Agenda item

Report DCYP11076

The Committee considered a report updating Members on progress during Quarter 4 (January to March 2011) and presenting an end of year account on performance against the key actions and indicators for Children and Young People Services in Bromley.

The Chairman questioned why the indicator for underage conceptions was included, as the changes reported were simply natural statistical variations and did not demonstrate a measurable improvement.  The Performance and Statistics Manager reported that this indicator had been chosen as it had previously formed part of an Ofsted assessment.  This was no longer the case and in future more pertinent measures would be selected. The continuing measurement of some indicators would be reviewed where the relevance and usefulness of same was questionable.

Following discussions Members of the Committee expressed the view that where specific targets were indicators that the Local Authority was measured against, the Committee should undertake its scrutiny role, reviewing progress and identifying areas for investment and improvement.

Dr Jenny Selway reported that, as part of the strategy to reduce teenage pregnancy, attempts were being made to communicate with young people using social media, as recent studies had shown that communication via this medium had led to improved measurable benefits.

The Performance and Statistics Manager clarified that the recording error referred to in paragraph 3.19 had occurred as a result of the two social work teams being based at different sites and using slightly different methods to record data.  Now the teams had been brought together in one location, data was being recorded in the same way and any inconsistencies in recording re-referrals had been resolved.

A Member of the Committee noted that whist there had been a significant increase in the percentage of initial assessments carried out within timescale; almost half of the cases were still missing the targets.  The Assistant Director (Safeguarding and Social Care) reported that there had been further improvements since the statistics had been complied and 74% of initial assessments had been carried out within timescale.  The Committee expressed the hope that this improvement was now a trend. The Chairman expressed the concern that the needs and safety of the child in each case would not be detrimentally overshadowed by any desire to meet tick-box target driven percentages simply to attain certain Inspection criteria.

The Director CYP reminded the Committee that the Executive had established the Safeguarding and Corporate Parenting Executive Working Party to monitor the data surrounding children’s social care.  The Working Party met a minimum of three times a year and was chaired by the CYP Portfolio Holder.

Another Member of the Committee suggested that it may be helpful if there could be references within the report when issues had previously been considered by the Committee.  This would allow newer Members of the Committee to review earlier reports and identify issues that had previously been considered.

The Committee considered the issue of attainment in depth.  A Member noted that the Local Authority was failing to narrow the gap between the highest and lowest achievers and suggested that this highlighted the need to protect services, such as Children and Family Centres, in the more deprived parts of the Borough.  The Head of Standards and Attainment reported that the gap was starting to narrow in early years. 

Mrs Regester reported that the reduction to 3 areas of focus following the review of the early year’s foundation stage had been welcome and the reduction in bureaucracy had been very helpful.

The Committee also considered the attainment of young people with special educational needs and felt that this target should be monitored throughout the year.  The Assistant Director (Access and Inclusion) stressed to the Committee that this was a complex issue and that SEN pupils in Bromley performed above the national average.  However, because the attainment of all pupils in Bromley far exceeded the national average, the performance of non-SEN pupils would have to decrease in order to close the gap with SEN pupils.  This was one of the anomalies of the national targets that had been set.

A Co-opted Member highlighted that there was very little focus on children with Special Educational Needs in the annual reporting process.  The Assistant Director (Access and Inclusion) suggested that this was an area that could be reviewed in the Member Officer Working Group for Special Educational Needs (MOGSEN).

The Portfolio Holder stressed that the statistics collated by the Department were not taken lightly and that Officers within the Department worked hard to meet the targets that had been set.  The issues surrounding the attainment of pupils with special educational needs would be considered in depth at the Executive Working Party for SEN which had overseen many improvements in the provision of SEN since it had been established.

RESOLVED that the CYP Portfolio fourth quarter performance 2010-11 be noted.