Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Mark Gray and Charles Mathew.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 8 January 2015 (PSC3) and to receive information arising from them.

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 January 2015 were approved and signed.

Councillor Pressel, spoke to Item 6, The Council’s Response to the Findings of the Serious Case Review of Children A-F and Further Action Taken in Response to Child Sexual Exploitation in Oxfordshire. She commented that the role of councillors was hardly mentioned in the SCR and suggested that it was important that that there was a review. She added that there were insufficient attempts to involve councillors and going forward they needed a much more public role. Scrutiny needed to be more robust and it was essential that it be chaired by an opposition councillor.

She welcomed the role of the Performance Scrutiny Committee in monitoring the work of the Missing Children panel but suggested that reports be 6 monthly rather than yearly.

She called for a report on the county council’s work with schools, including on self-esteem and consent and further asked that an independent inquiry be held.

1010

Head of Policy, Maggie Scott will present a paper outlining the Council’s performance for the third quarter of 2014/15. Director for Environment & Economy, Sue Scane will be present to allow for a focused performance discussion on key areas of concern.

Performance Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to note and discuss the performance reported in the dashboards and to make any comments necessary for escalation to Cabinet.

Head of Policy, Maggie Scott presented a report outlining the Council’s performance for the third quarter of 2014/15. Director for Environment & Economy. Sue Scane, Director for Environment & Economy (E&E) attended to allow for a focused performance discussion on key areas of concern.

The main discussion on E&E was around the performance of Section 106 monies where the following points were made.

1)    Members were not assured that the directorate had sufficiently transparent and effective processes in place to monitor the collection and use of S106 monies.

2)    Their main concern being to ensure that OCC make best use of all S106 negotiations and then that all agreed money is both collected and spent appropriately.

Sue Scane agreed to consider a greater locality focus within the management of S106 and to look at the availability of information at a parish level.

The Committee called for, and the directorate agreed to provide, a detailed S106 report to a future meeting (June). The paper will focus on providing an understanding of the central process, assurance that the process is effective and transparently reported, outlining the communication channels for members regarding S106.

There was also brief discussion around the success of the Broadband project and around the number of apprenticeships that are being offered through OCC, Skanska and Carillion.

On other matters the Committee raised concerns about the performance around the timeliness of visits and reviews for looked after children and children on child protection plans.  It was AGREED that this be considered in more detail when Children, Education & Families is the focus of the meeting. In the meantime the it was AGREED that a briefing be provided for committee members to outline the investigation, and the outcomes of those investigations, that take place when visits/reviews are late.

There was also a brief discussion around educational attainment and the gap in attainment that opens significantly between KS2 and KS4. The Committee AGREED to refer this matter to the Education Scrutiny Committee for further scrutiny.

Finally the Committee raised concern over the increased waiting time for adult social care assessments and what happens to people waiting, in terms of intermediate care provision. It was AGREED that a briefing note be provided to committee members to answer this question.

Performance Scrutiny Committee:

(a)            noted the performance reported in the dashboards and agreed to make comments to Cabinet as set out above;

(b)            agreed the additional actions set out in the preamble above.

1100

The serious case review of children A-F identifies that there was a systemic failure in the period before Operation Bullfinch and the council accepts all recommendations from the review and takes full responsibility for its role in what went wrong. The council has apologised to the victims and their families, and deeply regrets that the abuse was not stopped sooner.

The capability to tackle child sexual exploitation has been transformed in Oxfordshire since Operation Bullfinch. This has been made possible by far greater understanding of this form of abuse, strong leadership and ensuring that resources have been made available to undertake the action that is required.

Interim Head of Service – Safeguarding, Hannah Farncombe and Deputy Director – Children’s Social Care, Lucy Butler will present this report, which sets out the council's response to the findings in the serious case review, which have been accepted in full, and also provides a summary of the action that the council has taken since 2010 when Operation Bullfinch was launched.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the Council's response to the findings of the Serious Case Review into Children A-F, published in March 2015; and  the further actions in progress.

Interim Head of Service – Safeguarding, Hannah Farncombe and Deputy Director – Children’s Social Care, Lucy Butler presented a report, which set out the council's response to the findings in the serious case review, which have been accepted in full, and also provided a summary of the action that the council has taken since 2010 when Operation Bullfinch was launched.

During discussion the following points were made:

1)    Referring to paragraph 54 and the Need to Know report concern was expressed that this was to be shared with only the Lead Member. It was suggested that this was a heavy burden for one councillor and it would be better for there to be some support from other councillors.

