Issue - meetings

The IRO report is produced in order to provide the Director for Children’s Services, the Lead Member for Children and the Corporate Parenting Board with information pertaining to the work of the Independent Reviewing Service (IRS) which is responsible for monitoring and reviewing the care provided to children and young people for whom the Local Authority are corporate parents.

The Deputy Lead for Safeguarding and Quality Assurance: Children and Young People introduced this item to the Panel. She informed them that the annual report provided information on;

·  The profile of the Local Authorities Looked After Children,

·  The IRO Service structure and development,

·  The inclusion and participation of children, young people and their parents

·  The review and monitoring of individual care plans for Looked After Children,

·  Area’s for development over the course of 2019-2020.

She said that the IRO is often the most consistent relationship (after a child’s primary carer) for a child and young person who is looked after. The IRO role for children and young people is so valuable as it can prevent the needs of children being overlooked, decisions being forgotten and the journey of children and young people being lost.

She explained that whilst there has been an increase in the child in care population it has been possible to reduce the average caseload for the IRO’s as a result of the Independent Chair role.

She stated that the IRO Handbook suggests that for a full-time IRO it would be good practice for their caseload to consist of 50-70 looked after children.  The current average caseload within B&NES is 47 per IRO.

She said that within the reporting period the IRO Service has chaired a total of 454 review child in care meetings for children and young people and that this is only a 1.5% increase on the previous financial year. She added that given that there has been a 14% increase in the number of children and young people becoming looked after this year, this small increase could therefore be related to;

·  Children and young people facing less disruption and therefore not requiring additional review meetings, and

·  Sibling groups remaining together reducing the number of reviews required.

She informed the Panel that the gender breakdown remains stable in relation to previous years and reflects the national picture and that at the end of this reporting period, there were 87 (45%) females and 105 (55%) males accommodated by the Local Authority.

She said that with regard to ethnicity the data shows that whilst the majority of children and young people looked after by the Local Authority are largely White British (73.4% (141)), there are 41 children and young people from Black Minority Ethnic Groups. She added that it is important that the cultural needs of the children and young people looked after are taken into consideration when identifying placements and the services on offer.

She stated that to ensure children and young people in the care of the local authority remain connected to their local community, family and friends, and to limit the level of disruption in a child/young person’s life, local authorities should always first try to place a child or young person in care within the geographical area of their family home. She added that the challenge however is ensuring that the identified carers have the appropriate skills to meet the child and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23