Quarterly Meeting of
Social Services North West

15 March 2002 at Salford

SOCIAL SERVICES NORTH WEST

 MEETING ON 15 MARCH 2002 AT SALFORD

REPORT OF THE CO-ORDINATOR AND

THE DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES, KNOWSLEY

(LEAD DIRECTOR ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, ADSS NW)

CHILDREN’S SERVICES

1.         Matter for consideration:

Measures to enable member authorities to continue working together and to share and develop good practice in children’s services.

2.                  Introduction:

This report is the latest of a series of reports about regional co-operation to secure appropriate and effective arrangements for children looked after. The report focuses on the recent Children’s Services Event held at the Lowry, Salford in January which looked at the future development of children’s services in the north west.  The main findings of the inspection of Foster Care Services “Fostering for the Future” are also included for members’ information.

3.                  Information:

3.1.            All Our Children: Success Through Collaboration

3.1.1    This event took place at the Lowry in Salford on 28 January 2002 and was jointly sponsored by the ADSS and SSI, and funded using Quality Protects resources. The event had three key aims, all of which are in harmony with the concerns of expressed by members:

·        To create a regional vision for children’s services

·        To consider performance issues and specifically how authorities can work together better, using available performance information

·        To explore opportunities for regional and sub-regional collaboration.

3.1.2            Professor Al Ainsley Green, Head of the Children’s Task Force was the key speaker to an audience consisting primarily of Assistant Directors (Children and Families).  Professor Ainsley Green focussed on the aspirations of the Children’s National Service Framework.  This was followed by workshops.

3.1.3    The key issues which arose from the conference and will help to determine the next stage of the regional development ‘path’ were

·        Future structural arrangements for children’s services

·        Role of the Assistant Directors – the regional perspective.

·        Regional development and collaboration

·        Practice issues

3.1.4    Those present were unequivocal about the need to raise the profile of children’s issues and services in the North West, and in particular to ensure that children’s services are high on the agenda of all Directors, the view being that ADSS North West should lead and manage the process.  The role of Assistant Directors (Children and Families) was a key theme and there was a real enthusiasm for individuals to lead on aspects of children’s services regionally as well as endeavouring to influence national policy.  There was a great deal of support for perhaps quarterly conferences to facilitate regional collaboration.  It was the considered view of those present that “commissioning” should be high on the regional agenda and that there is a great deal of scope to do things differently.  It is also worth noting that the report on the Lowry event will be presented to the Regional Children’s Task Force at their next meeting on 20 March 2002.

3.1.5    An Action Plan has been developed and broadly supported by Directors at their recent ADSS (NW) meeting.  The components of the Action Plan are:

Commissioning:

A group of Assistant Directors will be established consisting of those who have expressed a particular interest in this area.  There is an acknowledgement that a model needs to be developed for the region, and that this would enable real progress to be achieved in terms of collaboration. 

Development Path for Children’s Services:

Anita Marsland, Director of Social Services Knowsley, will take the lead in the exploration of the various models being developed regionally and nationally. The ADSS should consider best practice in terms of outcomes for children, and the work will be undertaken in partnership with other agencies such as Health and Education.

Child Protection:

There will be a review of the role of the Child Protection Co-ordinators Group,  an event for Area Child Protection Committee Chairs and most importantly the impact of the Climbie enquiry will be addressed.

Human Resources:

The regional group chaired by Dorothy Lewis of the SSI is in the process of revitalising this area of work and a half day event is proposed to consider recruitment and retention issues regionally.  As mentioned in the Key Service / Financial Pressures report on this agenda, there is a serious shortage of qualified children’s social workers nationally.

3.2.            Inspection of Foster Care Services

3.2.1    The recent inspection of seven foster care services by the SSI showed that the majority had not developed sufficiently radical strategies.  Despite substantial pressures on their children looked after budgets, most councils did not have good information about the relative costs and benefits of their own services compared to outside agencies.  Neither was enough attention paid to the support and remuneration packages needed to recruit and retain foster carers . Lessons learned about commissioning services for adults have not it seems been applied effectively to children’s services.

3.2.2    In the absence of well developed commissioning and contracting strategies, the inspection found that councils would face continued difficulty in securing a sufficient range of foster carers, despite being committed to remaining the main providers of foster care.  Fundamental changes are needed to improve the overall condition of foster care services and provide the range of care required.  Policies and procedures to safeguard children in foster care were in place but not always applied consistently.  Supervision given to foster carers, checks and the robustness of the way complaints and allegations were dealt with were all cause for concern.  As foster care is a major alternative to placements in residential accommodation for children with complex needs, the issues raised in the SSI  inspection are of direct relevance to the wider issue of the regional  collaborative approach being developed above.

3.3.            Best Value Reviews

A number of Best Value Reviews on children looked after will be summarised in the next report on Children’s Services, including those of Knowsley and Sefton.  Rochdale is also due to complete their Review this month.

4.                  Conclusion:

It is pleasing to learn that there appears to be a real will for change across the Region, which should result in some clear and achievable outcomes for improving children’s services. The  Best Value Reviews are also identifying issues for further attention, and the findings of the SSI inspection of Foster Care Services highlight the need for radical changes in this service for children. It would seem that a Social Services North West conference on Children’s Issues would be particularly timely later this year.

5.                  Recommendation:

5.1.            Members are asked to note the above report.

5.2            Members are asked to consider whether a conference on Children’s issues might help progress the purpose of working together collaboratively and effectively across the Region.