1. PURPOSE
1.1 That the Cabinet
fulfil their statutory duty in respect of the approval for
submission of the Joint Area Review (JAR) Action Plan, as set out in the
attached appendix.
2. CONFIDENTIAL/ EXEMPT ITEMS
2.1 This report and appendix do not disclose confidential or exempt
information.
3. BACKGROUND AND STRATEGIC CONTEXT
3.1 The services for children and young people were inspected
under the joint framework by a team of inspectors representing OFSTED, the
Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the National Health Service
from March 2006 to May 2006. The inspection also included an inspection of the
Council’s Youth Service and the Isle of Wight Youth Offending Team. These
inspections contributed to the overall Joint Area Review judgements.
3.2 The Joint Area Review report was published on 14 August 2006. The Children’s Services Authority of the Isle
of Wight Council has a statutory duty to provide an approved action plan to
Government Office for South East (GOSE) and the Department for Education and
Skills (DfES) within seventy working days of the JAR report publication date.
The due date for submission is 20th
November 2006.
3.3 The Joint Area Review report made fifteen recommendations
which must be addressed. With one
addition these form the presented action plan.
Following a close reading of the report, it was decided that an
additional issue, the consistent allocation of social workers to child
protection cases, should be added to the action plan making sixteen
recommendations in all.
3.4 The recommendations in the Joint Area Review resonate strongly
with the issues and priorities identified in the Isle of Wight Children and
Young People’s Plan. Therefore the JAR
action plan will form the first year delivery plan for the Children and Young
People’s Plan. This approach has been
supported by the Authority’s attached DfES/GOSE Children’s Services Regional
Adviser.
4. CONSULTATION
4.1 Whilst the plan must be considered as dynamic with work still
being progressed in a number of areas, its drafting has been strongly supported
by the Children’s Services Regional Adviser from the Government Office of
South-East. A draft was fully evaluated
in early October 2006 by an improvement board, made up of representatives from
the different inspectorates involved in the Joint Area Review and the Corporate
Assessment, including the Audit Commission.
4.2 The plan has been presented to the Commission for Children and
School Results and has been debated fully. The Commission also recognised the
key role it would play in the performance management of the plan in action.
Other key stakeholders such as young people, head teachers, governors and the
different agencies represented on the Isle of Wight Children and Young People’s
Trust have been consulted and contributed to the plan’s formulation.
5. FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS
5.1 The costs of implementing the action plan fall largely within
the existing budgets of the partners of the Children and Young People’s
Trust. Additional funds, particularly in
the areas of school improvement, and access and inclusion will be drawn from
the Local Area Agreement, Local Public Service Agreement pump priming funding
and the ‘Through the Roof’ project with the DfES, which is currently awaiting
ministerial sign off.
6. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1 It is a statutory requirement of the Joint Area Review process
for the Council on behalf of partner agencies to complete and submit an action
plan within seventy days of the report’s publication date.
6.2 Progress in the implementation and achievement of the outcomes
of the JAR action plan will form a significant element of the future judgement
of the Councils’ services in respect of the Annual Performance Assessment (APA)
for Children’s Services, next due in November 2007; the next Joint Area Review
and Corporate Assessment.
7. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IMPLICATIONS
7.1 The preparation of the Joint Area Review
Action Plan has taken full consideration of the Councils policy and statutory
guidance on issues relating to diversity, equality and disability. Prior to
final submission, the Joint Area Review action plan will be subject to a
Diversity Impact Assessment.
7.2 The Joint Area Review action plan will
contribute to the attainment of the Equality Standard for improving equality
practice and producing equitable outcomes in service delivery and employment.
The five levels of achievement are outlined in the Isle of Wight Comprehensive
Equality Plan (CEP).
7.3 The Joint Area Review action plan as part
of the Children and Young People’s Plan adheres to the Island Futures
underlying principles of safeguarding, diversity, accessibility and working
with the not-for profit sector.
8. OPTIONS
8.1 The action plan will be evaluated by the appropriate government
agencies to ensure that it matches the recommendations made in the Joint Area
Review report. We, therefore, must
address the key recommendations of the JAR report. To seek further options
would reduce our capacity to address effectively these recommendations and to
improve the next APA score for Children’s Service. It is recommended that no
options other than those covered within the current action plan are considered
at this stage.
8.2 The quality of the delivery of the JAR action plan will be
judged on its impact on improving outcomes for children and young people. The
actions identified have been selected because they are considered to be those
that will have the most positive impact on improving outcomes for children and
young people of the Isle of Wight.
9. EVALUATION/RISK MANAGEMENT
9.1 The central risk to the successful delivery of this action plan
is that of capacity. The Council and partners will have to consider how best to
prioritise and focus resources to deliver this action plan. To improve our
rating as a Council we will need to provide evidence of the impact that this
action plan will have had on the improvement of outcomes for children and young
people by the time our next Annual Performance Assessment concludes in November
2007. To achieve this there will need to be a maintained priority in key areas
such as school standards, Post 16 education, access and inclusion and Looked
After Children.
9.2 The
Joint Area Review and Corporate Assessment both identified the need for
the Council to improve its performance management. The risk is how partners,
including for example schools and health services, fully engage with their
responsibility and accountability for the improvement of outcomes for children
and young people. Both the Council and
the Children and Young People’s Trust will
need to ensure coherent and rigorous processes of managing
performance in relation to the action plan can be fully evidenced.
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RECOMMENDATION
That the Cabinet be
recommended to approve the Joint Area Review action plan for submission.
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BACKGROUND PAPERS
Isle of Wight Children and
Young People’s Plan
Ofsted Joint Area Review
Report 2006
Isle
of Wight Comprehensive Equality Plan (CEP)
APPENDICES
Appendix 1 - Joint Area
Review Action Plan
Contact Point: Steve Beynon, Strategic Director of
Children’s Services,
( 01983 823500, e-mail
[email protected]
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COUNCILLOR DAWN COUSINS
Cabinet Member
for Island Health, Housing and Community
Well-being
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COUNCILLOR PATRICK JOYCE
Deputy
Leader and Cabinet
Member for Education, Skills and Learning
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STEVE BEYNON
Director of Children’s Services