Issue - meetings

Cabinet received a quarterly Director’s update which reported on Children’s Services improvement.

Councillor Scott introduced the item and provided an overview of the key points contained within the report which included an increase in early intervention assessments (CAFs); the number of single assessments completed in July 2014 100% of which had been completed within timescale; the significant number of child protection enquiries half of which had resulted in a case conference; the Looked After Children Awards which had taken place recently; the number of Looked After Children, remaining high owing to a number of complex cases; the multi-agency safeguarding hub which was almost in operation;  the ongoing issues faced around the recruitment of social workers, for which there was a robust recruitment campaign underway and the improvement which had been seen over the last two years within the service.

Cabinet debated the report and key points raised, along with responses to questions provided by Councillor Scott and the Executive Director of Children’s Services included:

·         Concern was expressed at the possibility of there being historical issues with regards to child sex abuse, as per recent high profile cases in the press. It was advised that there was no knowledge of any such issues in Peterborough. If historical concerns were reported, they would be investigated;

·         There was a dedicated Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Team in place and discussions had been underway as to how more publicity could be given to child sexual exploitation issues within schools, other agencies and within the community;

·         A presentation would be given at a future All Party Policy meeting to advise of the issues faced in relation to child sexual exploitation;

·         It was commented that the dedicated CSE team was a budget pressure;

·         The area of Looked After Children should be further explored in order to ascertain whether a case could be made for additional funding from government in order to relieve budget pressures and additional costs which had been faced by the Council; and

·         It was requested that an in-depth presentation on some of the issues faced within Children’s Services be given at a future Cabinet Policy Forum, in order for the Cabinet to better understand issues contained within future update reports. 

Cabinet considered the report and RESOLVED:

To note the contents of the report. Key points (as of 2014) being:

·         Increase in CAFs

·         Fewer contacts

·         Single Assessment launched

·         Decrease in re-referrals

·         Number of CP and LAC

·         Recruitment and retention