Agenda item

Consideration was given to the Quarter 2 2022/23 Corporate Parenting performance report which provided a summary of performance for Key Performance Indicators across the Looked After Children (LAC) Services.  Appendix 1 of the report submitted provided performance on a page giving an overview of the Service’s performance in comparison to the same period 2020/21 and Appendix 2 provided trend data, graphical analysis and benchmarking date against national and statistical neighbour averages where possible.

The report highlighted:-

-        The number of children and young people Looked After had increased by 6 to 535, however, it was 29 below the same period in 2021/22.  A key increase had been linked to unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving via the National Transfer Scheme but also being placed as adults by the Home Office in hotels, who after accessing legal advice, sought support as a child

-        54 children had become Looked After and 46 ceased to be Looked After

-        There were currently 33 unaccompanied asylum seeking children that were looked after by the Authority.  The Commissioning Team were working hard to ensure that the Authority was able to offer placements/accommodation commensurate to need

-         90.2% of eligible Looked After Children had an up-to-date plan, a decrease of -1.9% in comparison to last year (92.1%)

-        76.5% of LAC in a family based setting had decreased compared to 79.8% at the end of Q1.  Placement stability was an area of focus that the Fostering Service, responsible Team Manager and IRO had been engaged with to review what worked and what their roles were in working to prevent placement breakdowns

-        119 in-house foster carer households registered at the end of the quarter in comparison to 133 (-14).  There were 4 foster family approvals in Q2 making 6 approvals year to date.  However, 4 families had ceased to be foster carers bringing the total so far to 11, 5 less foster families at the end of the quarter.  There were 9 prospective foster families in the recruitment process 7 of which had panels scheduled between October, 2022 and January, 2023

-        Of the 541 children and young people Looked After by Rotherham, 6 were known to the Youth Offending Team

-        8 children had been adopted since April 2022 which was a reduction of one adoption for the same period last year

-        13 children had been adopted since April 2022, a decrease (-4) compared to the same period last year

-        Since the Covid-19 pandemic, an improvement in the percentage of up-to-date health and dental checks was being seen with 68.5% of dental assessments and 83.1% of health assessments being up to date

-        77.2% of initial Health Assessments had been completed in time

-        92.8% of reviews during 2022/23 had been completed within timescales equating to 706 reviews in time out of 761 that were completed April to September 2022 (91.7% (341/372) in Q2)

-        At the end of the Summer term 97.5% had a PEP compared to 98.3% Summer term 2020/21

-        At the end of Q2 there were 311 young people in the care leavers cohort, an increase of 27 compared to the same point in 2021 (284) 78.1% of which had an up-to-date pathway plan (2.0% improvement)

-        97.4% of care leavers were in suitable accommodation.  Of the 8 in unsuitable accommodation, 4 were in custody.  However, the percentage of care leavers in employment, education and training showed a 9% increase with 71.2% at the end of the quarter compared to 61.6% at the same point in 2021

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·        A South Yorkshire group had been established to look at dentistry, flexible commissioning and how to move it forward.  A training package had been compiled for dentists to understand the vulnerabilities but there had been a slow uptake

·        Consent was also an issue for dentists and unaccompanied children requiring the assistance of a translator

·        A child placed with a foster family would normally attend the same dentist as its foster family unless the practice was full.  In those cases the child would be referred to the Smile Foundation

·        The Community Dental Service targeted vulnerable groups, dental phobic, children with learning disabilities etc.  Someone with a dental phobia would not be referred to the Smile Project

Resolved:-  (1)  That the Quarter 2 2022/23 performance report be noted.

(2)  That the next performance monitoring report include an update on dental checks.