referrals and repeat child protection planning.

The report stated that referrals to children’s social care and second and subsequent periods of child protection planning were both performance indicators that were reported by the Council to the Department for Education and that as the rate of referral was a key indicator of need a high number of re-referrals could be seen an indicator of the right services not being provided at the time of the first intervention.

Members of the committee had previously expressed concern regarding the numbers of re-referrals being made and children becoming subject to a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time. The officer’s report sought to provide assurance to the members of the committee regarding these concerns.

The Assistant Director advised that in Rotherham the performance indicators that were measured were the re-referral rate, the percentage of children becoming the subject of a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time ever (which was also national performance indicator) as well as measuring the percentage of children becoming the subject of a child protection plan for a second or subsequent time in previous last two years which was a regionally agreed performance measure and as such was not reported to the Department for Education.

The Assistant Director advised that on reviewing Rotherham’s performance in relation to referrals and for second and subsequent child protection planning, the data at Rotherham compared favourably against regional and statistical neighbours as well as against national data.

The Assistant Director advised that a re-referral wasn’t always a cause for concern or an indication that the initial intervention had been ineffective as there were occasions where the first referral and a period of intervention could lead to a subsequent referral, such as when the circumstances of a family’s situation changed. There were however situations where a re-referral was the result of the original intervention being ended when the needs of the children and families had not been fully resolved which resulted in the same concerns being raised in subsequent referrals.  The Assistant Director advised that concerns in relation to this type of re-referral had prompted the senior leadership team in social care to undertake a piece of audit work during late 2019 and early 2020 that focussed on re-referrals.

The Assistant Director advised that the audit work undertaken in relation to re-referrals had indicated that there was a need to strengthen procedures around the safety planning work that identified families own support networks prior to the ending of formal social work involvement. It was noted that this approach and effect safety planning would ensure that the changes made by families were sustainable, and that when challenges arose in the future these support networks could then be accessed for support instead of needing a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

Councillor Jarvis who had declared an interest in this item left the meeting at this point and did not take part in the subsequent discussion and vote.

The Cabinet Member for Waste, Roads and Community Safety and the Assistant Director, Community Safety and Street Scene attend the meeting to present a report that provided an update in relation to the response by Domestic Abuse services to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The report also provided information in relation to the planning activity that was being carried out that would ensure services would be able to cope with potential increases in demand, or an extended period of operating in a different way, as a result of the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member advised that the report provided the most up to date information that was available with regard to the Council’s response to Domestic Abuse during the pandemic and noted that maintaining the delivery of services to support victims of Domestic Abuse was a priority for the Council and the Safer Rotherham Partnership.

The Cabinet Member advised that Domestic Abuse services had been maintained throughout the pandemic, but that in common with other the services the way in which services were provided had changed due to the restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

The report stated that the Domestic Abuse Priority Group, that reported to the Safer Rotherham Partnership had continued to meet during the pandemic and had increased the frequency of its meetings to ensure continued delivery and management of risk. It was noted that the partnership had also continued to monitor Domestic Abuse in relation to demand for Police services as well as for support services.

The Cabinet Member advised while there had been a slight increase of reports of Domestic Abuse incidents during that pandemic that it was a little too early to see whether there had been any significant changes or whether any significant trends in demand could be identified. The Cabinet Member noted that while reports of incidents had not increased significantly there had been a high number of charges issued and arrests made of alleged perpetrators. The officer’s report provided information on the number of incidents of Domestic Abuse and for demand for services through the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member provided information on an extra £98,000 of funding that the Council had supported Rotherham Rise to secure that would assist with the increased demand for emergency accommodation during the pandemic. It was also noted that the Safer Rotherham Partnership had provided an additional £12,000 of funding to expand the online and telephone contact offer and to ensure provision was delivered outside of normal office hours and that extra funding of £474,000 being allocated to the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner to support the delivery of Domestic Abuse support services during the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member advised that the issue of Domestic Abuse, while always a concern was particularly concerning during the pandemic  as when people had been restricted from normal movements, offices that offered support services had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

To consider and approve the Commission’s Work Programme.

The Committee considered its Work Programme for 2020/21.

Resolved: -

1)    That the Work Programme be updated as discussed.

2)    That the Work Programme for 2020/21 be approved.

To monitor the progress of recommendations made by the Improving Lives Select Commission.

The Committee considered the outstanding actions on the Monitoring Report.

Resolved: -

That the Governance Advisor makes the required follow up activity as required for the outstanding actions.

For the Chair/project group leads to provide an update on the activity regarding sub and project groups of the he Improving Lives Select Commission.

The Chair provided a progress report on sub and project group activity.

Resolved: -

1)    That the update be noted.

2)    That the scope for the review of Early Help be circulated to members of the Improving Lives Select Commission once completed.

To consider any item(s) the Chair is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency.

There were no items of urgent business.

The next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission will take place on 28 July 2020 commencing at 5:30pm as a Microsoft Teams Virtual meeting.  

Resolved: -

That the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Tuesday 28 July 2020 at 5:30pm as a Microsoft Teams meeting.