Agenda item

This update will include the performance outturn for the reporting year April 2023 to March 2024 for Children and Young People’s Services. It includes areas of performance that are working well, alongside other areas where a continued focus is required.

 

This item provided an update on the performance outturn for the reporting year of April 2023 to March 2024, for Children and Young People’s Services.

 

The Chair invited Councillor Cusworth to introduce the report and the following was noted:

·       Councillor Cusworth in introducing the report paid tribute to the emergency services who had responded to the tragic events in Southport where three children had unfortunately lost their lives.  This incident had left everyone shocked and stunned with what had taken place.

·       The report that formed part of the agenda pack highlighted areas that were working well and others that were presenting more of a challenge especially around the numbers of looked after children coming into care. Whilst the numbers had slightly reduced the figure remained around the five hundred mark.  In terms of numbers requiring child protection and child in need support, whilst also reducing in number, remained challenging ensuring assessments were undertaken in a timely manner.

·       The Select Commission had also looked at Elective Home Education previously and this would need to be monitored as numbers were rising.

 

The Chair invited Anne Hawke, Head of Service for Performance and Quality, to provide an overview by way of a presentation on the Performance Report 2023/24 Outturn, particularly highlighting:-

 

·       Performance was considered against local targets, including associated ‘RAG’ (red, amber, green) rating tolerances. Reviewed annually and set in consideration of available national and statistical neighbour benchmarking data and recent performance levels. It ensured focus on the effectiveness of services and achieving good outcomes for children and young people.

·       Robust governance and accountability was in place, including monthly Performance Board and Quarterly Assurance Board in addition to service level performance clinics, Practice Learning Days and Quality Assurance processes.

·       Links to the Council Plan, Year Ahead Delivery Plan, Corporate Parenting Partnership Board, Place Board.

·       The Scorecard was circulated quarterly to Members of Improving Lives Select Commission, with an option to request officers to attend with any key areas of interest.

·       Breakdown of measures and indicators.

·       There were 75 performance measures across the service:-

o   22 where performance was benchmarked against national, regional and statistical comparators (Benchmark).

o   35 focusing on specific activities and/or demand (Activity).

o   18 for Education; all of which were either termly or annual academic year and therefore not included in any summary statistics.

·   Some of the measures have multiple components, 53 measures have targets set and 66 measure components have a ‘good’ direction of travel (DOT) identified.

 

Performance Measures 2023/2024 Graphical Progress Summary:

 

·   Early Help and Family Engagement – What was working well:-

o   Journey for families when engaging with an Early Help offer of support remained strong, with 91.3% of families contacted within three working days of allocation, an improvement on last year and significantly above the target of 75%.

o   Continued with 90.1% of Early Help Assessments being completed within 45 days during the year (2.5% more than last year).

o   27.5% of Early Help Assessments (EHA) were completed by partners during the year, a pleasing increase of 1.9% from last year and continued to meet the ambition of ensuring that appropriate help and support was provided at the earliest opportunity helping families to build resilience and prevent escalation.

o   94.5% of children aged 0-5 living in the 30% most deprived areas were registered with one of our children’s centres.  This was an improvement of 2.5% from last year when performance reached 92%.

o   Those in the 30% most deprived areas accessing Children Centre activities increased from 78% to 80.6%.

o   Tracking the number of young people who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) during the whole year, however, the statutory measurement was an average calculated over a three-month period annually between December and February.  Out-turn for the year was a pleasing 4.3%, within the 4.5% target (lower was better) and an improvement from last year. 

o   The number of young people whose NEET status was Not Known (NK) was also significantly improved on the previous year at 0.64%.

o   Combined NEET/NK performance ended on 4.95% which was well within the 6% target and an improvement on the previous year.

o   The rate of young people who reoffended had reduced when compared with the last available data from 19.8 to 16.1 per 100k population, which evidenced the work that the Rotherham Youth Justice Service was doing improved outcomes for young people and victims of crime.  This was significantly lower than the national average rate of 32.1.

