Agenda item
Inspection update
A presentation will be made at the meeting.
Minutes:
Mr James Thomas, Corporate Director of Children and Culture provided an updated on forthcoming inspections. Mr Thomas said there were three separate inspection regimes that directly inspected services within the Directorate.
- SEND Inspection
- Youth Justice Inspection and
- ILCAS
Mr Thomas provided a brief summary of each inspection:
The SEND inspection was a local area inspection undertaken jointly by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A considerable amount of fieldwork is included with visits to schools, interviews with parents as well as a range of health providers. Mr Thomas said that due to the pandemic inspections were on hold however the inspectorates were hoping to resume their inspections in April 2021, depending on if this was viable.
He said a narrative judgement is provided by way of letter and there is a benchmark which needs to be achieved. Mr Thomas said if the inspectorates are unhappy with local provision a ‘written statement of action’ is received which defines the aspects which require improvement. He said Tower Hamlets were in the last cohort of Councils to be inspected in a five-year cycle, so he expected the inspection to happen this year. Mr Thomas continued saying their plans with their partners for the inspection were significantly impacted by the pandemic however they were working hard over the last four to five months to recover ground. He said of the three inspection, this one would be the most challenging.
In relation to the other two inspections, Mr Thomas said these were more straightforward. The Youth Justice Inspection would be undertaken by HMIP and will inspect the Council who is the lead agency in delivering youth offending but would also involve an element of multi-agency inspection with the City of London. He said the inspection is unlikely to be before April but could be expected anytime thereafter. He said he was confident about this inspection as a considerable amount of preparatory work had been done such as external peer reviews and work on performance indicators.
Referring to the ILACS inspection, Mr Thomas said children’s social care were familiar with the framework of this inspection which would normally follow a three-year cycle. He said a visit from Ofsted occurs every year and in the third year there is a full inspection. Mr Thomas said if there was a focus visit, he was confident with their preparations, as it looked at one specific area. The JTAI involved more work, as it would involve a multi-agency inspection looking at multiple areas. Mr Thomas said he had updated the partners of the Safeguarding Partnership on the three core inspections.
In response to questions from members the following was noted:
- Mr Thomas said that of the three inspections the SEND inspection would be the most challenging. He said if the inspectorate came in April, he would expect some criticism has not all the improvements that had been identified and driven through. He said an inspection later on in the year would give them more time. He said this was a council priority not just for the Children’s Directorate but also the Health and Wellbeing Board, who have agreed to receive regular updates on the progress made.
- Regarding the other two inspections, Mr Thomas said he was reasonably confident there would be no surprises.
The Chair thanked Mr Thomas for this presentation and update and said the Sub-Committee would like to receive a further update at its next meeting in April 2021.
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