Agenda item

11.15

Report by the Director of Children’s Services

Local Safeguarding Children Boards were set up under the Children Act 2004 in order that agencies co-operate with each other to safeguard children and promote their welfare. The Oxfordshire Board is led by an independent chair and includes representation from all six local authorities in Oxfordshire, as well as the National Probation service, the Community Rehbilitation Company, Police, Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, schools and Further Education colleges, the military, the voluntary sector and lay members.

This paper highlights findings from the Board's annual report on the effectiveness of local arrangements to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in Oxfordshire. It also includes themes from two of the Board's multi-agency subgroups: the Case Review and Governance subgroup and The Performance, Audit and Quality Assurance subgroup.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note these annual reports and provide any comments.

Richard Simpson introduced the report.  He stated that it had been an honour and a privilege to serve as Independent Chair but he had to step down from the position.

The Chairman thanked him for his service.  She added that it had been very helpful having a Chair who worked for Barnardo’s and she hoped that the organisation might be able to provide the next chair too.  Richard Simpson responded that he would be available to ensure a seamless transition.

He emphasised that the report was dealing with the period pre-Covid-19.  He thanked the OSCB Business Unit, and especially Kay Bishop, for compiling the report.

He highlighted a number of points from the report.  He was very happy with the senior involvement of police and County Council in the partnership.  The focus on the importance of school attendance was very welcome.

Their conference had been very child-centred but he was aware that more needed to be done towards greater involvement of children in setting the strategy.  For the third year running they had provided around 10,000 training places and a new initiative to invite commendations for safeguarding work had been really appreciated.

He felt that more needed to be done to tackle neglect.  There were too many Child Protection Plans resulting from neglect.  OSCB also needs to respond to a criticism from Ofsted regarding some organisations not being properly represented at case conferences.

The immediate challenge will be in getting children back to school post-Covid.  That needs to be watched closely and there are concerns regarding home education where the local authority has very little in the way of powers.

Tan Lea summarised the report and conclusions of the PAQA subgroup.  They know that they need to keep on seeking to include the child’s voice.  They are aware of the importance of dealing with whole families but also the needs of the individual.  The workload is complex and there is a real need to support the workforce in this.  The Committee last year asked for a matrix of common themes from the work which has been provided in the Appendix.  The top issues were managing demand especially in Mental Health, knife crime and exploitation, the importance of schools in keeping children safe and attendance at case conferences.

Lara Patel summarised the CRAG report.  Two of the six current Serious Case Reviews have concluded.  One has already been before the Committee. For the other, the communications plan is still being finalised but it is expected to bring it before the Committee by the end of the year.  CRAG contributed to a national review focussed on exploitation and the learning from that review will help inform the development of a new youth justice and exploitation service which will go live in November.  The Family Solutions Plus service, also starting in November, will have an additional focus on parental mental health, domestic abuse and drug and alcohol abuse issues.

Members expressed regret that the Independent Chair had to step down from the role and they raised issues which Richard Simpson and the officers responded to as follows:

·         The main challenge for partners will be the demand for statutory services versus the cuts that are coming down the line.  They need to work more closely together and pool resources to meet that challenge,

·         If the government plan to provide mental health support in schools comes through that will help reduce demand on CAMHS by tackling issues earlier.

·         The Church of England Bishop asked to be involved and it was agreed that his representative should join the Safeguarding in Education Subgroup.

·         County Lines is still a growing problem.  It is important to work with the children involved but there is also a need to get to the actual drug dealers who are causing the problem.

·         Young Carers are recognised as a vulnerable group.  This year’s Public Health audit focussed on them and PAQA will now look at how the champion model in schools is working.

·         The return to school post-Covid will have to be watched closely.  There has been a lot of scenario planning and communications with schools.

The Chairman asked if the Education Scrutiny Committee could pick up on the last point.  Councillor Michael Waine, Chair of the Education Scrutiny Committee, agreed to that and stated that he had already had a very useful first meeting with the new Director for Children’s Services.

The Chairman thanked the Independent Chair and officers for an excellent report.  She stated that Richard Simpson had made progress in Children’s Safeguarding in Oxfordshire in his period of office and Members thanked him for that.