Agenda and draft minutes

To consider and approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 17^th March, 2026 as a true and correct record of the proceedings and to be signed by the Chair.

Resolved:- That the minutes of the meeting of the Improving Lives Select Commission, held on 17^th March, 2026 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 of business on the agenda that required the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting.

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 a verbal update from the Vice-Chair on the Corporate Parenting Partnership Board following the meeting held on 24 March, 2026.

Councillor Brent, Vice-Chair, provided an overview of the last meeting of the Corporate Parenting Partnership Board held on 24th March, 2026.

The Chair thanked Elected Members for their support and kind words offered at a recent extraordinary meeting of Full Council, where foster carer Christine Lunn had been awarded the Freedom of the Borough in recognition of her outstanding contribution to children and young people in Rotherham over more than fifty years as a foster carer.

The Service Director presented the Action Log, Work Programme, and the Forward Plan for 2026/27. Members also requested the inclusion of an additional item at the May 2026 meeting to receive an update on the Residential Development Programme, which had been a priority focus for Children and Young People’s Services throughout 2025.

The Service Director presented the Annual Report 2025, which had previously been shared for feedback. As this was the first annual report produced by the Board, Members welcomed it, although the Chair noted that future reports would be brought forward earlier to allow greater Member input.

Virtual Head Teachers attended to present the Virtual School Annual Report, providing a comprehensive overview of achievement, attendance, progress, and aspirations for children in care.

The Board then received an update on preparation for adulthood, including a presentation on how children in care were supported into adulthood and the care leaver offer.

A further update was provided by Adult Social Care, outlining support for children with additional and complex needs transitioning into adulthood. This demonstrated effective partnership working between Children and Young People’s Services and Adult Social Care.

The Head of Service then presented the Q3 Performance on a Page, after which the Chair invited discussion on reviewing priority areas for 2026/27, the commencement of the Corporate Parenting Strategy 2027/30, associated working groups and the potential for a children and young people takeover event.

The meeting concluded with a video presentation prepared by the Children’s Care Group, focusing on preparation for adulthood. The children delivered a game-show-style “Beat the Buzzer” presentation, highlighting what they felt was most important in terms of support as they moved into adulthood.

Resolved:-  That the update be received and the contents noted.

To consider the progress made by the Corporate Parenting Partnership Board in 2025 and to note the areas of focus for 2026.

Consideration was given to the first Corporate Parenting Partnership Board Annual Report, introduced by the Cabinet Member/Deputy Leader which had been brought to Improving Lives Scrutiny to outline progress made over the past year in fulfilling corporate parenting responsibilities.

The report provided assurance on how partners had worked together to improve outcomes for children in care and care leavers, highlighting key achievements, challenges and the impact of partnership working. Corporate parenting was a shared responsibility across the Council and its partners and thanks were given to all contributors including young people.

The Chair welcomed to the meeting:-

·              Councillor Cusworth, Cabinet Member and Deputy Leader

·              Stuart Williams, Service Director for Children’s Social Care

Stuart Williams, Service Director for Children’s Social Care, in presenting the Annual Report outlined that it captured the collective work of the local authority, partners and young people over the previous twelve months, focusing on delivering high-quality, consistent care and support for children in care and care-experienced young people. He highlighted the significant achievements of the year, the priority areas for the year ahead and reaffirmed the Council’s ongoing commitment to improving outcomes for children in care.

By way of the presentation included in the agenda pack, the following was highlighted:-

·              Purpose of the report.

·              What was Corporate Parenting.

·              Key Achievements in 2025.

·              Ofsted Inspection – November, 2025.

·              Priorities for 2026.

A discussion and answer session ensued with Improving Lives Members and the following issues were raised and clarified:-

-               How had the redesigned Corporate Parenting Partnership Board impacted outcomes across education, health, emotional wellbeing and preparation for independence, noting the positive external validation that had been received.

The Service Director for Children’s Social Care explained that the redesign of the Corporate Parenting Partnership Board had been guided by two overarching priorities. The first was ensuring consistent and meaningful engagement with children and young people so that they set the tone and identified priority areas.

This was supported by a robust range of evidence, including quality assurance data, audit activity and peer review, to inform a comprehensive self-assessment of priorities.

The second priority was restructuring the Board’s work around six clear priority themes. Each meeting focused on a themed priority with children and young people undertaking work on that theme outside meetings and meeting directly with the Champion Member and Lead Officer. Their feedback was then reported back to the full Board, ensuring they were central to decision?making and acted as the measure of success. This approach enabled dedicated focus on specific areas, such as education, employment and training, supported by presentations from senior education officers and virtual school heads. It was also noted strengthened corporate ownership across the wider Council and partner organisations.

