Meeting documents

The Executive
Tuesday, 29 April 2003

EX290403-12

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ITEM EX12

EXECUTIVE – 29 APRIL 2003

AUDIT OF SERVICES TO CHILDREN IN NEED

Report by Director for Social & Health Care

Introduction

  1. On 28 February the Social Services Inspectorate issued an audit framework "Audit of Services to Children in Need in response to the practical recommendations of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry". The audit is based on the following seven standards:

    • Referrals

    • Assessment

    • Allocation, Service Provision and Closure

    • Guidance

    • Training and Development

    • Organisation and Management

    • Governance

  1. Copies of the completed audit for Oxfordshire, which is 65 pages long, have been placed in the Members’ Resource Centre. This report highlights the action taken and proposed in response to its main findings.

    2. Background

  2. Victoria Climbié came to England in March 1999 with her great aunt as an illegal immigrant. They had been living in France for some months, since Victoria’s parents had agreed to her great aunt taking her to Europe for a better life. Victoria lived for 10 months in England. During this time she was emotionally and physically abused by her great aunt and her partner. Victoria died on 25 October 2000 aged 8 years.

  3. During her time in London, Victoria came into contact with three Housing Departments, four Social Services Departments, two Police Child Protection Teams and a Specialist Centre run by the NSPCC, and was admitted to two different hospitals. These agencies individually and collectively failed to protect her.

  4. In April 2001, Lord Laming was appointed to conduct three inquiries into local authority social services for children, health services and policing. The inquiry report was published on 28 January 2003. The Association of Directors of Social Services (ADSS) has identified the following Core Principles which emerged from the Inquiry Report.

    • Focus on Outcomes

    • Locating Child Protection Work within the Wider Council Responsibility of Promoting the Well-being of Children

    • Emphasis on Accountability and Responsibility

    • Emphasis on National Standards

    • Emphasis on the Local Authority Role to Joined Up Services at a Local Level

    • Acknowledgement of the Importance of Listening to Children

    • Emphasis on the Importance of Good Practice to Protect Children

    • The Emphasis on the Use of the Department of Health’s Assessment Framework

    • The Focus on Ensuring Staff Undertaking Child Protection work have the Skills and Competencies through Training and Development Opportunities

    • Acknowledgement of the Importance of Clarity on Exchanging Information

    • Clear Emphasis on the Importance of Leadership.

  1. The ADSS suggest it is difficult to establish whether the resources exist within the system to implement all of the recommendations made by Lord Laming. The joint budget survey which ADSS conducts annually with the Local Government Association and County Treasurers has shown in recent years that children’s budgets are consistently over-extended. The early indications from the current survey are that the situation has not improved and that new grants for 2003/04 will not meet these existing and new pressures. The ADSS suggest the outcome of the audit initiated by the Department of Health will reveal the degree of fit between the expectations of current front-line practice and the reality. The proposals for structural reform in Lord Laming’s report will be considered further by the Green Paper on Children at Risk expected to be published in the early summer 2003.

    2. Audit Activity

  2. A Project Group was convened to oversee the audit in Oxfordshire, chaired by the Director for Social & Health Care and including officers from the Social & Health Care Directorate, the Solicitor to the Council, the Assistant County Treasurer responsible for Internal Audit, and a member of the Best Value Review Team. The Project Group has met five times to date.

  3. The Project Group has considered Lord Laming’s Inquiry Report and its recommendations, completed the audit of services to children in need, assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment teams and produced an action plan to tackle problem areas, and sought information from the Department of Health and other local authorities regarding what constitutes a reasonable caseload for a social worker.

  4. Briefings have been completed as follows:

    5. Interagency briefings – 13 December 2002, 14 January 2003, 27 February 2003 and 25 March 2003. These briefings included representatives from Social & Health Care, schools, Health and the voluntary sector.

    Oxfordshire Area Child Protection Committee – 13 March 2003

    Social & Health Care Staff – Children & Families – 10 April 2003

    Elected Members – Children’s Panel – 16 April 2003

  5. The briefings have considered the failings in the Victoria Climbié case and the consequent action required of the respective agencies, including the basic requirements for undertaking investigations into allegations of child abuse in line with the Department of Health’s assessment framework.

    6. Audit

  6. The audit includes 64 questions, and Oxfordshire appears to be in a relatively good position in responding to these. Robust referral systems are in place for the safe management of referrals, and the Social Services Inspectorate Inspection report in September 2002 commented positively about tracking cases and monitoring performance against timescales. The Inspectors found Oxfordshire has robust systems for managing cases safely. However, the following issues and areas require further consideration and action:

    1. The volumes of work and the organisation’s capacity to respond to protecting children in need. The work has grown more complex and demanding over time. The work required to meet Government guidelines and standards for Child Protection puts great strain on existing staff numbers. Staff within the Social & Health Care Directorate and other agencies express the view that there are inadequate field social work resources available to undertake the range of tasks required.

      2. Action – The Social & Health Care Directorate has utilised the Quality Protects programme grant 2003/04, and created five additional field social work posts. Whilst this will assist with managing volumes of work, high thresholds will continue to be operated to manage workload appropriately. The Job Evaluation and Workforce Strategy is expected to help in the recruitment and retention of staff.

    2. The review of the effectiveness of ‘front door’ services showed that records files lacked a clear structure and were therefore confusing; that there is a need to use forms consistently; and that the completion of Core Assessments requires further work.

      3. Action – A new file format is scheduled to be implemented in June 2003. Further work will be undertaken to review the number of forms currently being used with a view to rationalising them. Work has been targeted on the completion of Core Assessments and performance is showing an improvement.

