Issue - meetings

This is the Annual Report of the Independent Reviewing Officers (IROs) and covers the period April 2015 to March 2016.

The Chair commented that the Panel recommended last year that IRO’s had access to independent legal advice and it was welcomed that this is beginning to happen. She asked if the Council has commissioned specialist support for children who have been exposed to modern slavery.

The Deputy Safeguarding Lead for CYP & QA replied that the Council work closely with Unseen, who provide specialist care and support to survivors. She added that this issue is also covered in the LSCB training programme.

The Chair asked for further explanation regarding the figure that 52% of social work reports had not been signed off by managers.

The Deputy Safeguarding Lead for CYP & QA replied that this was raised at the IRO/Social Care Liaison Meeting in November 2015 and that the Children Social Care team were addressing this. She added that this did not mean that there had not been management oversight of their reports. She said that a progress update was due in October 2016 and that efforts are made to discuss reports prior to meetings taking place.

The Chair asked how were Independent Reviewing Officers involved as stakeholders in the development of the new case management system.

The Deputy Safeguarding Lead for CYP & QA replied that this was a large project with discussions ongoing with officers working on the Liquid Logic project.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked what needs to put in place to ensure that the quality of Care Plans is more consistent and that children see their Plan before their review.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that the roll out of the Child Friendly Care Plan was due.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked for an explanation why there appears to be a gap in the recording process for Care Plans and Pathway Plans for 16+ young people in Care.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that this would be resolved through Liquid Logic.

The Panel RESOLVED to approve the following recommendations:

i)  That the Independent Reviewing Officers select to focus their attention next on children who are placed in the farthest reaches of Somerset and Wiltshire, as well as those outside the adjacent authorities.

ii)  The Panel would like to add its weight to the recommendation that the Assessment Policy on Tri-X is refreshed to reflect the risk associated with IROs Chairing reviews without an up to date assessment.

iii)  A number of comments have been made about inconsistency in reporting standards. The Panel requests that proposals on how Officers intend to address these issues are brought to a future C&YP PDS Panel meeting.

iv)  The Panel would like to add its weight to the recommendation that a policy and process be developed to ensure a Permanency Plan is submitted to the IRO in a set written format. 

v)  The Panel recommends that therapeutic services for our most traumatized and abused children are enhanced and that appropriate resources be prioritized.