Issue - meetings

The Panel considered the report of the Executive Director for Children Learning which briefed the Panel on the Ofsted Focused Visit Inspection that was undertaken between 20 April and 6 May 2021.

Councillor J Baillie, Cabinet Member for Education, Robert Henderson, Executive Director of Children and Learning, Southampton City Council; and Phil Bullingham, Head of Service: Children’s Social Care, Southampton City Council; were present and, with the consent of the Chair, addressed the Panel.

In discussions with the officers, the Panel noted the following:

·  Ofsted noted an improvement in the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub, Child Protection Conferences and court work.

·  Ofsted also noted that the Virtual School and Missing, Exploited and Trafficked Children’s team were a strength.

·  Ofsted identified that there needed to be improvement in face to face or virtual contact with children placed with connected carers, with those placed in non-registered children’s homes and with Care Leavers.

·  The provision of quality reflective supervision would help to manage caseloads and the relevance of referrals.

·  The audit process required improvement so that managers can monitor performance and manage capacity issues more effectively.

·  Improvements to the Early Help service and better planning and assessment work would enable the Court and Protection Teams to focus on those children whose needs are the most acute.

·  The service provided would be based on what a child needs and not which threshold they’ve got to meet to receive a service.

·  The number of children who are eligible for free school meals and are home educated is disproportionately high and, with regard to safeguarding and raising attainment, the authority would like to be able to assess and monitor the provision of education by parents who have elected to home educate.

RESOLVED that:

(i)  That the Cabinet Member for Education would lobby the Government, on behalf of the Council, to give local authorities additional powers with regards to the oversight of elected home educated children.

(ii)  That the Panel would be provided with an update on the implementation of the Priority Action Improvement Plan in advance of the 22 July 2021 meeting of the Panel.