2)    The importance of all councillors understanding much more about the issues, particularly around the understanding of consent. Councillor Constance as Chairman of the Joint Health Overview & Scrutiny Committee would take up issues around sexual consent and health indices.

3)    In relation to the point above it was essential that members receive appropriate training.

4)    Members highlighted the importance of the Corporate Parenting Panel, whose role and visibility needed to be strengthened.

5)    The role of scrutiny in general and of this Committee in particular was discussed. It was queried whether the information in the SCR had been exposed to the scrutiny of ordinary councillors and the Committee recognised the need to be strong about being engaged going forward. The Chairman undertook to take forward what information should be coming back to the Committee to fulfil their responsibility.

6)    There were issues raised through the IMR that would need to be taken forward by the Education Scrutiny Committee including work around perpetrators

Councillor Christie endorsed comments about the role of councillors and questioned how councillors could interrogate the information available. He had grave concerns about the judgement of a systemic failure in the years prior to the Bullfinch Operation and proposed that the Cabinet should establish an independent enquiry into the systemic failure of the County Council to identify and prevent CSE from 2005 to 2010. Councillor Christie spoke in support of the recommendation. Following advice from the clerk and Lead Officer the Chairman indicated that she felt that this request was outside the remit of the Committee and following indications that members would not support it the recommendation was not put to the vote or taken forward.

The Performance Scrutiny Committee:

(a)   noted the Council's response to the findings of the Serious Case Review into Children A-F, published in March 2015; and the further actions in progress; and

(b)  agreed the additional actions set out in the preamble above and that a further report be submitted to the June meeting on the way forward.

1150

Deputy Director for Children’s Social Care, Lucy Butler will introduce a paper outlining the trends and patterns in relation to missing children, arguing the importance of monitoring this area of work and proposing a way forward for effective scrutiny.

The Performance Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

(a)        note report:

(b)        become actively involved in priority setting process for the Missing Children's Panel; and

(c)        receive an annual report on work with missing children

Deputy Director for Children’s Social Care, Lucy Butler introduced a paper outlining the trends and patterns in relation to missing children, arguing the importance of monitoring this area of work and proposing a way forward for effective scrutiny.

The Committee explored in some detail the process around a missing child and the trends and patterns identified. Members identified that some children went missing repeatedly and Lucy Butler undertook to provide additional detail for members.

Following discussion of placement stability The Committee noted the escalation procedures in place that included a multi-agency risk management plan for repeat missing episodes. Responding to a request from the Chairman, Lucy Butler agreed that information on the numbers of such plans in place could come to this Committee and further agreed to supply case studies which members thought would be helpful.

The Performance Scrutiny Committee AGREED to:

(a)          note the report:

(b)          become actively involved in priority setting process for the Missing Children's Panel; and

(c)          to receive an annual report on work with missing children

1220

Director for Environment & Economy, Sue Scane and a representative of Carillion will present a paper outlining the performance of the property contract with Carillion. The paper will focus on four distinct areas: Food with Thought, Caretaking and Cleaning, Design and Construction and Resilience.

The Performance Scrutiny Committee is recommended to:

(a)          note the performance of Carillion on the Property and Facilities contract; and

(b)          recognise both the successes achieved thus far and the areas for improvement identified.

Sue Scane, Director for Environment & Economy, Mark Kemp, Deputy Director, Commercial, Adrian Rowlands, Service Manager Property & Procurement and Phil Stevenson a representative of Carillion attended for the paper outlining the performance of the property contract with Carillion. The paper focussed on four distinct areas: Food with Thought, Caretaking and Cleaning, Design and Construction and Resilience. Councillor Nick Carter attended for this item.

Councillor Carter presented the contents of the report highlighting the energy put in to sustaining and developing the contract and the attitude of continuous learning.

Members generally welcomed the report and information provided which was extremely useful.

During questions and discussions the following points were made:

1)    Sue Scane outlined activity to maximise the benefits of council property assets.

2)    Responding to a member who indicated that it was sometimes difficult to monitor progress where completion dates changes Phil Stevenson replied that it was possible to report against the original start date. However things did happen that changed schedules and the key point was communication of those changes where necessary.

3)    Phil Stevenson confirmed that the figures related to local suppliers did not include national companies with a local base.

4)    There was discussion on the difficulties of having and promoting apprenticeships. They were trying to identify apprenticeship programmes suitable for part time working.

5)    Phil Stevenson spoke of the commitment to employing the long term unemployed.

6)    With regard to Member Action Days the Committee was advised that a programme was in development.

The Performance Scrutiny Committee:

(a)            noted the performance of Carillion on the Property and Facilities contract; and

(b)            recognised both the successes achieved thus far and the areas for improvement identified.