Agenda and minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 January 2022 as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

Resolved: - That the Minutes of the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 25 January 2022 be approved as a correct record of proceedings.

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

There were no declarations of interest.

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 that required the exclusion of the press or public.

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 from members of the public or press.

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

There were no communications.

To receive an update from the Chair on the work of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

The Vice-Chair provided a verbal report on the meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel that had been held on 15 February 2022.

The Independent Chair of the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership, Jenny Myers, attended the meeting to present the second Annual Report of the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership (RSCP).

The Independent Chair was accompanied by the District Commander for Rotherham, Chief Superintendent Steve Chapman and Sue Cassin, Chief Nurse at NHS Rotherham CCG. The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, the Strategic Director - Children and Young People’s Services, the Assistant Director Education, the Acting Assistant Director – Children’s Social Care and the Assistant Director: Early Help and Family Engagement were also in attendance at the meeting.

The report stated that it was a statutory requirement under the Children’s Act 2004 for an annual report to be produced that detailed the activities that had been carried out by local safeguarding partners in the previous twelve months that also detailed the effectiveness of the activities in the safeguarding and the promotion of welfare of children in the local area. It was noted that as part of the governance arrangements of the RSCP that it was a requirement that the RSCP Annual Report was presented through Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s own scrutiny arrangements as well as the other safeguarding partners own governance arrangements.

The Independent Chair advised that the RSCP Annual Report detailed the activities that had been undertaken in relation to its core business and priorities for the year 2020/21 and considered how well it had worked towards the achievement of the priorities and objectives as detailed in its Strategic Business Plan 2020-2021 that were: 

·       Safe at Home

·       Safe in the Community

·       Safe Safeguarding Systems

The Annual Report detailed the key areas of progress that had been achieved against each of the objectives and areas of priority.  The Independent Chair noted how well the different members of the partnership had worked together and advised that the frequent meetings that had been held between partners had enabled effective oversight to be carried out and actions to be taken to deliver on the key priorities of the partnership. The Independent Chair also provided details of how she had challenged performance and sought assurance regarding safeguarding performance as part of her role in delivering independent scrutiny of activity across the partnership.

In addition to detailing what had gone well the Annual Report set out that the areas of activity that could be done differently or better and detailed the challenges faced in achieving the priorities over the year. The areas identified for development that were highlighted in the report included:

·       Ensuring that vulnerable babies and very young children are kept safe.

·       Further scrutiny of the Early Help Strategy and Front Door.

·       New developments, including contextual safeguarding in the identification, assessment and response to criminal exploitation and adolescent neglect.

·       Review of the Multi-agency Safeguarding Arrangements and safeguarding business plan

·       Ensuring the voices and lived experiences of children and young people, families and workforce are represented across the activities undertaken by the RSCP.

The District Commander for Rotherham, Chief Superintendent Steve Chapman highlighted the activity that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 77.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, the Strategic Director - Children and Young People’s Services, the Assistant Director – Education, the Head of SEND Services and Jayne Fitzgerald of the Rotherham Parents and Carers Forum attended the meeting to present a report on the Ofsted/Care Quality Commission SEND Local Area Inspection – Written Statement of Action. The report also included a progress report on the implementation of the SEND Sufficiency Strategy Phase 3.

The report noted that between 5 and 9 July 2021, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission had conducted a joint inspection of the local area of Rotherham to judge the effectiveness of the area in implementing the disability and special educational needs reforms, as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services advised that following the conclusion of the inspection it had been judged that the Rotherham local area should have a Written Statement of Action to address the four main areas that had been identified as having significance weakness that were:

·       the variability in the quality of EHC plans, including the contribution of health and social care partners.

·       the effectiveness of the graduated response to identify and meet children and young people’s needs, especially in Key stages 1 and 2.

·       the quality of provision for children and young people’s preparation for, and transition to, adulthood.

·       communication with all parents and carers of children and young people with SEND about the local offer, and the accessibility of the very valuable information included within the local offer.

The Strategic Director – Children and Young People’s Services emphasised that as the inspection had been on services delivered across the Rotherham area, and not just services delivered by Rotherham MBC that the subsequent response would be delivered by a collective approach.  The report stated that during the period following the local area inspection that there had been significant activity taking place to address the issues that had been raised by the inspection, with senior leaders across Education, Social Care, Health and the CCG having met to ensure that processes were in place to address the delivery of Rotherham’s Written Statement of Action over the next calendar year.

The report stated that the SEND Strategic Partnership Board, jointly chaired by the Strategic Director – Children’s and Young People’s Services and the CCG Executive Place Officer had met to address the outcome of the inspection and had agreed that there should be four subgroups established with each one of them leading on an area of weakness. It was noted that the subgroups had now been set up and had all met at least once. It was noted that each subgroup reflected the make-up of the Board and had representatives from each sector, as well as from stakeholders and parent/carers being represented.

The full Written Statement of Action was included as an appendix to the officer’s report.

The Assistant Director – Education noted that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.

To consider and approve the Commission’s Work Programme.

The committee considered its Work Programme for 2021/22.

Resolved:

That the Work Programme be approved.

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.

There were no updates.

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

There was no urgent business.

The next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Tuesday 3 May commencing at 10am in Rotherham Town Hall.

Resolved: - That the next meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission take place on Tuesday 3 May 2022 at 10am at Rotherham Town Hall