The Cabinet Member also added that the use of Champion Members and Link Officers reflected good practice and enabled meaningful work to take place between meetings, recognising both the limited number of meetings each year and the need to ensure children’s participation was purposeful.

It was noted that themes had been developed collaboratively  ...  view the full minutes text for item 53.

To receive the report and to note the progress made against the Child Exploitation Strategy 2024-29.

Consideration was given to the report which outlined progress against the objectives in the Strategy at the conclusion of the second of the five years following approval by Cabinet in July 2024. 

The Chair welcomed to the meeting:-

·              Councillor Cusworth, Cabinet Member and Deputy Leader

·              Chris MacDonald, Head of Safeguarding

·              Kelly White, Service Director and Link Officer

·              Darren Downs, Independent Chair

·              Chief Superintendent Andy Wright, South Yorkshire Police

The Cabinet Member had pleasure in presenting the Child Exploitation Strategy

progress update and explained how the strategy outlined the multi-agency approach to preventing, identifying and responding to all forms of child exploitation.   The strategy had a strong focus on early intervention, partnership working and listening to the voices and experiences of children and young people, but also recognised the evolving nature of exploitation and the need for a co-ordinated and trauma-informed response across safeguarding partners.

The strategy also set clear priorities and shared responsibilities to ensure that children at risk were protected, supported and able to recover, while exploitation was prevented, disrupted and responded to through co-ordinated partnership working.

The strategy embedded trauma-informed practise within specialist exploitation and safeguarding services and the delivery of this was recognised by Ofsted.

Chris MacDonald, Head of Safeguarding, walked the Commission through the presentation which had been circulated with the agenda pack and highlighted:-

The definition of the Strategy:-

•              Child exploitation is not easily defined.

•              Multiple forms of harm which are exploitative, including child sexual exploitation, child criminal exploitation, radicalisation and trafficking.

•              A common thread in all exploitation of children is using an imbalance of power to manipulate, coerce or control a child to make them behave in way which the exploitative adult wants, for their own benefit.

The duties of the Strategy:-

•              The Council has a duty to safeguard children and provide services to children and their families to promote their welfare.

•              The Council also has a duty to work with partner agencies and partner agencies have a duty to work with the Council to keep children safe.

•              Exploitation of children is a pernicious crime and the Council’s commitment to tackling it remains unwavering, as does our commitment to listen and learn from past mistakes.

The background to the Strategy:-

•              July 2024 – Cabinet approved the Child Exploitation Strategy 2024-29: A Vision for Managing Risk Outside The Home.

•              The Strategy is delivered through the Child Exploitation Delivery Group (CEDG), within Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Partnership.

•              CEDG is chaired by Detective Superintendent Anna Sedgwick. There are working groups which report into CEDG, and a link to the operational Child Exploitation Tactical Group.

Rotherham’s Safeguarding Children’s Partnership:-

·              Under the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements, the Lead Safeguarding Partners are:-

1.           The Chief Executive of Rotherham MBC

2.           The Chief Executive of South Yorkshire ICB

3.           The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police

·              The Delegated Safeguarding Partners are:-

1.           Strategic Director, Children’s Services, Rotherham MBC

2.           Director of Nursing, South Yorkshire ICB

3.           Chief Superintendent for Rotherham, South Yorkshire Police

There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 54.

For the Chair/Project Group Leads to provide an update on the activity regarding sub and project groups of the Improving Lives Select Commission.

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

·              Children’s Capital of Culture Workshop

A dedicated workshop took place on Tuesday, 21st April, 2026.

An invitation was also extended to Improving Places Select Commission and several Members joined the workshop.

The session shared the results of the interim evaluation followed by a short film and an opportunity for Members to share their experiences focusing on Member engagement - what worked well, what could be better and ward experience - what took place in their wards, what worked well, what could be better.

Members that did attend welcomed the excellent information that was shared and welcomed the opportunity to discuss at length the evaluation process for the Children’s Capital of Culture and fed back their own experiences which would be incorporated into the results and included in the final evaluation report.

·               Children and Young People’s Partnership Board

Several Members of Improving Lives were also due to atted the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Partnership Board on 28^th April, 2026 at the invitation of the young people who welcomed the opportunity for a pre-decision scrutiny session on their strategy and their priorities moving forward.

Resolved: - That the update be noted.

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

There was no urgent business.