UPDATE NO 360 12 July 2019

Newsletters A brief summary of the main headlines and highlights for this week are shown below. Any tools, templates or documents needed for the actions required are provided here also. If you would like to know more about these workstreams or the others in the Programme, click on the main section icons shown above. At […]

Three children playing happily together

Newsletters

A brief summary of the main headlines and highlights for this week are shown below. Any tools, templates or documents needed for the actions required are provided here also. If you would like to know more about these workstreams or the others in the Programme, click on the main section icons shown above. At SESLIP we are always on the look-out for good ideas that might be better implemented regionally rather than locally. If you have any suggestions, please contact Richard Tyndall, SESLI Programme Manager. Our Regional Improvement Plan for 2019-20 can be found here.

UPDATE NO 360 12 July 2019

Programme:

Succession Planning – Needs Analysis

Update:

Over the coming months SESLIP will be working with the Staff College to carry out a piece of research about succession planning for senior leadership roles in Children’s Service across the South East. This work is designed to complement a piece of work being undertaken nationally by the DfE which will focus on aspirant DCS’s. Our project concentrates on those who may be interested in second tier roles. The fac-to-face interviews are now all arranged, so thanks to those who have agreed to be interviewed.

Action Required:

Your help is needed to ensure the region gets the maximum benefit from this research, please could you assist us by identifying heads of service/service managers and other 3rd tier roles who would be willing to take part in the online survey. Many thanks to the 45 who have already responded; we are now trying to increase the number of respondents to ensure we have a representative sample.

Please can you forward names and email addresses to Mark Evans (contact details below).

Programme:

Children’s Commissioner Report on Childhood Vulnerability

Update:

Childhood Vulnerability in England – The Children’s Commissioner’s 2019 childhood vulnerability report examines the latest scale of, and trends over time in, rates of childhood vulnerability. As with last year, they have estimated the total number of children in England currently receiving statutory support or intervention (those who are ‘in the system’).

Action Required:

Based on the latest available data, they believe this to be 723,000 children – slightly higher than last year’s figure of 710,000. They estimate that 2.3 million children are living with risk because of a vulnerable family background. The full report is here.

Programme:

Independent Review of Peer Challenge Triads

Update:

Following the February 2019 round of South East Peer Challenge triads, ADCS were commissioned to produce and independent review of the process, which is available here.

Action Required:

We are currently debating the suggestions for further improvement highlighted in the report, and revised arrangements for November 2019 will be published this summer. Please send any comments to Richard Tyndall (details below).

Reminders from previous weeks

Programme:

Children’s Workforce Network Re-launch

Update:

We will be relaunching the network on 30 July 2019 13.00-14.30 (teleconference). We have redesigned the workforce network in light of the findings of a recent survey. The group will focus on: 

  • Identifying innovative solutions to the children workforce challenges experienced in the region
  • Sharing good practice
  • Collaborative working

The agenda will include

  • Recruitment and retention
  • Training and development (including the accreditation agenda)
  • Promoting workforce resilience
  • A regular review of workforce developments and best practice (nationally and internationally)

Action Required:

The meetings are being held bi-monthly  

30 July 2019 13.00-14.30

3 September 2019 13.00-14.30

12 November 13.00-14.30

21 January 2020 9.30-13.00 (face to face meeting at London venue tbc)

The meetings are open to Principal Social Workers, Senior HR officers and others with an interest in the workforce issues. If you would like your authority to be part of the network please contact Mark Evans (details below)

Programme:

South East Social Work Health Check

Update:

We are now collecting returns for the South East Social Work Health Check. If you have completed your health check using our methodology and would like your return benchmarked against others please contact Mark Evans (details below). 

Action Required:

The deadline for submissions is 16 August 2019. 

Programme:

Complex LAC Project

Update:

There will be a project meeting for the Complex LAC Project on Wednesday 17 July 2019 – venue somewhere in London. Because all 19 authorities in the South East are now involved, we will need to restrict attendance to 2 people per authority. 

Action Required:

Please contact Rosemary Perry – details below – to arrange your places.

Programme:

DfE Call for Evidence: Children’s homes workforce. Closes 27 August 2019

Update:

The DfE have launched a call for evidence on Children’s Homes Workforce, and invites views on:

  • establishing professional registration for roles in children’s homes
  • existing approaches to regulating the children’s homes workforce

Action Required:

Responses will inform the DfE’s thinking on where improvements could be made so children in children’s homes receive high-quality care in a safe environment.

