Agenda item

This report is produced 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 Director of Education & Safeguarding stated that it had been a challenging year for the service and that improvements had been seen despite resources remaining an issue. He added that additional IRO’s were being sought.

He explained that some placements for children and young people are still required to be out of area.

He stated that a positive relationship exists between the IRO’s, Social Workers and their managers.

The Chair commented that the number of placements outside of the Local Authority had increased which results in young people not being near their relatives or the Council as their Corporate Parents.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding replied that these decisions are not made by the IRO, it was their role to make sure the placements are suitable. He added that they were seeking to develop some in house provision.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education added that a sufficiency statement is carried out annually and that it can be difficult to locally home young people with complex needs, but that they do try to keep a connection in place where possible.

Councillor Paul Crossley asked if the Council knew the whereabouts of all the young people that had left its care.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education replied that the Council now had a responsibility for them until the age of 25 and stated that they were currently in contact with all of those young people.

Councillor Crossley asked if Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children should be placed nearer to relatives or families that they know.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education replied that the Council is part of the Voluntary Dispersal Scheme and do challenge where appropriate to home young people near to relatives that are already in the country.

Councillor Paul May said that this was a known national issue and that funding becomes more of a pressure once the young person turns 18.

Councillor Crossley referred to section 14.1 of the report and asked why some ‘Areas for development’ were still marked as outstanding from 2019.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding replied that this relates mainly to ‘life story’ work where feedback is gathered from children and the need for this to be more in depth where possible.

Councillor Crossley stated that he would like to see more realistic targets within future reports.

Councillor Paul May commented that the report could be given further scrutiny at the next Corporate Parent meeting.

Kevin Burnett asked if the IROs have a role with regard to Children in Care that offend / re-offend.

The Director of Children’s Services & Education replied that the IROs will review all Children in Care.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding added that their individual plans would be scrutinised by the IROs and that input would also be received from the Youth Offending Team.

Councillor Lesley Mansell commented that the last Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) was completed in October 2020 and asked what actions had been taken as part of this and when would it be reviewed / updated to include any changes relating to disability, ethnic minorities, LGBT and religion.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding replied that he would ask for the EIA to be updated.

Councillor May said that it had been good to have the reminder of the Pledge to Children in Care at the May 2023 Council meeting.

Councillor Mansell said that the Pledge was quite broad on equalities and would expect LGBT to be included on future EIAs.

Councillor Liz Hardman asked what the impact would be if the request for additional posts and funding were not achieved.

The Director of Education & Safeguarding replied that the caseloads of current staff would need to be increased and that this would affect their ability to meet agreed timescales.

The Panel RESOLVED to;

i)  Note the growing pressures on the IRO service as a result of the increasing numbers of children being placed in the care of Bath and Northeast Somerset and the continued work and commitment of IROs to maintain contact with children in care, regularly reviewing the plans for these children to ensure their needs are being met.

ii)  Recognise and value the impact of the IRO role in providing scrutiny and at times, challenge when there are concerns that the needs of children are not being met or plans progressed.