ITEM CA11
CABINET – 20 MAY 2008
OXFORDSHIRE JOINT AREA REVIEW OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES
Report by Director for Children, Young People & Families
Introduction
1. The Joint Area Review of services for children and young people in Oxfordshire was published on 22 April 2008.
2. This reports on a major inspection of the contribution that local services make to the welfare of children, and in particular vulnerable children. Led by Ofsted, but including inspectors from the Audit Commission, Healthcare Commission and HM Inspectorate of Probation, the Joint Area Review involved extensive fieldwork late in 2007.
3. The report to Cabinet details the recommendations made by the Joint Area Review and outlines how they are to be responded to. Action Plans for all recommendations have been drawn up and monitoring arrangements are proposed.
4. The Joint Area Review always assesses the contribution all local services make to ensuring that children and young people:
· at risk, or requiring safeguarding, are effectively cared for; · who are looked after achieve the best possible outcomes; and · with learning difficulties and/or disabilities achieve the best possible outcomes.
5. Additionally, other specific investigations are undertaken in each area, determined by Ofsted’s perspective on key local priorities. In Oxfordshire, the following investigations were also carried out:
· the impact of the partners’ 14-19 Strategy on improving outcomes for young people; and · the contribution of local services to improving sexual and reproductive health outcomes for children and young people.
6. The report itself is attached as Annex 1 (download as .pdf file). However, its main findings are:
· Overall, safeguarding in Oxfordshire is adequate. The Council and its partners give priority to all safeguarding matters with a good emphasis on healthy lifestyles, road safety and provision of safe environments. Action taken to promote children’s mental health and to reduce anti-social behaviour is good. The Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (OSCB) is not yet fully operational and joint procedures and monitoring arrangements are in need of further development.
· The Council works well to prevent children coming into care and provides safe and secure placements for those who become looked after, including good support for their health and their emotional and social development. The educational achievement of looked after children is satisfactory overall, though unsatisfactory for the most able at age 16.
· The contribution of local services to improving outcomes for children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is adequate. From the earliest age, children’s needs are promptly identified and systems are developing to provide for them. Multi-disciplinary teams are increasingly giving a good service, though many of these initiatives are at an early stage of development.
· Strategic planning for 14-19 provision across Oxfordshire is inadequate. Progress on the recommendations of the 14-19 area-wide inspection in 2003 has been slow. While outcomes are satisfactory overall with good participation rates post-16, the range of provision and quality of impartial advice 14-19 have not improved sufficiently.
· Progress on the reduction of rates of teenage pregnancy has been slow. However, the Oxfordshire joint commissioning strategy for teenage pregnancy and sexual health, which is based on a thorough assessment of need and built on strong partnerships, has increased access to advice and contraception through a range of new and well-targeted projects and initiatives. Arrangements for access to sexual health screening have improved but are currently insufficiently promoted.
· The management of services for children and young people and the capacity to improve services further are adequate. The Council, with its partners, currently provide adequate value for money. The rate of progress and improvement in some key service areas has been too slow. Partnership working is well established and consultation with children and young people is outstanding. However, quality assurance and performance management across the partnership are underdeveloped.
7. A number of specific recommendations, most to the local partnership (the Council and other agencies concerned with children’s services) and some to the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board are made:
For Immediate Action
The local partnership should:
· ensure that an appropriate way is found to disseminate the findings of this report to children and young people; · introduce training and support to ensure that Council members understand their corporate parenting responsibilities and are enabled to deliver on them.
For Action over the next Six Months
The Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board should:
· review and update all policies and procedures to ensure these fully support and underpin current joint strategies for safeguarding; · agree membership and accountability arrangements with members’ respective agencies; confirm chairmanship arrangements and the arrangements for reporting to the Children and Young People’s Partnership Board; and · ensure that the new arrangements for sexual health screening are promoted urgently to young people.
The local partnership should:
· implement the planned post-16 development of greater choice and opportunity for young people with complex needs; · establish key milestones to ensure the consistent implementation of the 14-19 strategy; · improve the progress of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities in primary schools; · improve access to behaviour support, occupational therapy and mental health services for children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities; · increase equity of access to provision and services across the local area; and · agree and implement rigorous evaluation and performance management procedures across the partnership to ensure that outcomes are monitored and that the impact of actions are evaluated.
8. Detailed Action Plans have been drawn up to address all recommendations, and in many cases are already being implemented. A report on the progress in relation to these Action Plans is reviewed by Cabinet Members on a monthly basis.
RECOMMENDATION
9. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the Joint Area Review report.
JANET TOMLINSON Director for Children, Young People & Families
Background papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Mike Simm, Head of Commissioning, Strategy and Locality Development, Tel: 01865 815212 May 2008
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