Agenda item

The Children’s Select Committee receives two reports a year from the Corporate Parenting Panel: the draft Annual Report and a 6-month update.

The 6-month update report, providing information on the progress made against each of the strategic priorities of the Corporate Parenting Panel, will be reviewed at this meeting.  

The committee is asked to note the report from the Corporate Parenting Panel and include the draft full annual report in its forward work programme for September 2022.

The Chairman reminded the Committee that they received two reports a year from the Corporate Parenting Panel (CPP): the draft Annual Report and an interim six-month update. He explained that the six-month interim update would be considered at the meeting and that the Committee would be asked to include the full annual report in its Forward Work Programme for September 2022.

The Head of Children in Care and Young People referred the Committee to the scorecard attached to Agenda Supplement 1, which outlined performance against eight strategic priorities. She explained that each of the priorities had a Councillor linked to them to ensure accountability. She also noted that the priorities had been identified two years ago by Young People and that they heavily relied on their feedback. She then went on to provide a number of examples of the work being undertaken, including rock climbing activity sessions being run by the Child and Youth Voice Team. Other examples included ensuring that community links were developed in the Fostering Excellence programme to make sure that children developed appropriate local links.

The officer explained that an Ofsted inspection carried out in January had found that Care Leavers had been provided with the right support and that the team had a skilled and stable workforce. Efforts were being made to make processes less bureaucratic for Young People to ensure that services were as friendly and accessible as possible.

During the discussion key points included:

• Members thanked the Head of Children in Care and Young People for the update and praised the positive actions in the report.

• Cllr Peter Hutton, Chairman of the CPP, drew attention to the Ofsted visit as well as that of Mark Riddell, National Adviser for Care Leavers, whose comments were included in the report. Cllr Hutton was pleased that the work of the CPP was being recognised and stated that they were looking forward to working closely with the newly elected Wiltshire Youth Council.

• In response to a question about the advertising of fostering placements, the officer confirmed that promotion was taking place across the whole of the county.

• Members asked questions about why the Health and Wellbeing key performance indicators were below target levels, specifically the number of Children Looked After accessing dental treatment. In response, the officer explained that the pandemic had had a significant impact on access to dental treatment, but that work was ongoing with social workers to ensure that appointments were being booked. The dental figures in the report were from financial year 2020/21 and she expected that there would be a significant improvement in these figures in the next financial year.

• As eight strategic priorities had been identified in the report, it was discussed whether the officers could present their findings in the form of a pre-meeting briefing rather than the Committee receiving the six-monthly update.

Resolved

1. For the Draft Corporate Parenting Panel report to go to the Standing Task Group again this year.

2. To receive presentations from the CPP lead Councillors and Strategic Lead Officers on their CPP strategic priorities at pre-meeting briefings of the Children’s Select Committee.

3. For updates about key figures to be provided at Committee meetings throughout the year.

4. To delegate to Chairman and Vice-Chairman to meet with relevant officers to discuss how points 2 and 3 could be implemented.