 

·   Early Help and Family Engagement – Impact:-

 

o   Families experienced swift engagement from Early Help both in their initial contact and during their Assessment period.  This meant many families received the right support at the right time, preventing further escalation.

o   Engaging children in Children’s Centres reduced inequalities between families in greatest need with their peers. Outcomes for these families included improved child development, school readiness, parenting aspirations and skills. 

o   The help and support provided by the Early Help and Family Engagement Service, the wider Early Help System (universal services and partner agencies) and the Youth Justice Service was offered early,  improved outcomes for children, young people and their families, increasing resilience and where appropriate, prevents escalation to Childrens Social Care.

 

·   Early Help and Family Engagement – Areas for Continued Focus:-

 

o   The data used to track, monitor and measure young people who were supported by the Rotherham Youth Justice Service was subject to national benchmarking.  There was a significant data lag with this information and the latest data indicated First Time Entrant rate had increased during the period to 186 per 100k per population, when compared with 170 in the previous period and was slightly higher than statistical neighbours.

o   There was lots of work ongoing with partners to focus on prevention activity, including targeted programmes like Be Share Aware and a Hate Crime programme.  The Turnaround programme (funded project) had been implemented which provides Youth Justice Service with additional support for both young people and their families at an early opportunity.

 

·   Children’s Social Care – What was working well:-

 

o   Continued to ensure a safe and steady decline in numbers of Children in Need, Children on a Child Protection Plan and Children in Care.

o   Child in Need (CiN) – 316.8 rate per 10k population, reduced from 378.6 in 2022/2023.

o   Child Protection Plans (CPP) – 45.6 rate per 10k population, reduced from 70.4 in 2022/2023.

o   Children in Care (CiC) – 88.4 rate per 10k population, reduced from 96.7 in 2022/2023

·   Continue to support the National Transfer Scheme for Separated Migrant Children (formerly known as Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children).  CiC cohort included 39/502 at the end of March 24. Calculations without the 39 would see the rate of Children in Care drop to 80.9 per 10k population.

 

·   Young people supported by the Leaving Care service increased during 2023/2024 to 348 from 319.  45 of those young people were Separated Migrant Children.

·   A peak was experienced in the number of re-referrals during the year.  This was managed through performance clinics and focussed work was carried out to improve this resulting in significant improvements during Q4 achieving an out-turn in-line with the previous year (17.3%) which was well within the target of below 22%.

·     S47’s per 10k population continued to safely reduce during the year, ending the year at 194.8 (278.2 last year) which is just above the national average of 191.6.

·     95% of Children (with a CPP) had an up-to date Child Protection Plan at the end of Q4, which was an improvement when compared with last year (88.7%) and met the target of 95%.

·     Both Adoption measures count the number of days between various milestones in the process.  Last year an improvement was seen across both. The cohort of children on an adoption plan was quite small, outliers could inflate the overall averages:-

 

o   Average number of days between a child coming into care and being placed with their prospective adopters – 387.2 (significant improvement on last year when the figure was 492.5).

o   Average number of days between a placement order being granted and a child matched to an adoptive family – 182.6 (improvement on 197.4 last year)

 

·   Children’s Social Care – Impact:-

o   Reducing the number of re-referrals indicates that decision making and planning was robust and accurate and meant that when a child ceased to need our support, families have the resilience they needed to maintain positive outcomes.

o   Maintained overall caseload numbers, ensuring work with children and their families was not longer than needed and focus could be given to those families most in need.

o   The safe and steady reduction of all cohorts evidenced that children, young people and their families experienced successful outcomes, build resilience and remain safe.

