Agenda item

The Committee considered a report updating Members on progress during Quarter 4 (January to March 2010) and for the full year 2009/10 year against the key actions and indicators for Children and Young People Services in Bromley.

The Performance and Statistics Manager introduced the report and highlighted areas of good and poor performance.  In respect of under-18 conceptions, data suggested that numbers of conceptions were increasing.  However, the Performance and Statistics Manager reported that the numbers of Under-16 conceptions had been steadily decreasing over the past 4 years.  The Committee were also informed that figures relating to the termination of pregnancies in the under-16 age group were higher than for those in the under-18 age category.

A Co-opted Member sought clarification surrounding the definition of a termination and Dr Jenny Selway reported that these statistics would relate to terminations conducted by the PCT which could include drug induced terminations but would not include the over the counter morning after pill.

Pearce Jarrett raised the issue of young people who fell into the NEET category and asked what was being done to support the many young people in education who were not able to find jobs.  The Assistant Director for Learning and Achievement reported that these young people received targeted youth support and that Officers worked with young people to ensure that they were prepared for employment.  Following a suggestion that there needed to be more support for young people who were struggling to enter the employment market Councillor Judi Ellis suggested that Pearce should be provided with a copy of the report of the NEET Working Party as it would be helpful for him to review the recommendations and have some input into the report.

Referring to the National Indicators focusing on GCSE achievement a Member asked Officers to comment on the levels of achievement reported for Looked after Children.  The Assistant Director for Learning and Achievement reported that there had been a number of Looked After Children who had been statemented and had not been entered for GCSEs.  In relation to the indicators focusing on progress on maths and English at Key Stage 2, the Assistant Director reported that there had been a national reduction in progress in these areas. 

Referring to National Indicator 67, percentage of child protection cases which are within the required timescales, a Member asked whether technology such as video and telephone conferencing could have been used to ensure that snow did not impact the completion of reviews.  The Director CYP reported that the child protection review schedule was a statutory duty and that some of the cases referred to in the report had related to children who had been placed outside the Borough and that distance had been a major factor in not meeting this target.  The Director CYP reported that an update on this issue would be provided to the Committee as part of a report on the Ofsted Inspection Action Plan following the inspection of Safeguarding and Looked after Children that would be presented to the Committee in July.  The Director CYP also highlighted that the number of referrals to Children’s Social Care had now increased by 149% with 8,000 cases now being referred in a year.

Councillor Anne Manning reported that at the last Foster Panel a number of cases had been presented that were out of time, and that in some cases the reports to the Foster Panel had been written in November 2009.  This meant that the information in the reports was out of date and the Chairman of the Foster Panel had expressed concern.  The Director CYP suggested that this problem be referred to the Corporate Parenting Working Party on 29^th June 2010 for further detailed consideration.  The Director CYP stressed that Social Workers in Children’s Social Care were working at capacity and that Bromley was not unique in the problems that it was experiencing, as all London Boroughs were struggling with capacity and workforce issues.  The Director provided assurances that there would be a clear line of reporting to the PDS Committee.

A Co-opted Member highlighted that Local Indicator 38, raising the post-16 level 3 point score per pupil, was an important indicator and should be reviewed.  The Interim Head of Education Commissioning and Business Services explained that these targets were problematic for the Local Authority as the national indicator had included figures for independent schools and the local indicator had not.  What looked to be a poor performance was actually not, as the value added for Bromley was above expectation.