Agenda item

The update focused on the 19^th April 2018 meeting, which had covered priority 1 of the Corporate Parenting Strategy (Our looked after children and young people will be supported by strong and effective corporate parenting). In relation to priority 1, the key points were:

·  The corporate parenting strategy was thoroughly revised in 2016 and will be refreshed in 2018;

·  The JPP was refocussed to ensure that the voice of the child is paramount;

·  A JPP score card was introduced in October 2017 to facilitate scrutiny of Slough’s corporate parenting role;

·  Annual Member training on corporate parenting was introduced;

·  A Trust commissioning and sufficiency strategy helped target priorities for children in care; and

·  SBC introduced exemption from council tax for care leavers up to the age of 25 years.

SBC’s housing strategy included a focus on housing pathways for care leavers; 7 internships for care leavers were created within the Council and its partners as a result of the Council’s employment education and training strategy; the Council’s Young People’s Service worked collaboratively with the Trust to provide targeted “Life Skills” support to care leavers transitioning into independence; and Slough schools complemented  the work of the Trust’s Virtual School, helping to support children looked after.

The Panel raised the following points in discussion:

·  Given that a significant proportion of JPP members were new, the first meeting of 2018 – 19 would recap key issues relating to corporate parenting. Training for all Councillors (not just JPP members) would be provided in September 2018 and new JPP members would continue to receive support in their duties throughout the meetings held this year.

·  Members were reminded that corporate parenting was the responsibility of all Councillors, not just those on the JPP or the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel. Equally, SBC officers needed to understand their responsibility on the matter.

(At this point, Cllr Matloob entered the meeting)

·  Children in the care of SBC who had been placed outside of the Borough were treated the same as those who remained within Slough. Some councils which were now home to care leavers from Slough placed these individuals on their housing registers. However, it was recognised that a proposal to exempt such care leavers from Council Tax could be of benefit to those concerned and their cost could be calculated.

·  The proportion of looked after children who were placed inside Slough or a 20 mile radius had risen from 69% to 72%. However, whilst a higher proportion was welcomed, it was almost impossible to maintain a figure of 100% for a variety of reasons (e.g. need to relocate away from gangs, specialist education).

·  The independence of the voice of the child was respected through several mechanisms. The Reach Out! Scrutiny Forum was facilitated independently, whilst an independent advocacy charity was involved in holding discussions with children away from officers. Monitoring visits had commented on this aspect of improvement, whilst children themselves had raised it as a welcome development during the September 2017 training event mentioned earlier in these minutes.

·  Areas such as life skills, support with entering the housing market and confidence were emphasised as SBC aimed to increase the independence of its children in care. The progress made on this was measured through the ‘strengths and difficulties’ questionnaire.

Resolved:

1.  That a reference be made to Cabinet requesting that care leavers outside of Slough also be exempted from Council Tax in areas where reciprocal arrangements were in place. (NOTE: this is already SBC policy, so no reference to Cabinet will be required).

2.  That information regarding the number of apprenticeships offered by SBC, the number of those which lead to permanent roles and the number of apprentices who found permanent roles elsewhere be circulate to the Panel.