Agenda item

Report JPDS 15001

The Executive Director: Education, Care and Health Services outlined the arrangements in place to fulfil the statutory roles of the Director of Children’s services and Lead Member for Children’s Services in Bromley relating to the safeguarding of children. 

All top tier authorities in England had the responsibility of overseeing the local arrangements for the safeguarding of children, and were required to appoint a Director of Children’s services and a Lead Member for Children’s Services to discharge the education and children’s social services functions of the Local Authority.  Individual local authorities were able to determine their own organisational arrangements within the legal framework, but it was a requirement that an assurance process be put in place where either the Director of Children’s Services or the Lead Member for Children’s Services undertook more than one role, as was the case in Bromley, to ensure local authorities were able to fulfil their statutory duties effectively, be transparent about responsibilities and accountabilities, and support effective inter-agency and partnership working.

A number of systems had been established by the Local Authority to ensure that there was a strong focus on outcomes for children and young people.  This included strategic systems, including the work of the Children’s Board and Executive Working Party on Child Safeguarding and Corporate Parenting, scrutiny by the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board and the Independent Chair, and an annual business plan approved by the respective Portfolio Holders.  Operational systems in place included robust supervision from the Chief Executive to the Director of Children’s Services and from the Director of Children’s Services to his Officers, a designated principal social worker with a clear professional development programme for qualified social workers, and a Departmental balanced scorecard reviewed bi-monthly and supported by monthly performance data to service managers, Assistant Directors and the Director of Children’s Services.  Children’s services in Bromley were committed to sector-led improvement with the Director of Children’s Services a former Ofsted inspector and a trained sector-led (peer) reviewer, and a number of staff from second and third tier roles had been trained as peer reviewers and as present and former Ofsted inspectors.

It was proposed that in future, the Portfolio Holders for Care Services and Education and the Chairmen of Care Services and Education PDS Committees consider the outcome of the biennial review of the assurance arrangements at a joint meeting of the Care Services and Education PDS Committees.  Members were also invited to provide their comments on the organisational arrangements both through the formal assurance process and outside of it.

In considering the assurance arrangements in Bromley, Members agreed that the arrangements were satisfactory, but noted that some agencies on the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board were not represented for several meetings as a result of staff turnover, and that where a representative was provided, they were sometimes not of sufficient seniority.  The Joint Care Services and Education PDS Committees requested that this be addressed as soon as practicable. 

RESOLVED that:

1)  The Care Services and Education PDS Committees agree that the arrangements to discharge the statutory role of Director of Children’s Services are satisfactory, but request that issues identified with the Bromley  Safeguarding Children Board around a lack of representation from some agencies, or representation which was not at a sufficiently senior level be addressed as soon as practicable, and that the assurance test be repeated and reported biennially; and,

2)  That this agreement should be communicated through the minutes of the meeting to the Chief Executive of London Borough of Bromley in his role as Head of the service.