Issue - meetings

The report presented the Children, Education and Families Portfolio Plan Quarter 4 Update for the 2021/22 financial year and 2022/23 Refreshed Plan.

In response to a question on children going missing from home or education or identified as being at risk of child sexual, criminal exploitation or gang affiliation, the Assistant Director for Children’s Social Care outlined the full range of work undertaken to protect children from extra-familial harm.  This included daily reports on any child missing which were escalated through a strategic multi-agency process designed to locate missing children and young people and safeguard them once found.  Measures were also in place to protect children and young people identified as being at risk of criminal exploitation and gang affiliation, including via the Missing, Exploitation and Gang Affiliation (MEGA) Panel and through the Your Choice initiative taking a therapeutic Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) approach to engaging with young people most at risk of experiencing violence.  The Local Authority worked closely with the Police to address places and spaces of concern, particularly during at-risk periods such as the school summer break.  Following a recent Government consultation on children not in school, which included elective home education and those not in receipt of full-time education, it was anticipated that a new statutory local authority duty would be introduced on maintaining a register of all children not in school.  The Portfolio Holder observed that a Practice Observation week would be held later in 2022, and this would present an opportunity for Committee Members to observe a MEGA Panel.

Another Member asked what steps were taken to support the most disadvantaged children and young people to access digital devices and data to support their education.  The Director of Children, Education and Families explained that the Government had provided digital devices to all Looked After Children during the COVID-19 pandemic and would continue to do so, with social workers also able to make an assessment of need for children requiring devices for education or social reasons.  Bromley schools distributed digital devices to at-need pupils via their hardship policies which were designed to identify and meet the ongoing education needs of pupils of low-income families, including access to devices (which could be via a loan scheme) as well as participation in activities and educational visits. 

In response to a number of other questions regarding service quality, the Director of Children, Education and Families advised that Deep Dive Data Analyses of children’s social care placements was undertaken independently by the Commissioning Alliance to assess practice and provide reassurance to the Local Authority.  The high quality of Bromley’s social worker cohort was maintained by innovative recruitment and retention measures that were designed to attract and retain the best talent, with 81% of the Local Authority’s social workers workforce now in place as permanent staff. 

RESOLVED: That the progress on actions associated with the Children, Education and Families Portfolio Plan be noted.