Issue - meetings

This item was deferred from the last meeting (8 June 2021)

The committee considered the draft annual report at its 2 March 2021 meeting and agreed to receive the finalised report after the May 2021 elections.

In future it is planned for the annual report, to be considered by the Children’s Select Committee alongside any other reports relating to adoption performance that the council would consider.

The committee is invited to suggest:

·       areas of focus for the scrutiny panel in 2021-22;

·       the contents that should be included in the scrutiny panel’s annual report in future; and

·       formatting and presentation of the information to ensure ease of reading.

The Chairman introduced the report and noted that the Committee considered the draft annual report at its 2 March 2021 meeting and agreed to receive the finalised report after the May 2021 elections.

During the discussion questions were raised about what Adoption West was doing to address the shortfall in the number of adopters of older children. A board member of Adoption West noted that, although the shortfall was smaller than the national average, a revision to the recruitment strategy was due to be presented to the board in September.

Given the number of relatively new members of the Committee, the Adoption West board member then went on to provide a brief overview of the regional Adoption Agency, explaining that Wiltshire worked with five other local authorities, as well as voluntary groups, to deliver an adoption service. The longer-term goal was to place nine out of 10 Wiltshire children locally.

The Chairman noted that he was also currently serving as the Chairman of the Scrutiny Panel for Adoption West and that, if he were to be re-elected at their next meeting on 14 July, a second Wiltshire member would be required to replace the outgoing member, Cllr Suzanne Wickham. The Chairman encouraged any member interested in joining the panel to contact the Senior Scrutiny Officer, or himself, to discuss the role.

Cllr Caroline Thomas had to leave the meeting during the discussion at around 4pm.

Resolved:

To note the contents of the report.

The committee considered the draft annual report at its last meeting and agreed to receive the finalised report at its earliest meeting after the May 2021 elections.

In future it is planned for the annual report, to be considered by the Children’s Select Committee alongside any other reports relating to adoption performance that the council would consider.

The committee is invited to suggest:

·       areas of focus for the scrutiny panel in 2021-22;

·       the contents that should be included in the scrutiny panel’s annual report in future; and

·       formatting and presentation of the information to ensure ease of reading. 

Due to time pressure it was decided to defer this item until the next meeting on 6 July so that it could be given proper consideration.

Resolved:

To defer to the next meeting.