    3. The Inquiry found that there was a lack of chronologies on case files and the structure of files was very poor in finding relevant key information.

      4. Action – An analysis has been undertaken of the work required and action is in place to complete all chronologies and other key information by the end of July 2003.

    4. The need for placing children in "suitable accommodation" features in the Inquiry Report. Social work practitioners and their managers constantly manage risk when placing children, whether this is within the authority’s own provider services, or extended family, or friends in the local community. This may include privately owned accommodation, local authority housing or the rented private sector.

      5. Action – A system is being developed to report on the suitability of accommodation, to influence future housing priorities and developments. This will be completed by the end of July 2003.

    5. The Inquiry recommended that when a professional from any agency makes a referral to "Social Services" concerning the well-being of a child, the facts of that referral must be confirmed in writing by the referrer within 48 hours. Whilst common referral arrangements apply in Oxfordshire via the Area Child Protection Committee (ACPC) procedures, written confirmation of the referral is not routinely provided.

      6. Action – The Head of Service for Children’s Services, Social & Health Care Directorate has written to all members of the Oxfordshire ACPC advising them of this requirement. The matter will be placed on the agenda of the next meeting of the ACPC which is scheduled for 12 June 2003. In addition, the ACPC is re-launching the Collaborative Assessment Procedure and Form, which will ensure all agencies provide information in writing.

    6. The Inquiry Report made recommendations that staff are provided with access to up-to-date procedures, protocols and guidance.

      7. Action – Revised Child Protection procedures were published in May 2002. A range of up-to-date supplementary guidance, which is consistent with ACPC Procedures, is available to staff, mostly electronically. Most of this information was produced for the recent Social Services Inspectorate inspection of Children’s Services.

    7. Monitoring Schedule – The Inquiry Report identified the need for cases to be monitored by first line and senior managers, including Directors of Social Services.

      8. Action – A Monitoring Schedule/System has been developed and will be operational from 30 April 2003. The Children’s Panel has been convened and will receive regular information about children on the Child Protection Register and in the Looked After System.

    8. The Inquiry identified a need for clarity regarding the transfer of case responsibility between authorities when a child moves from one Council area to another.

      9. Action – A protocol has been drafted, and will be implemented from 30 April 2003. The protocol clarifies the expectation on staff when a child or family moves between authorities.

    9. The inquiry highlighted a need for training for staff to ensure they have the confidence to express their professional views, and are competent to undertake investigations and assessments in relation to protecting children.

      10. Action – Training is increasingly being offered in more flexible ways to address problems of low attendance at Training Courses because of operational pressures. 70 courses were run in 2002/03 which would have been of benefit to Child Protection workers.

      Appropriate training has been provided for staff to undertake investigations and assessments to protect children from abuse. Training and development needs regarding promoting professional confidence will be integrated within the training programme. Developmental needs of individuals is addressed via the supervisory and appraisal process.

    10. The inquiry recommended adequate cover arrangements that allow continuity of response, in the absence of keyworkers.

    Action – All our teams have systems to ensure continuity of response in the absence of the allocated worker. This may be a duty cover system and/or may involve administrative staff as the first point of contact. These are monitored by the Unit Managers. Senders of emails will always now receive a message indicating who to contact in the absence of the addressee.

    Health Care and Police Audit

  7. It should be noted that of the 108 recommendations in Lord Laming’s Inquiry Report, 27 recommendations refer to health care, and 18 to the involvement of Police in protecting children. Thames Valley Police and Health have been required to complete a similar audit. The results of the three audits will be subject of consideration at the next ACPC meeting scheduled for 12 June 2003.

    8. Summary

  8. High volumes of referrals relative to the number of staff available means that not all need can be met. Thresholds are therefore high. This is a cause of dissatisfaction among referring agencies as well as service users and staff within the Social & Health Care Directorate.

  9. Lord Laming found "widespread organisational malaise" and the need for "robust leadership" rather than bureaucratic administration and adherence to inward looking processes. He criticised the use of Eligibility Criteria (thresholds) and the use of agency and locum staff in front line services. He found, within the Social Services Departments reviewed, that Assessment Teams were overwhelmed and therefore communications were not tracked and could not be safely managed. He found that basic standards of practice were very poor. He identified that elected members and senior managers had failed to give Children’s Services sufficient priority or resources and had not kept themselves informed of the conditions at the front line of services.

  10. Protecting vulnerable children, which on occasions requires action to remove children from their own families, is both sensitive and very challenging. The role of social work staff in protecting children and taking the necessary action to hold parents accountable for treating and protecting their children appropriately is a very stressful job. There is absolutely no room for complacency in undertaking this type of work. The Social Services Inspectorate inspection of Children’s Services completed in March 2002 and reported to the Council in September 2002 commented that Assessment Teams proactively track cases to monitor performance against timescales. Assessment teams, like other teams, work tirelessly to protect vulnerable children, and although there are increasing numbers of referrals they continue to maintain high standards of practice.

    11. RECOMMENDATIONS

  11. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

          1. note the completed Audit of Services to Children in Need in response to the practical recommendations of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry;

          2. agree the action being taken to address issues identified from the Audit as detailed in Paragraph 11 of the report;

          3. agree that monitoring of progress of action identified from the Audit be undertaken by the Children’s Panel.

CHARLES WADDICOR
Director for Social & Health Care

Background papers: The Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report

Contact Officers:
Phil Hodgson, Head of Social Care for Children, Tel: 01865 815833.
Dave Seal, Service Manager Child Protection/Quality Assurance, Tel: 01865 854407.

April 2003

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