Agenda and minutes

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

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Member:

To consider the appointment of a Vice-Chair to the Sub-Committee for the 2023-2024 Municipal Year.  

RESOLVED:  To note that Councillor Jerry Miles was appointed Vice-Chair of the Sub-Committee for the 2023-24 Municipal Year.

To receive declarations of disclosable pecuniary or non pecuniary interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from all Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2023 be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 28 March 2023, be taken as read and signed as a correct record.

To note any public questions received.

Questions will be asked in the order in which they were received.  There will be a time limit of 15 minutes for the asking and answering of public questions.

[The deadline for receipt of public questions is 3.00 pm, 13 July 2023.  Questions should be sent to publicquestions@harrow.gov.uk  

No person may submit more than one question].

RESOLVED:  To note that no public questions were received at the meeting.

To receive petitions (if any) submitted by members of the public/Councillors.

RESOLVED:  To note that no petitions were received.

To receive any references from Council and/or other Committees or Panels.

RESOLVED:  To note that there were none.

Members received the Children’s Services Complaints and Feedback Annual Report 2022/23.

The report provided an overview of the Council’s performance on Children’s Services complaints and feedback activity between the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Children’s social care complaints were handled in line with the Children Act 1989 Regulations 2006 and Getting the Best from Complaints guidance 2006. 

There was a legal requirement for all local authorities to have a complaint process in place in accordance with these regulations, The Children and Adoption Act 2002 and Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 and related guidance.  The statutory complaints procedure was designed to ensure the needs of the child were the heart of the process.

The three stages of the Children’s statutory complaints procedure were:

a)    Stage 1 - Local Resolution stage (10 - 20 working days);

b)    Stage 2 - Independent investigation stage (25 – 65 working days); and

c)     Stage 3 - Independent Review Panel (30 working days).

Non-social care complaints, concerning Education and Special Educational needs, complaints were investigated in line with the Council’s Corporate complaints procedure, which comprises two stages as follows:

a)    Stage 1- Local Resolution (15 working days); and

b)    Stage 2 - Review (20 working days)

The final stage for both corporate and statutory children’s complaints was escalation to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

Complaints about schools were managed within each school’s own complaints procedure.  Appeals for school places were considered under the School Appeal Process and disputes, such as those relating to the Education, Health and Care plans were considered through appeals to the Statutory Appeals tribunal.

Members made comments, and asked questions, which were responded to by Officers.

During 2022/23, the complaints team received a total of 309 representations for Children’s Services, as compared to 246 in 2021/22.

Between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, the complaints service recorded:

a)    A total of 69 stage 1 complaints;

b)    9 complaints escalated to stage 2 and there were no stage 3 reviews;

c)     the Ombudsman made a decision on three complaints;

d)    there were 96 Member and MP enquiries;

e)    21 compliments were recorded;

f)      106 queries were received.

43 stage 1 complaints concerned Children’s social care and 26 complaints concerned Education and SEN services.      

Complaint response times improved by 14% during 2022/23, with 63% of stage 1 complaints responded on time, as compared to 55% in the previous year.

68% of the complaints were not upheld, with 32% either upheld or partially upheld.

The complaints team will continue to work with all service teams to identify and address areas of learning from complaints for service improvement and to improve response times.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Members also received the Adult Social Care Services Complaints & Feedback Annual Report 2022/23.

The report provided an overview of the Council’s performance on Adult Social Care Services complaints and feedback activity between the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

Adults social care complaints were investigated in line with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.