Agenda item

To receive an update on performance monitoring for quarter 1 2023/2024.

Cathryn Woodward, Performance and Business Intelligence Manager, presented the submitted report which provided a summary of performance for Key Indicators across Looked After Children Services for Quarter 1 2023/24.  It also included a summary of Service performance in comparison to the same period in 2022/23 and trend data, graphical analysis and the latest benchmarking data against national and statistical neighbour averages (where possible).  The following was outlined:-

•          The number of children entering care was slightly lower than the previous year

•          92.1% of eligible Looked after Children had an up-to-date plan. This was a slight decrease on the year’s performance, with the aimed target being 95%

•          77.1% of placements were family based, this was a 2.9% decrease on last year.

•          67.8% of Looked after Children were in a stable placement for 2 or more years, this was slightly higher than the previous year

•          There was currently 112 in-house foster families, with 3 new approvals throughout the year. There had been 2 de-registrations, 5 less than last year

•          It was noted that 10 Looked after Children were known to the Youth Justice Team.

•          7 children had been adopted, which was a decrease by one compared to the same period in the previous year

•          The overall percentage of Looked after Children who had an initial health assessment within timescale had decreased in comparison to the previous year and 82.7% had up-to-date health assessments

•          Dental assessments had improved compared to the previous year - 80.2% (improvement of 8.1%)

•          91.8% of reviews were completed within the timescale set, this was a slight reduction to the previous year. 94.4% of visits were up-to-date and within timescales of the national minimum standard

•          At the end of quarter four, there were 331 young people in the care leavers cohort which showed an increase of 29

•          78.9% of care leavers had an up-to-date pathway plan at the end of the quarter and 96.1% of care leavers were in suitable accommodation. 71.9% of care leavers were in education, employment, and training

•          54 young people had been discharged from care at the end of quarter 1, down 3 on the previous year

Tina Hohn, Virtual School Head Teacher, reported that, because educationally they measured on an academic term, the outputs could sometimes be slightly different when they were captured.  The Virtual School had 2 levels as their plans ranged from birth to 18 years.  From birth, 99.6% of the PEP meetings had taken place and 100% for school age children. 

Discussion ensued with the following issues raised/clarified:-

·        Care leavers not in suitable accommodation – the Authority provided good accommodation that was suitable for care leavers, however, some choose to seek alternative accommodation that the Service would not consider suitable but not necessarily unsafe/dangerous.  Also some adults were difficult to get hold off to find out where they were staying

·        EET – what support was available around transport costs?  The Service knew that it supplemented some of it and it would never be a barrier to young people accessing education.  It was hoped to discuss a possible pilot scheme with bus companies

·        Initial Health Assessments – in the early part of the year there had been quite a lot of unaccompanied asylum seeker children.  They were offered a double slot because of the interpreting needs etc., however, for some it was the third attempt before they actually attended resulting in a number of wasted slots.  The young people had been offered appointments within the set timescales but were out of time by the time they actually attended

The Chair thanked officers for the comprehensive report and for highlighting key performance areas.

Resolved: - That the report and the accompanying dataset be received.