Issue - meetings

The Panel received and noted the report of the Service Director, Legal and Governance that provided an overview of performance across Children and Families Services since June 2018.

The Panel also noted the Performance Summary from the Chair and the response provided by the officers.

Hillary Brooks, Service Director, Children and Families Services, Phil Bullingham, Service Lead, Safeguarding, Improvement, Governance and Quality Assurance, and Jane White, Service Lead, Children’s Social Care were present and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting.  In discussions with the officers, the Panel noted the following:

·  That analysis of the journeys of children who had become looked after, revealed that many referrals into MASH are high risk referrals that had not accessed the Early Help Service.

·  That staff from Early Help Service and integrated teams had been contacting MASH for advice instead of their managers.

·  That recruitment of staff into MASH continued to have been difficult and there were still vacancies in the team that needed to be filled.

·  That the joint team work which focussed on the legal gateway and permanence planning for Looked After Children,  had helped the number of Looked After Children to be reduced to 499 which was the lowest number since 2012.