The Committee will be asked to undertake monitoring of the implementation of the improvement plan

The Committee received a report thatprovided an update on progress in delivering improvements to Children’s Services in response to the report published by    Ofsted in April 2017 which rated Tower Hamlets services as ‘inadequate’. The main points of the discussion maybe summarised as follows.

The Committee noted that:

• The Council’s Improvement plan aims to achieve a standard of ‘good’ in summer 2019, when it is likely to be next inspected.  This it was noted was a bold aspiration but it is believed to be  what the Borough’s children and families deserve;
• The Council have now completed five of the six monitoring visits that Ofsted had scheduled in order to monitor the improvement journey. The over-arching feedback by Ofsted inspectors from these Monitoring visits it was noted had been positive, with inspectors pleased with the progress made. The visit in August contained a number of specific challenges with regard to performance within the Children Looked After Service. Following this challenge it was agreed  that the December monitoring visit would re-consider this area of service to check progress;
• The sixth and final monitoring visit took place on 19^th and 20^th March 2019. This will then be followed by an independent evaluation visit as requested by the DfE that will be undertaken by the London Borough of Bexley. This learning and improvement visit will take place between 10^th-16^th April 2019;
• The focus of the final Ofsted Monitoring visit was focussed on the Multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH), Assessment and Intervention teams and Family Support and Protections services. Inspectors also  reviewed the practice of these teams in terms of how the Council manages and mitigates concerns of “neglect” within families;
• The independent evaluation is likely to focus across all areas and aspects of practice, with a particular interest on how the Councils performance and quality assurance systems can provide assurance that decision making and planning remain appropriate, consistent and timely;
• Following the completion of the final Monitoring visit in March, the full re-inspection of the whole of Children’s Social Care has to take place within six months of the last monitoring visit. Therefore it is anticipated that the full re- inspection will take place between April and October 2019. 
• This inspection will be under the new Ofsted's framework and guidance for inspecting local authority services for children in need of help and protection, children in care and care leavers;
• To minimise any risk of neglect or poor service it is important to have a consistent follow-through, which ensures that every family gets the same quality of response;
• Front line management have a key role in maintaining the Children Services grip on the pace of change at all levels;
• The political and professional leadership of the Council had demonstrated their determination to address the poor performance as highlighted by Ofsted;
• The infrastructure necessary to support a sustained improvement was in place;
• Leadership is about all staff in Children’s Services taking leadership for their roles;
• It is necessary to have consistency  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3

The Committee will receive a report that provides an update on progress in delivering improvements to Children’s Services in response to the report published by Ofsted in April 2017 which rated LBTH services ‘inadequate’. The Council’s improvement plan aims to achieve a standard of ‘good’ at its next inspection, in 2019.

The Committee received a report that provided an update on progress in delivering improvements to Children’s Services in response to the report published by Ofsted in April 2017 which rated the Council services as being ‘inadequate’. The Council’s improvement plan aims to achieve a standard of ‘good’ in summer 2019, when it is likely to be next inspected.  This is a bold aspiration but the Council believes it is the minimum local children and families deserve.

Committee focused on the following areas:

·         3.1- 15%gap- what doing to shorten impact and improve closer to 100%? Context – CIN plans improved but more work to be done. CIN plan is just below child protection plan- visits are not where the Council wants to be for children on cusp so important that get in early to prevent. Reasonably steady practice then decline. Plans not completed because sickness and illness. Children in need – working on voluntary basis- not statutory. Committee discussed that the figure of 90% could not be a stretch target if the upper limit was 95% and noted that there was a downward trend so this target was not going in the improvement trajectory;

·         Care leavers – what does “suitable accommodation mean- why 18%? Suppliers provide suitable accommodation. Some are in youth custody / prison which is deemed unsuitable. 44 care leavers between 18-25

·         Health assessments – what have these not been included in the performance measures. Now 50%- how many children does this impact? Barts Health have commissioned a review to gain a clearer idea of delays. Not on here because on dashboard. Committee noted that in future this needs to be on here.How many children does this impact? What happens to those going over 28 days?

·         Child’s diversity explore in “most” cases. What is “most cases” and what is the impact of not exploring this for the child?

·         Missing children in care- how many are missing. Better at tracking. What are the reasons? Missing care- daily tracker. Reasons for missing are 1) visiting family and friends but recorded as missing every time leave supported accommodation, 2. Crossing county lines and exploitation, 3. Safety plans- children are found. . Missing children- 77% had a return to home interview in 3 days. 1 of hardest to reach groups so this is good performance.

·         Are you seeing a tangible decrease in missing children through interventions and prevention work and how are you explaining to the wider community? Neglect addressed through early help pathway and early identification and how link with schools and social workers. Not yet seeing a decrease in missing children numbers. Building greater awareness and confidence to identify concerns. Tracking the same names in particular- comes out in profile- understand why young people going missing. Exploitative relationship. Quarterly reports become outdated but cabinet member acknowledged that OSC may require specific information to help them provide effective scrutiny.

·         CIN visit measure in plan- what measures to ensure consistent upward trend- 100 children not visited in 4 weeks. Children visited but not  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4