Agenda item

The new Improvement Plan replaced the 4 previous separate plans, and set out SBC’s priorities up to December 2015 (a period which included the transfer of services to the new Children’s Services Organisation). The work was being undertaken on the basis of this transfer taking place on 1^st October 2015. In addition, the Slough Improvement Steering Group met every fortnight and held SBC officers to account; this body would also involve the Chief Executive of the Children’s Services Organisation once in place. A bid to the Department for Education had secured £165,000 of funding.

The report considered four matters, which were as follows:

1)  Recruitment and retention

Decent, steady progress was being made on this although a higher number of agency staff were still being used than SBC wanted. Staffing was being analysed in depth to gain a full understanding of the situation and encourage the most appropriate members of agency staff to join SBC permanently. A survey had been completed which emphasised the fact that motivation contained many factors besides wage levels. A part time lead had been appointed to implement the strategy on recruitment and retention, with a national campaign being developed. May, July and September would see space taken out in the Guardian and the Metro as part of this, with an open day also scheduled for July 2015. Since April 2015, SBC had offered 20 permanent positions.

2)  Quality Assurance

2 audit activities had been completed; the first was a focused ‘deep dive’, and the second had been funded by the Department for Education. Thresholds for investigations had been found to be sound, with case selection good, risk assessment working well but domestic abuse cases and the quality of plans identified as areas for improvement.

3)  Quality of practice

New practice standards had been launched in May 2015 and aimed to clarify expectations from the service. A new practice lead for commissioning had also been appointed to drive forward improvements.

4)  Leadership and partnership

Social workers had been placed with police to assist with integration and partnership working. The establishment of a Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) would also assists this, with the Care Commissioning Group contributing towards funding.

Overall, meetings had been reduced in number and been given stronger governance arrangements (e.g. chairs appointed, clear terms of reference put in place) to help increase the effectiveness of bodies working on improvements.

The Panel made the following points in discussion:

·  Further work was still required to clarify thresholds; this would be needed to be undertaken with partners and within communities. The early help offer also needed some additional work; without these efforts, the number of referrals would continue to rise.

Resolved: that the update be noted.