PAPER B
Committee : CHILDRENS’ COMMITTEE
Date :30 APRIL 2002
Title :QUALITY PROTECTS MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN 2002-2003
REPORT OF THE STRATEGIC DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES AND HOUSING
SUMMARY/PURPOSE
To provide Members with an understanding of key elements of the Quality Protects Programme 2002/2003 and to re-emphasize their role in reviewing progress in the provision of quality services for children on the Isle of Wight.
.BACKGROUND
The Quality Protects Programme, launched on 21 September 1998, is a 3 year Government programme to improve the management and delivery of services for children. Utilizing a £375 million Childrens’ Services special grant, local authorities were expected to show improved delivery and better outcomes for children and young people on a range of key performance targets. There was an underpinning emphasis on corporate/partnership working across directorates and with key agencies, including the voluntary sector.
The main elements of the programme included:
• Eleven national objectives for childrens’ social services which, for the first time, set clear outcomes for the children, supported by a range of measurable performance indicators and targets
• Partnership between Central and Local Government
• Local Councillors role in ensuring the delivery of the programme
• Requirement that all local authorities submit an annual Quality Protects Management Action Plan (MAP) to the Department of Health
• Grant allocation based on submission of a MAP of an acceptable standard
QUALITY PROTECTS OBJECTIVES AND PROGRESS
All four of the Isle of Wight MAP submissions have been approved by the Department of Health. The 2002/2003 MAP was submitted at the end of January 2002. There have been significant areas of improvement in service delivery over the past 3 years and these are outlined in Appendix A - Quality Protects Objectives.
During 2002/2003, Government has placed a particular emphasis on:
• increasing placement choice and adoption
• increased support to care leavers
• improved assessment and care planning
• listening to the views and wishes of children and young people
• enhancing services to children with a disability
Grant allocation reflects these emphases, particularly in respect of care leavers in the year ahead.
KEY ACTION POINTS FOR 2002-2003
Certain key themes require focused work over the next two years as well as consolidating existing initiatives and good practice. Key action points can be summarized as:
1. The number of looked after children, although reducing against a national upward trend, remains high in relation to our group of comparator authorities. There will be focused work on developing a multi-agency assessment and preventative services with the aim of assisting children with complex needs to remain within their families and local community where appropriate.
2. Recruitment and retention of foster carers remains a priority with an emphasis on the provision of improved support (financial and practical) and training.
3. Development of a Combined Accommodation Scheme to provide continuity of support for older looked after children and care leavers with specialist posts within fieldwork teams to promote educational planning and working alongside the Youth Offending Team to reduce incidence of offending behavior.
4. To develop policies, training practice standards and improve access to services for children from ethnic minorities.
5. To develop a framework for consultation with children, parents and carers to inform service planning
6. Team Business planning will be developed to ensure Quality Protects priorities are reflected locally and encourage shared ownership of the performance strategy through presentations of good practice and continuous improvement.
CONCLUSION
The Quality Protects MAP provides an ongoing improvement programme. The Directorate will ensure that monitoring of performance against objectives is undertaken on a regular basis.
The welfare of children is a corporate responsibility of the whole Authority working in conjunction with other agencies, voluntary sector and service users and carers. (Working Together 1999). The Island’s Corporate Parenting Policy expresses a commitment to the achievement of quality services for all vulnerable children on the Island. The Quality Protects MAP is of key importance in this regard.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Members are invited to note the key action points and endorse the approach as outlined.
ADDITIONAL PAPERS
Quality Protects Management Action Plan 2002-2003.
Contact Point: Jimmy Doyle, Ext: 2247, F 520600
Mary Brimson _ 525790
C WADDICOR
Director of Social Services & Housing
APPENDIX A
Objective 1: To ensure that children are securely attached to carers capable of providing safe and effective care for the duration of childhood.
• Placement moves are currently at 8% against a 12% national trend. Placement stability is 6% higher than national average with 61% of children who had been in their foster placement for at least two years.
• 9% of children have been adopted, a figure which is 2% higher than nationally.
• 100% of looked after children have an allocated Social Worker.
• The development of the Family Solutions Service and a strategy to prevent family breakdown has been designed to reduce the numbers of children in care and enhance placement choice where care is the only option.