 

·   Children’s Social Care – Areas for Continued Focus:-

o   The percentage of contacts with a decision within one working day declined this year from 72.1% to 69.3. New monitoring processes were being developed to monitor MASH information sharing contacts separately to give deeper understanding of where delays were in returning the information. This would help to focus in on the cases that have a real delay, in turn improving timeliness through service improvement and working with partners.

o   If a child progressed from a S47 investigation to an Initial Child Protection Conference (ICPC), there was a timeliness measure in place to ensure rapid intervention.  The target was to hold the ICPC within 15 days of the S47.  Last year 84.8% were completed within the timescale, below the target of 90% but in-line or better than comparators.  A new process was in place which would continue to improve performance.

o   Planning for children and young people was critical to ensure they were supported and working towards improving their outcomes.  This was the same for CiN, CPP and CiC cohorts and included ensuring that plans were up-to-date, reviewed within timescales and that plans were ceased at the earliest and safest opportunity, whether that was via a step down or re-unification.  During the last year, some of the measures used to track this information have not met their targets. Efforts would continue to focus on improvements across these areas.

o   The percentage of long-term children in care in stable placements of more than two years had remained the same as last year at 65.2% and below the target of 70%.  

o   Work would continue on the placements sufficiency strategy to recruit more in-house foster carers, open residential provision and develop more homes for care leavers within Rotherham with a commitment to improve stability of placements that we are closer to home.

o   75.3% of children were in family-based settings compared to 77% last year.

 

·   Education – What was working well:-

 

o   At the end of Term 2, 90.9% of 2-year-olds were taking up an education place, an improvement on 90% at outturn last year and exceeding the target of 85%.   This was the highest level of take up achieved in Spring terms previously.

o   An important issue for children and their families was being allocated one of their three top preferred school places. 99.2% of primary children were allocated one of their three preferences on National Offer Day in 2024, slightly higher than in 2023.

o   97.4% of secondary children were allocated one of their three preferences on National Offer Day in 2024, which was also an improvement on the 96% achieved in 2023.

o   Attainment outturn for the 2022/2023 academic outturn showed that more pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage achieved a good level of development at 67.3% when compared to 64.5% the previous year.

o   The was also an increase in the number of pupils passing their phonics screening in Year 1, with 79% compared with 75% in 2021/2022.

o   In KS2, 55% of pupils met the expected standard with 5% achieving the higher standard for reading, writing and maths.  This showed a pleasing 1% improvement with 2021/2022.

o   All children in care should have an up-to-date Personal Education Plan (PEP) each term.  After a slight delay (due to Easter school holidays) in recording, performance data indicated that 99.7% of children had an up-to-date plan during term 2 against a target of 95%.

 

·   Education – Impact

 

o   Collaborative work across the service and wider directorate had resulted in more of vulnerable 2-year-old children having taken up an early education place, improving the overall uptake. This was important in respect of giving children the best start in life impacting their future education, and overall potential involvement with the remaining CYPS services.

o   A preferred education setting was important for both children and their families in their everyday lives.  It was positive that this had improved and remained above targets for both primary and secondary preference performance. 

o   All of the above helped children achieve and this was evidenced in the increased number of pupils in Early Years, Foundation and KS2 achieving good levels of development.

 

·   Education – Areas for Continued Focus:-

 

o   At the end of term 2 there were 523 children Elective Home Educated (EHE), which was another significant increase on the 435 at the end of term 2 last year.  The rise in EHE in Rotherham was part of a national increase and the total numbers were in line with the national average. Focus remained on ensuring families were supported who chose to educate children at home, and to understand the reasons for parents making EHE decisions.  Focus would continue on early intervention to prevent children from becoming EHE and the enforcement pathway had been enhanced for children where EHE was deemed unsuitable.  

o   At the end of term 2 there had been 11 permanent exclusions in primary schools and 73 in secondary schools. This was an increase on the same period last year with 6 and 60 respectively.  Rising exclusions was a national issue.  The exclusion team continued to support schools wherever possible and updated guidance had been produced, webinars introduced and the Secondary Inclusion Panel across the borough was being realigned. Re-alignment of exclusions officers’ work had led to greater challenge and support to schools to promote alternatives to exclusion. 

o   The number of KS4 pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in English and Maths reduced to 38.7% when compared with 44.7% the previous year.  The Rotherham Loves Reading and Disadvantaged Pupils projects continued which helped to provide support and drive attainment.

