Agenda item

Corporate Parenting Panel Annual Report 2020-2021 - Report of Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel

Minutes:

Councillor M Simmons, Chair of the Corporate Parenting Panel presented the Corporate Parenting Panel’s Annual Report 2020-21 (for copy see file of Minutes).

 

Councillor Simmons thanked Councillor Ivan Jewell and the previous Panel along with all of the young people who made it possible.

 

The annual report covered the period April 2020 to March 2021, and it had already been presented at lots of meetings, so Members may have had sight of it.

 

Councillor Simmons informed Council that there was a wide range of work taking place across the board to support children and young people in care, as well as care leavers.

 

Councillor Simmons alluded to some of the achievements the Panel was particularly proud of, like the work to allow pets into residential children’s homes after young people said how valuable this was to their mental health and wellbeing, as well as the work that had taken place to improve Wi-Fi connections, which had been most valuable during the pandemic when young people relied on technology for keeping in touch with friends and family, as well as for their schoolwork.

 

Work was continuing to address the priorities identified in the annual report, and Councillor Simmons looked forward to providing an update on this in the next annual report. 

 

Throughout the year the Panel continued to meet with young people from the children in care council, who held the Panel to account on the progress being made against these priorities.

 

Finally, Councillor Simmons thanked everyone involved in the work of the Corporate Parenting Panel and sought endorsement of the Corporate Parenting Panel Annual Report for 2020-21.

 

Resolved:

(a) That the content of the Corporate Parenting Panel Annual Report be noted;

 

(b) That the Corporate Parenting Panel Annual Report, which provided oversight of the work undertaken during 2020-21, and the priorities for the year ahead be endorsed.

 

Supporting documents: