Agenda and minutes

To note the appointment at the meeting of Cabinet on 14 May 2009 of Councillor Janet Mote as Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel for the Municipal Year 2009/10.

RESOLVED:  To note that Councillor Janet Mote had been appointed Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel for the Municipal Year 2009/10.

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no Reserve Members in attendance at this meeting.

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee, Sub Committee, Panel or Forum;

(b)               all other Members present in any part of the room or chamber.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were no declarations of interests made by Members present in relation to the business transacted at this meeting.

To appoint a Vice Chairman for the Corporate Parenting Panel for the Municipal Year 2008/09.

RESOLVED:  That Councillor Christine Bednell be appointed Vice Chairman of the Corporate Parenting Panel for the Municipal Year 2009/10.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2009 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2009 be taken as read and signed as a correct record, subject to the following amendment:

·                     Minute 77:  That the spelling of “Corum” be amended to read “Coram”.

To receive questions (if any) from local residents or organisations under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4E of the Constitution).

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were put, or petitions or deputations received at this meeting under the provisions of Advisory Panel and Consultative Forum procedure rules 16, 14 and 15 respectively.

Information Report of the Corporate Director of Children’s Services.

The Panel received an information report of the Corporate Director of Children’s Services, which set out key data relating to Children Looked After (CLA) and Children with Child Protection Plans (CPP), including key performance indicators up to the end of May 2009. 

An officer outlined the following key points and issues:

·                     Core assessment performance had improved and the Local Area Agreement (LAA) target for 2009/10 was being met.  However, the data for June was expected to show a decline in performance due to unexpected staff absence as a result of illness and special leave;

·                     initial assessment performance had dropped and managers were taking immediate action to address the situation;

·                     the data indicated that the number of Looked After Children being placed outside of the borough had increased dramatically.  Whilst the matter was being investigated, it was thought that the increase was mostly the result of new data that better identified placement addresses.

Following questions from members of the Panel, officers clarified the following:

·                     Following the Baby P incident, the Council was finding it increasingly difficult to recruit new social workers and that this was a nation?wide problem.  However, the department was managing well and core assessments remained a non?negotiable priority for staff;

·                     as performance data was generally only concerned with key targets, the statistics often failed to highlight much of the positive work that went on behind the scenes;

·                     the Council had successfully reduced its reliance on temporary social workers and approximately 75% of staff were now permanent.  The Council was also working with the West London Alliance to improve its recruitment techniques.  At the request of the Chairman, officers agreed to provide a full breakdown of staffing numbers at the next meeting;

·                     the performance data indicated that children aged between 10 and 15 years were most likely to become Looked After.  A detailed breakdown of this age bracket would be provided to the Panel at its next meeting to help Members better understand the contributing factors;

·                     the number of children in secure accommodation had increased from 1 to 3 and such fluctuations were to be expected.  The cost of funding a child in secure accommodation was £3,000 to £4,000 per week, although the Council was only expected to pay one third of the sum if the child had been detained due to criminal activity;

·                     considerable work had been undertaken to improve the family support function of social services in order to reduce the number of children entering the care system.  The Council had also run a number of “Strengthening Families” courses which had been well attended;

·                     officers would explore the possibility of producing data that considered how referral sources had changed over time, taking into account the loss of Health Visitors;

·                     the use and nature of Child Protection Plans (CPP) varied depending on a child’s individual circumstances;

·                     in addition to Looked After Children and those with a CPP, there was a large group of children that had been identified as “Children in Need”.  Social Services were working  ...  view the full minutes text for item 85.

Information Report of the Corporate Director of Children’s Services.

The Panel received an information report of the Corporate Director of Children’s Services which outlined the progress made towards developing a ‘Children in Care Council’, which would support the Corporate Parenting Panel in their deliberations, in line with the implementation of the London Pledge in Harrow.

The officer explained that, as discussed at the Panel’s previous meeting, the Children in Care Council was being developed using members of the existing Young Voices Group.  It was expected that the Children in Care Council would consist of approximately 5 children.

Following questions from the Panel, officers clarified that:

·                     it was expected that formal links between the Children in Care Council and the Corporate Parenting Panel would be maintained, initially, via a small ‘steering group’ of Councillors.  These Councillors would work closely with the Children in Care Council and report back to the Corporate Parenting Panel on a regular basis;

·                     once the Children in Care Council had developed the necessary confidence and skills, it was hoped that the children could attend the Corporate Parenting Panel to raise issues that they considered to be important to Looked After Children in Harrow;

·                     it was important that the terms of reference of the Corporate Parenting Panel be reviewed to ensure that the relationship between it and the Children in Care Council was formally established.

RESOLVED: That the report be noted.

Which cannot otherwise be dealt with.

Young Voices Group

The Chairman informed the Panel that a number of Councillors had met with members of the Young Voices Group on 21 May in the Members Lounge.  She stated that the meeting had been a great success and that she was pleased to see the children developing leadership skills.  The Chairman thanked the officer that had organised the event.

CRB Checks

The Chairman informed the Panel that all Members of the Corporate Parenting Panel had now been CRB checked.

Member Training

The Chairman informed the Panel that a Corporate Parenting Training session had been run by the Member Development team on 22 June.

Scrutiny Review

The Chairman informed the Panel that she had been involved with a recent Scrutiny Review concerning the safeguarding of Children and the recent adoption inspection.

Tate Modern

The Chairman asked an officer to inform the Panel of the work the Council had been doing with Tate Modern in regards to Looked After Children.  The officer explained that two Harrow Looked After Children had worked with an established artist to design and create a piece of art depicting urban life.  The resulting piece was due to be exhibited at Tate Modern between 14 July and 6 August.  Following this, the piece was due to be displayed in Harrow in the window display at Milton House.