 

·   Inclusion – What was working well:-

 

o   The Education, Health and Care Plan target was measured across the calendar year from January to December.  Performance against this important timeliness measure increased to 59.9% in 2023.  This was above target of 58% and an increase on the previous year.  However, there would be continued focus on this improving measure and indications on the first half of 2024 were positive with performance at 75.6% at the end of June.

o   For children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), both Primary and Secondary Transition Reviews were important indicators evidenced children were being supported at such important milestones in their school life.  On statutory deadline dates 95.8% of primary reviews had been completed and 79.1% of secondary reviews, both exceeding their targets of 70%.

 

·   Inclusion – Impact:-

 

o   The increase in EHCP assessments being issued within the 20-week timescale meant that more children with SEND were being supported in a timely manner and receiving the right levels of support that they need.

o   Transition reviews being completed by the deadline would help children move between schools more easily, with the right support available to them.

 

·   Inclusion – Areas for Continued Focus:-

 

o   There was another increase in children with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) during the year, with 3360 at the end of March 2024 compared to 3056 at the end of March 2023.

o   Although an improving picture, the timeliness of EHCP’s remained an area of continued focus. 

 

The Chair thanked officers for their presentation and their input.

A discussion and a question/answer session ensued and the following issues were raised and clarified:-

 

·      Learning through best practice for exclusions and the support now in place with the realignment of the secondary inclusion into locality partnerships, to share good practice between schools and to offer some mutual support and challenge where children were at risk of exclusion.

·     Visits to schools by the Cabinet Member and assurances of oversight on performance and early identification of need.

·     The rate of re-offending for first time offenders and how the numbers identified were calculated. The intensity of the work in this area was already capturing the voice of young people that have been involved in that system through the Trans Group.

·     Evolvement of the Children and People’s Partnership Board to give young people a voice back into the executive decision makers with partners.

·     Pressure on primary schools to improve in KS2 and having the right resources in the right place to make sure children have an enjoyable education.

·     The direct correlation between SATS at KS2 and GCSE and how well children progress making sure that both gifted and those with SEND reach their full potential.

·     Links with children’s centres and working with partners through the family hub projects to make sure children were ready and able to learn and engage and what was the age range of use if this could be provided.

·     With the increase in elective home education and exclusions what was available in the borough in terms of youth open access and how many social workers were also trained as youth workers.

·     Commissioning of the voluntary and community sector to provide support across the borough and the investment through apprenticeships in the universal youth offer following the closure of youth centres by the previous Government.

·       Current rate of ElectiveHome Educationwith Rotherham sitting below the regional and national rates. 

·       Encouraging involvement of Elected Members in local education.

·     Funding lost from the Council budget during austerity for youth work and the need for greater partnership working with multi-academy trusts.  There was a clear need to recognise the importance of youth work and for a collaboration on what was available and could be offered either by the voluntary and community sectors, within wards and in partnership with parish councils.

·     The number of pressureson thehealth anddental checktimeliness and how for dental how this was well below the 95% target.  What were thechallenges theservice was facing and how couldthese childrenengage with their health and dental assessments.

·     The lag in the data and problems in registering young people with a dentist.

·     Ongoing concerns about Elective Home Education and the rising figures of 523, but what were the reasons for electing to educate at home and how was this being tackled.

·     The scorecard and the various elements within it and how some areas did not have targets set against the measure.

·     Benchmarking on the scorecard and how useful it would be to know who the statistical neighbouring authorities were.

·     Use of Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4 data and for this to be broken down into cohorts of say elective home education and SEND and fair representation across the board.

·     Post 16 learning and examples of suitable for progression to build on a skilled workforce locally.

·     Involvement of the Council in grant funding from the Violence Reduction Unit through the Combined Authority Elected Mayor's Office and consultation on local priorities in Rotherham.

 

The Chair acknowledged the level of information shared today and in doing so wished to place on record her thanks and appreciation to attending officers and to Elected Members on the level of questioning and the detail provided.

 

Resolved:-That the Improving Lives Select Commission:

 

1)    Accept the CYPS Annual Performance Report and accompanying scorecard for the outturn 2023/2024.

2)    Request that the data relating to the age range for the use of Family Hubs be circulated to members.