Agenda item

Report of the Chief Executive.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Executive which presented an overview of progress towards delivery of the key priorities within the Council Plan 2023-27 in line with the Council’s corporate performance framework (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

Stephen Tracey, Corporate Performance Manager was welcomed to the meeting to present highlights from the report. The Committee noted that demand for children’s social care remained high since the pandemic, however, re-referral rates were lower than comparators. An increasing number of young people were entering care with complex needs and the partner-led early help model had helped to strengthen capacity to deliver support to families. A steady improvement was observed in school attendance rates and work was underway with partners to develop a protocol for school attendance.  Requests for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) had increased substantially since 2019 and an action plan was in place to improve performance. Improvements were expected to show in the data over the course of the coming year.

The Committee heard that the number of children in our care remained relatively high and the Placement Sufficiency Strategy aimed to expand provision of children’s homes and ongoing capital investment would ensure existing homes were fit for purpose.

The Corporate Equalities and Strategy Manager highlighted that the number of young people electively home educated increased in quarter four however Durham’s rate was in line with the national rate.  At the previous meeting of the Committee, a question was raised on the provision of free child care places in light of the previous government’s extension of the national scheme and further information would be provided on the matter in the 2024-25 quarter two report.

The Chair thanked the officer for the report and questions and comments were invited.

Councillor Mulholland noted Durham’s relatively high rate of social worker vacancies and asked how Durham was performing in relation to recruitment of social workers. The Performance Manager referred to challenges in recruitment, however, over recent months a number of social work apprentices had been recruited.  He explained that the retention rate was measured by staff turnover, through analysing the percentage of staff leaving as a percentage of all staff and Durham’s turnover was relatively low.

Angela Gunn observed that only one of the four special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) key performance indicators (KPIs) was a performance KPI i.e. the number of EHCPs completed within 20 weeks and she gave the view that the metrics did not give a full picture of performance as they did not measure aspects such as the effectiveness of decision making, the placement of children in appropriate settings, the number of placement breakdowns and the financial impact of placement breakdowns. The Corporate Performance Manager confirmed that those aspects were measured through operational performance monitoring, whilst the performance report aimed to provide an overview and he agreed to pass the comments to the service.

Councillor Scurfield expressed concern at the fall in the percentage of children meeting expected standards in maths and reading at key stage 2 and she asked whether the issue would be addressed through the Starting Well Partnership. The Corporate Performance Manager replied that he would request further details from the Head of Education on action being undertaken and he added that there were national challenges, following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Councillor Scurfield also raised concern at the data relating to the number of children aged 4-5 who were of a healthy weight and the Committee noted that healthy weight in children had been the subject of a discussion at the previous meeting.

Referring to the recruitment of social workers, Councillor Varty spoke of the high demand for social workers which had led to an increasingly competitive market and she spoke of the importance of offering good employment terms and conditions in order to recruit and retain staff.

Councillor Lines had attended a number of meetings with parents, officers, local action groups and local MPs with regard to the waiting times for EHCPs and he was pleased to see the number of EHCPs finalised within 20 weeks had increased to 7%. He queried the average length of wait time for the remaining 93% and for the definition of a timely service. The Corporate Equalities and Strategy Manager responded the average length of time was approximately 40 weeks and he pointed out that the average time may be skewed by complex cases.  He added that the current system included fast tracking priority cases. The Corporate Performance Manager highlighted that in June, 12% of EHCPs were delivered within 20 weeks and it was hoped the momentum will be maintained and a normal operational level will be achieved by September, at which point, the service would be in a better position to deliver a timely service, i.e. within the statutory 20 week timeframe.

Councillor Scurfield spoke of the unprecedented demand for EHCP services since the Covid-19 pandemic which could not have been predicted or planned for and the impact on young people had continued.  She commented that it would be useful to have further information from the service as to the key issues and their views on action for improvement.  The Corporate Performance  Manager agreed to include national data in the next quarterly report and he referred to challenges for larger authorities in recruiting the number of education psychologists required to meet demand. 

In response to a question from Councillor Hunt as to the lack of information on kinship carers, the Corporate Performance Manager agreed to bring additional information on kinship carers to the Committee within the next quarterly report, as part of the Placement Sufficiency Strategy.  

Resolved:

The Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the overall position and direction of travel in relation to quarter four  performance (January to March) and the actions being taken to address areas of challenge.