Objective 2: To ensure that children are protected from emotional, physical and sexual abuse and neglect.
• Re-registrations on child protection register decreased by 47%
• 100% of children on the child protection register were reviewed within timescale with 100/% of children on the register having an allocated Social Worker
• In April 2001, there was a comprehensive reconfiguration of the Area Child Protection Committee to promote a more strategic focus and effective inter-agency response to children at risk.
• There has been a focus on developing consistent standards of policy and service provision across Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.
Objective 3: To ensure that children in need gain the maximum life chance benefits from education opportunities, health care and social care.
• There has been continuous development of inter-agency strategic planning in respect of Sure Start, Children’s Fund, Health Improvement Plans, Teenage Pregnancy and joint Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services development strategy.
• The Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership Board has been developed to ensure service planning and delivery addresses need which reflects the views of local communities.
Objective 4: To ensure that children looked after gain the maximum life chance benefits from educational opportunities, health care and social care.
• An Education Co-ordinator and two Educational Assistants are joint funded posts working to minimize educational disruption for looked after children and improve course work grades. A study group supported by the library service has contributed to qualitative improvements in course work grades, career planning and mutual support for looked after children. 54% of LAC achieved one or more GCSE pass, a 16% improvement on the previous year.
• A multi-agency Teenage Pregnancy Implementation and Review Group has been established and a Co-ordinator appointed, to strengthen local partnership arrangements for supporting teenage parents.
Percentage of looked after children receiving health assessments is currently 10% higher than national rate.
Objective 5: To ensure that young people leaving care as they enter adulthood are not isolated and participate socially and economically as citizens.
• The Independence Support Project continues to develop services to support care leavers in conjunction with the ConneXions Service. Personal Advisors, Pathway Planning and a range of practical support services are provided.
Objective 6: To ensure that children with specific social needs arising out of disability or a health condition are living in families or other appropriate settings in the community where their assessed needs are adequately met and reviewed.
• A Multi-Agency Assessment and Intervention Centre opened in February 2001 providing co-ordinated response to assessment, diagnosis and intervention of children with learning disability.
• There has been an increase in range of support and respite services to children with learning disability.
• There have been successful bids to improve services for children with autistic spectrum disorder.
Objective 7: To ensure that referral and assessment processes discriminate effectively between different types and levels of need and produce a timely response.
• In January 2001, Social Services duty teams were re-structured to create the Duty and Initial Assessment Team and the Core Assessment Team to meet the requirements of the new Assessment Framework guidance.
• There has been a 12% decrease in the numbers of repeat referrals to childrens’ services within the last 12 months.
Objective 8: To actively involve users and carers in planning services and in tailoring individual packages of care, and to ensure effective mechanisms are in place to handle
complaints.
• There has been a significant level of consultation with children and their families during the Joint Best Value Review for children with Special Needs and Disability.
• A range of consultative initiatives have been developed for looked after children and care leavers.
Objective 9: To ensure through regulatory powers and duties that children in regulated services are protected from harm and poor care standards.
• Reviewing services have been strengthened to ensure statutory visiting undertaken with looked after children, particularly those placed off-Island.
• A multi-agency Joint Commissioning Panel exists to ensure mainland residential providers meet statutory requirements and are appropriate to meet the childrens’ needs.
Objective 10: To ensure that social care workers are appropriately skilled, trained and qualified, and to promote the uptake of training at all levels.
• A Corporate Training Strategy has been developed to target core training requirements with an evidence based approach linked to competencies and career progression.
• A range of professional and post qualifying training opportunities are in place.
• A Recruitment and Retention Task Group has been established with Member involvement to strengthen existing policies and approaches.
Objective 11: To maximize the benefit to service users from the resources available and to demonstrate the effectiveness and value for money of the care and support provided, and allow for choice and different responses for different needs and circumstances.
• In spite of budgetary pressures, there has been evidence of positive trends in relation to performance indicators across all services and consolidation of strong Joint Agency planning.
• The Joint Commissioning Panel has developed partnership arrangements with Health and Education to jointly fund off-Island placements.
• Fieldwork Services and the Family Solutions Team have focused on maintaining children within families through flexible packages of support.