Agenda item

Report of the Divisional Director Children and Young People Services.

The Panel received an information report of the interim Divisional Director of Children and Young People on the Independent Visitors Service.  The Children’s Act 1989 had placed a duty on Councils to appoint an Independent Visitor for any ‘Looked after Child’ if they believed this to be in the child’s best interest and the young person had consented to the support.

The Chair welcomed the People Services Commissioner and the Area Manager of SOVA (Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults) for this item.  Members were informed that SOVA had been contracted to deliver the Harrow IV (Independent Visitors) Project.

The Area Manager for SOVA reported that:

-               it was not unusual to see a drop in relationships due to changes in providers;

-               the organisation had been established some 40 years ago and since being awarded the contract, it had remodelled to match the tender;

-               a member of staff was based once a week in the Council to help develop skills and take the service forward;

-               of the 21 open referrals, 8 had been matched with IVs;

-               logistical issues were being addressed and he made reference to those CLA placed outside the borough.  He explained that in some areas such as Dover, SOVA did not have a footprint and the organisation was looking to reach out to volunteer bureaus with a view to training them.

Members asked questions about the length of the contract with SOVA, how successful the service was and its expectations.  The People Services Commissioner explained that the contract was for 3 years and the Council was considering whether to extend it by a further year.  The target was to match 30 CLA but the value of the contract was a challenge.  Some volunteers had left and there was a need to train volunteers in Harrow.  The national training programme was good but the process of recruiting, training, assessing and matching was a challenging journey and one which was exacerbated by part time working and the size of the contract.

The Area Manager for SOVA responded to questions from Members and stated that 20 volunteers had been trained and 8 relationships had been established.  The CLA, with established relationships, met with the volunteer on a monthly basis.  He was of the view that 2 matches per month were required.  In response to further questions, he stated that the 80% of CLA were female and 20% male.  The respective split in IVs was 70%:30% but he needed to check the data.  He acknowledged that there was a need to engage additional male volunteers.

In response to additional questions, the Area Manager of SOVA explained how assessments with CLA were carried out.  He informed Members that a complaints process had also been built-in to allow CLA to flag up areas of concern.  Additionally, action plans and reviews were conducted with the IVs.  He added that the feedback received from CLA had been positive and that they had stated that they would have been bored without their IV as the  process provided them with a structure to their lives.  The ages of referrals ranged from 8-24 years and were based on need.  There had been no requests for an IV beyond the age of 24 years.  It was noted that some IV services only provided a service up to the age of 18 years.  It was acknowledged that Councils could do more to help beyond that age and Harrow had commissioned the service to also work with young people potentially up to the age of 25 years.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.

Reason for Decision:  To be availed of how the IV service was working.