To consider a report from the Corporate Director of Children’s Services.

The Corporate Director for Children’s Services highlighted how the organisation was now out of formal intervention and had its improvement notice lifted. The report provided an update to the committee on children’s social care’s improvement journey.

The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care stated that the report had been titled ‘Continuous Improvement’ as the service recognised that although the service was no longer under special intervention, this was not an end point, and members were very reassured by this. The Committee were asked to acknowledge there was still a long way to go to reach a point where the organisation was confident services were consistently good. The report detailed how the service had used the Isos Research method to improve children’s services.

The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care went on to say that, following the recent inspection, OFSTED had set out six areas for improvement, which had been built into the existing Ambitions Plan. The report provided detail of each of the eight ambition areas set out by the Council. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care assured the committee that each of the plans had additional plans underneath which contained a greater level of detail. Through consultation with board members and partner agencies, an Ambitions for Children Board had been established, which had had its first meeting, and was to be chaired by the leader of the Council, which signified the importance of the continuing improvement journey. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care highlighted how some of the ambitions, such as neglect, were linked with the strategic safeguarding partnerships, to avoid duplication of work and to be mindful of judicious use of resources.

The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care followed up with several recommendations for Committee Members to know regarding the reconfiguration of the Ambitions board. These included detail of the improvement activity within the plan; to note the enhanced role of some of the ambitions leads jointly with the TSSP; also, to receive updates on progress against key areas of activity; and for the committee to supply constructive challenge to ensure the board continues to make a difference to the children and young people of Trafford.

The Chair asked if there were any questions regarding the report.

Councillor Parker asked a question regarding ambition 6 on domestic abuse. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services answered that there was a dedicated domestic abuse board, which responded to changes in legislation. The board had responsibility over the commissioning of resources and sat under the auspices of the Council’s community safety partnerships. Further to this, the Corporate Director for Children’s Services underlined that there was a costed plan, with commissioning resources in place. Two examples were highlighted, being that in Trafford, the council has opened a male domestic abuse refuge, and the council had also commissioned services dedicated for children. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services finished that there was always more the Council would like to do, and the team would always seek to gain more funding to set up further preventative services.  

Councillor Hirst asked what the plans were for the participation and engagement service. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care responded to the question, firstly mentioning that the participation and engagement service had been moved into the wider youth engagement service to make better use of resources. The service was hoping to increase engagement with children to make sure the service was providing support to a wider footprint of children. The service wanted to work with organisations to ensure that children’s voices would be central and listened to, which would make the service more effective. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services provided examples of how the organisation was engaging with children, by taking the ambitions plan into schools and meeting with school councils, as well as the children in care council and the aftercare forum, who had provided really good questions and ideas. The service planned to meet again with these groups of young people, and to present to them what had been done and how their advice had been put into action. The Specialist Commissioner in Children’s Clinical Commissioning spoke passionately about the recently commissioned provider Youth Focus Northwest which had launched two groups. One of those would provide operational support, looking at how the service should be delivered, whilst the other would carry out more strategic work, feeding into GM strategies around some of the region’s health services. The groups had identified two key areas for review, the first being the Greater Manchester CAMHs offer, and the other looking into children presenting in crisis to hospitals.

Councillor Procter asked why annual reviews and assessments were done for those on an EHC plan if there needs had not changed. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services responded that the council had a statutory duty to conduct annual reviews, and while some Children’s needs might not change, some would. The Director of Education also responded that it was a review aimed at ensuring the plan was still relevant for the young person rather than a reassessment. Councillor Proctor said that this was important distinction, so children do not lose their support, which had happened when complete reassessments had taken place in the past.

Councillor Proctor asked how the council would achieve Ambitions 2 and 3 so that children received the help they needed when they needed it and ensuring that a child in every area of the borough had access to the same quality of service. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care responded saying that the family help offer and co-production within the different communities was pivotal to ensuring that the right help was offered at the right time. In response to the second question the Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care assured the Committee that it was important for the quality of services in Trafford to be consistent across the borough, however, she noted that there were different service users with different needs within different areas of the borough. The Director for Education mentioned that the needs assessment and data informed the service that it was important to start in the North of the borough, however, the council fully intended to offer opportunities to areas in central and south Trafford as well, with a clear recruitment drive ongoing. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services also answered that the council had worked hard over the last few years to ensure that people in social care received the right support at the right time. The Committee were assured that the Council was working hard to understand the needs of the people in Trafford and see what was working well and what was a challenge to some of the young people in the borough.

Councillor Ennis asked how high turnover within the social care workforce impacted strategic planning. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care mentioned that high turnover did have an impact on the work the council was trying to achieve. However, there was a relentless focus within Trafford social care to be an attractive place to work, both corporately and within the services. The Committee were assured that the services recognised the importance of a sustainable workforce for the children and families who used the service, and to enable continuous improvement. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services said that if the conditions were in place to look after people in the right way, offer shared values and visions, and inform the workforce of the difference they made, they would act as key enablers in building a consistent approach. The Committee were asked to note that it was tough nationally to maintain a low turnover within the public sector.

Councillor Ennis also asked how the role of third sector factored in at a strategic level. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care responded that the Council’s former DfE (Department for Education) advisor saw this as a key strength within Trafford. There was a representative from the third sector on the improvement board, and they were to be a key partner in the Ambitions for Children board. The Committee were informed of the integral role played by the third sector across the services available to children and families within the borough. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services referred to the needs assessment within the report which encouraged the Council’s third sector partners to think creatively about how they would meet the needs of young people in the borough, and what they, as a vital part of the service, could do to support the social care improvement journey the Council was on. Finally, the Corporate Director for Children’s Services outlined that as a Council Trafford were already seeing some of the positive effects of working collaboratively with third sector partners.

Councillor Parker asked a question regarding the rollout of the Trafford Team Together (TTT) service to the centre of the borough. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services responded that this was expected to be rolled out by autumn 2023, which was a delay from the original Spring 2023 target. The Committee’s attention was then drawn to an event which was expected to be held in Autumn to showcase the benefits of the TTT model.

Councillor Acton enquired how the council planned to measure the success and outcomes of the eight key targets. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care replied that there was a performance framework in place, which she would share with the Committee post meeting. Each of the ambitions had a series of measures which contained both quantitative and qualitative methods of measuring success. She also mentioned some stretch targets were being set to ensure that the service remained ambitious. The Corporate for Children’s Services said that the ultimate test for success was to receive feedback from the families and those who used the service, and that they felt the service and the council had been helpful to them. Councillor Acton felt it would be useful to hold a review periodically to manage performance. The Chair asked if they would be happy to come back in six months with a progress update. The Director for Early Help and Children’s Social Care confirmed that they would.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That a further update be submitted in six months time.