The minutes of the meeting held on 30^th October 2018, were agreed and signed as a correct record.

The Sub-Committee noted updates on the actions arising from the previous meeting.  A Member expressed disappointment with the response that had been provided concerning the average additional funding to support a child with an Education Care and Health Plan (EHCP) in a mainstream education setting as no date had been provided for when further information would be presented to Members.  The Interim Executive Director of ECHS reported that a report would be presented to the SEND Governance Board in March and a full report would be provided to the Sub-Committee at this time.

The Independent Chairman of the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board, Mr Jim Gamble, attended the meeting to present the Board’s Annual Report which had been deferred from the last meeting.  Mr Gamble reported that the Annual BSCB report had been published on the Safeguarding Board’s website and the Independent Chairman stressed that feedback was always welcome.  Throughout the Annual Report there was evidence and examples of increased scrutiny and challenge by the Board.

Since the publication of the Annual report, Ofsted had conducted a re-inspection of Children’s Services in Bromley.  The Inspectors had judged the Service to be good overall with outstanding features.

In terms of BSCB, the Independent Chairman reported that 7 Serious Case Reviews or Learning Reviews had been undertaken.  Critical lessons had been learnt from any mistakes identified.  Any learning would  be fed into multi-agency audits which were ongoing.  A number of audits had already been carried out; primarily looking at neglect.

The Board had built and launched a number of apps to support professionals with managing specific issues and concerns.  The apps provided a single point of contact for professionals wishing to report concerns.

The Children’s Safeguarding Partnership continued to strengthen.  The Board continued to work with the Police in connection with issues such as Child Sexual Exploitation, Children Missing, and Gangs.  Some very positive work had been done in this area.  The Partnership had also undertaken collective work around vulnerable adolescence.  This work was now moving towards vulnerable children and adolescence.

In relation to the Board’s relationship with schools: a coherent line of sight with schools had been developed and the relationship had moved to a point that would have been beyond recognition in 2016 at the time of the very disappointing Ofsted inspection.  The schools’ sub-group ESAC has a clear programme of work which is being managed well.  There was clear evidence of the strong relationships with partners, including schools, the Local Authority Designated Officer, the Police and Local Health Services, that were being developed.

The profile of the Board had continued to grow and there had been a significant number of referrals to the Board.  In many instances these referrals had been people seeking information.

Turning to the future, the Children and Social Work Act 2017 had now come in to force.  The outcome of the Wood Review would also require reflection, although the Independent Chairman suggested that it was unlikely that there would be that many significant changes as a result of the review.  It was acknowledged that the BSCB would need to be open to any potential opportunities to deliver efficiencies and improved practice as a result of the review.

In response to a question from the Chairman, the Independent Chairman reported that the relationship with the Board and partners within the Health Service was good.  The relationship with the Police was more difficult as although the Police were willing to engage with the Board they were not always able to do so.  The Independent Chairman reminded the Sub-Committee that the Police Service was dealing with its own challenges and that in the past few years there had been unprecedented change within the Police Service.  However within this context the relationship between the Police and the Board was moving in the right direction.

In response to a question concerning the future of the Bromley Children’s Service Improvement Governance Board in light of the recent judgement from Ofsted; the Independent Chairman emphasised that he was not the Chairman of that Board, however; in his opinion the Board should now be disbanded.  Duplication of effort should not be encouraged and there was now a need for the Service to move toward a ‘business as usual’ model and allow the existing internal checks and balances to do their job of scrutiny and challenge.

In response to a question concerning elective home education; the Independent Chairman suggested that this issue fed into the broader issue of unregistered settings and supported national efforts to legislate for systems to register children educated at home to provide assurances to those agencies whose responsibility it was to safeguard children.

The Sub-Committee thanked the Independent Chairman of the Bromley Safeguarding Children Board for the Annual Report, his presentation to the Sub-Committee and his contribution to improvement in services for children.