Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Phil Gomm.

To declare any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests.

Margaret Aston declared that she was a member of the Fostering Panel.

Minutes of the meeting held on 1^st July 2014 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on 1^st July were confirmed as a correct record subject to the following amendment:

Under Item 5 Chairman’s Report the final sentence was amended to read ‘The Chairman had also attended the United Nations Day with school pupils and was planning to visit Thomas Hickman School to learn more about their pupil premium work.’

Mr Stuchbury advised the Committee that he had not yet received a response from Chris Munday, Service Director – Learning, Skills and Prevention to his questions at the last meeting regarding Grammar School admissions.

For the Chairman to update the Committee on any recent scrutiny related activity.

The Chairman reported that she had met with Mr Donald McPhail, Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board, who was attending the meeting today.  The Chairman had also begun some early work ahead of the Children’s Internet Safety Inquiry, including meeting with a sixth former.

For members to update the Committee on any issue they are investigating on behalf of the Committee.

There were none.

Questions to the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, the Strategic Director, Children and Young People and the Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) on the recent Ofsted Inspection of Children’s Services.

Contributors

Mrs Angela Macpherson – Cabinet Member for Children’s Services.

Sue Imbriano – Strategic Director, Children and Young People

David Johnston – Service Director - Children & Family Service (Acting)

Donald McPhail – Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board

Papers

A report on the findings of the the Ofsted Inspection Report: Inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers and Review of the effectiveness of the Local Safeguarding Children Board and the key planned actions for the Buckinghamshire County Council Children’s Services Improvement Plan. 

The Chairman welcomed Mr Martin Tett, Leader of the Council to the meeting.  Mr Tett thanked the Chairman for inviting him to talk to the Committee about this most important and serious topic – the safeguarding of vulnerable children.  Mr Tett began by making a statement to members, in which he affirmed his commitment to making the necessary improvements to Children’s Services.

Mr Tett reported that at Cabinet this morning, the findings of the Cabinet Member’s Task and Finish Group and the Ofsted Inspection were discussed.  Care of vulnerable children had been a key priority as set out in the Corporate Plan which was agreed by full Council.  But there had been major challenges in this area in recent years.  During 2013-14 the number of contacts with social care had increased by 71% and referrals rose by 70%.  Just under half of all referrals came from Thames Valley Police (TVP) and Health, with referrals from TVP increasing by 143% and Health referrals increasing by 139%.

In addition to this increase in demand, there had been legal changes and an increased profile on Safeguarding, following media coverage of cases such as Baby P and the historic offences of Jimmy Saville.   However from Quarter four of last year the numbers of children in care began to stabilise. 

The Cabinet Member’s Task and Finish Group undertook a detailed review, particularly focussing on the financial drivers within the service and action was taken earlier in 2014 to introduce additional social worker capacity.  The Council had spent significant amounts of money on Children’s Services - £38.8million in 2012-13, £42.3million in 2013-14 and today at Cabinet additional spending had been agreed which would equate to £45.8million in 2014-15.  Yet the Council’s grant from central government has decreased by 44%.  These spending levels were indicative of the importance the Council attached to protecting all of the vulnerable people in Bucks. The strategic plan was also amended last year to include an important strategy to combat Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

Mr Tett commented that Ofsted had identified areas which the Council already knew about and there were other findings, such as those connected to the Buckinghamshire Safeguarding Children Board (BSCB) which the Council was unaware of.  Following a long discussion at Cabinet this morning, it was agreed to recommend to Council to give added emphasis to this priority.  £4.5million would be taken from reserves to help Children’s Services make improvements and the £1 million contingency budget already held within the service’s budget would be used to fund immediate measures necessary for the Ofsted Improvement Plan.

This demonstrated why it was important for the County Council to protect its reserves, for use only in emergencies.  The general fund reserves had been reduced from £31million to £21 million.  Once the Ofsted Improvement Plan had been finalised then additional resources may still be required and the Medium Term Plan (MTP) process, whereby BCC sets its budget, would have to reflect this commitment.

In conclusion, Mr Tett stated that he was reaffirming  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To note the next meeting of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee on Tuesday 7^th October 2014 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2. 

To note the next meeting of the Education, Skills and Children’s Services Select Committee on Tuesday 7^th October 2014 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2. 

To discuss any confidential papers there may be relating to Item 6 on the agenda

Committee members took the information from the confidential appendix into account when discussing the main report under Item 6.