The consultation closes on 27 August 2019. Click here for further information

Programme:

Data Tools Survey

Update:

This is a project we are undertaking with the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, the Christie Foundation, and Social Finance Digital LabsEast SussexBrighton & Hove and Bracknell Forest are initially involved in this project. We are interested to find out what tools have been created by LAs, what they are used for, and how far they have spread to other LAs. We have a pretty broad definition of ‘tools’ – anything the sector has created to do analytical or data management tasks and which can be used repeatedly.

Well known examples would be the ChAT, the East Sussex Annex A Child Selector or the Medway LAC 903 Statistics Predictor tool.

Action Required:

We are hoping to find out a bit more about what tools get created, what barriers exist to maintaining and sharing them, and what people might like to see developed in future.

The first steps in this are a survey and colleagues from the What Works Centre and Social Finance have been talking directly to some DCSs. If they get in touch, please take the call and please try to help them help us share better practice across the region.

For more information please contact Alastair Lee (details below).

Tools & Templates

We have produced a Regional Improvement Plan which will underpin activities in 2019-20.

Missing People has published research into the value of the return home interview (RHI).

What Works for Children’s Social Care: Intensive Family Preservation Services (IFPS) Review

Changes to compensation arrangements for survivors of violent crime

The DfE Review of Children in Need is here.

National Assessment and Accreditation System (NAAS): toolkit and examples of practice simulationsList of early adopter sites includes Hampshire and West Berks in the South East.

The Tackling Child Exploitation (TCE) Support Programme led by Research in Practice with The Children’s Society and University of Bedfordshire is appointed by the DfE to deliver a programme to tackle child exploitation. Over the next three years, every local authority area will be able to apply for ‘Bespoke Support’.  More information here and here

Children and young people’s advocacy in England – a report by the Children’s Commissioner

The DfE has published Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England, 2019 which documents the rise plans issued over 10 years.

LGA‘s Early Help Resource Pack, with contributions from Early Intervention Foundation is for councillors to better understand their own local offer. 

The recent AD Safeguarding Network meeting highlighted the following links: 

New service models (e.g. Family Safeguarding, No wrong front door etc) Family Safeguarding HertfordshireNo Wrong Door EvaluationSocial Care Commentary on Using Models of PracticeOfsted Checklist for Implementing Models

Reunification: Reunification Guidance NSPCCReunification Implementation NSPCCReunification Leeds CC

Children’s Commissioner’s Report on use of Secure Accommodation “Who are they? Where are they?”

Outcomes for children looked after by local authorities in England, 31 March 2018. From the DfE with information on outcomes for children have left care through adoption, SGO and CAO based on self-report by parents/special guardians. 

Chief Executives’ “must know” for Children’s Services. Published by LGA, this has been shaped by chief executives who are either former directors of children’s services or for other reasons have been closely associated with leading improvement journeys in council children’s services.

Unexplained pupil exits from schools: A growing problem? The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has published the most comprehensive analysis to date  using over a decade’s worth of Department for Education data. DfE’s Elective Home Education guidance for local authorities was updated on 2 April. Ofsted has published detailed figures revealing the scale of the problem with suspected illegal schools in England.

The ‘evidence store’, from the government-funded What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, so far contains systematic reviews of 11 programmes including family drug and alcohol courts, solution focused brief therapy and kinship care. it can be found here

2019-20 Memorandum of Understanding – Blank available for downloading here

SESLIP Leadership Development Prospectus

The MoC area of the Seslip website now includes the latest versions of key documents, including the:

Contact Details

Data Benchmarking: Luke Ede (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

Luke.ede@eastsussex.gov.uk

07925 148597

SESLIP Education Data Group Lead: Daryl Perilli (Brighton and Hove)

Daryl.Perilli@brighton-hove.gov.uk

South East Grid for Learning – Consortium Manager: Krista Pickering (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

krista.pickering@segfl.org.uk

07872 014083

SESLIP Consultant: Isabelle Gregory (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

isabelle@firstcareconsultancy.co.uk

07931 586784

CSC Workforce, PSW and AD Safeguarding Network Lead: Mark Evans (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

Mark@markevansconsulting.co.uk

07803 147072

Adoption; Fostering; Kinship and Early Help Regional Networks: Rebecca Eligon (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

rebeccaeligon@gmail.com

07944 996219

SESLI Programme Manager: Richard Tyndall (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

richard.tyndall@richardtyndall.co.uk

07880 787007

S.E. Region SEND Network Programme Co-ordinator: Sheelagh Sullivan (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

sheelagh.sullivan@outlook.com