Issue - meetings

Cabinet Member: Children, Education & Families

Forward Plan Ref: 2016/100

Contact: Tan Lea, Strategic Safeguarding Partnerships Manager Tel: 07867 923287

Report submitted by the Chairman of the Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children’s Board (CA7).

The OSCB’s remit is to co-ordinate and ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each agency on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in Oxfordshire. The annual report summarises the key achievements in the last year and provides an analysis of safeguarding arrangements.  These arrangements have been found to be in a good state as confirmed by the Stocktake Report on child sexual exploitation in 2015 and the Joint Targeted Area inspection in 2016.   Board members have a clear view of how well child protection work is being managed but also a clearer understanding of the pressures on the system due to the increased activity at the front door. 

The annual report directs the OSCB towards the following aims for 2016/17: (1) ensuring that the ‘front door’ for safeguarding concerns for children provides a swift and robust response  (2) protecting younger children from the harm of neglect and parental risk factors (3) protecting older children from harm by maintaining a multi-agency focus on issues such as peer on peer abuse, online and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender bullying, self-harm and suicide (3) testing if learning is embedded across the child protection partnership.

Also attached are two further annual reports: the Performance, Audit & Quality Assurance Annual Report and the Case Review & Governance Annual Report.

The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to note the reports.

Noted.

The OSCB’s remit is to co-ordinate and ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each agency on the Board for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children in Oxfordshire. The annual report before Cabinet summarised the key achievements in the last year and provided an analysis of safeguarding arrangements.  Cabinet also considered two further annual reports: the Performance, Audit & Quality Assurance Annual Report and the Case Review & Governance Annual Report.

Councillor Gill Sanders, Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Families commented on the detail of the report which she had generally found very encouraging. She highlighted areas of concern around early help, the MASH and the increase in activity and problems of recruitment leading to increased pressure on services. She noted that the Board had been considering the impact of inevitably reduced budgets.  The report also highlighted the Looked after Children exclusion and absence from school figures which had been discussed by the Corporate Parenting Panel. Schools should be encouraged to keep children in school. She also highlighted the waiting times for CAMHs which although improved were still too long.  She defended the thriving families programme which had been criticised nationally in the media but which had been successful in Oxfordshire.

Responding to a concern from Councillor Sanders that the criticism would be used to remove funding Peter Clark, County Director stated that in discussion with advisors at DCLG there had been every indication that the funding would be available until 2020. Tan Lea added that Oxfordshire County Council had met all its phase 1 targets and welcomed the tighter criteria and focus on greater evidence in phase 2.

Hannah Farncombe and Tan Lea presented the contents of the three reports.

Councillor Tilley, Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Families in speaking to the report welcomed the greater involvement by young people in the Children's Trust.

During discussion Cabinet:

highlighted the need for greater linkages with adult safeguarding and the Oxfordshire Adults Safeguarding Board. It was hoped that future reports would provide more detail.

Considered the absence rates, fixed and permanent exclusions and heard that it was difficult to link the reported increase to academisation. The increase was of great concern and they were trying to get underneath the figures to understand why it was happening.

RESOLVED:             to note the reports.