UPDATE NO 364 16 August 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 364 16 August 2019

Programme:

AD Safeguarding Network – next meeting 6 September 2019

Update:

The next meeting is just under a month off (diary invites have been sent recently), please send through any suggestions for our agenda, so far we have 

  • SEND/EHC Challenges and issues
  • Virtual school best practice
  • Regional QA Workshops (Stuart and Diane Williamson SESLIP consultant)
  • MoC Update (Stuart and Mark)

Action Required:

We already have confirmations from 8 colleagues planning to attend and apologies from two more. 

Like all of our meetings it is 9.30 for tea/coffee with a 10.00 start. If you have any items you would like to add to the agenda, please contact Mark Evans (details below) the venue is The Abbey Centre, 34 Great Smith Street, Westminster SW1P 3BU.

More information here

Programme:

AD Education Network – next meeting Friday 13 September

Update:

We are now planning for our next network meeting on the morning of Friday 13 September.  The focus for the agenda will be to continue our discussions about Children Missing Education.  Mike Stoneman from Portsmouth will lead this item for us, bringing together thoughts and recommendations from the task and finish group he has been chairing.

Action Required:

Please contact Alison Rendle (details below) for further information. Alison will be sending out an agenda in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to bring along a colleague with particular responsibility for children missing education, please let Alison know so that she can keep track of numbers.

More information on membership here and on activities here

Programme:

Memorandum of Cooperation – Review of effectiveness

Update:

Over the next few weeks we will be carrying out a piece of research in relation to the perceived effectiveness of the Memorandum of Cooperation. This has been prompted by the DCS group who have concerns that the MoC maybe losing its effectiveness.  Since inception of the MoC in 2016 use of agency workers across the region has reduced from 16.5% to 15% (despite an overall increase of 322 new C&F SW posts across the region in the same period), the vacancy rate has also reduced from 16.8% to 15.6%.

Action Required:

Despite these changes we know there is huge variability across the region and last year saw a small increase in the use of agency staff (0.2%), consequently we will be conducting a survey with a view to identifying how we can re-energise the MoC.

If you have views about what should be included please let Mark Evans (details below) know.

Programme:

Out-of-area Housing Placements

Update:

Katy Block of ADCS writes,

The LGA is exploring the issue of out of area housing moves for people of all ages after concerns being raised by a number of its members in both district and top tier councils. They commissioned some research and have held approx. three roundtable meetings this year to better understand the issues and come up with a way forward.  Reps from children’s services have been present at these meetings but housing officers make up the bulk of the membership.  After the latest meeting a series of focused task and finish groups have been set up to begin to look at specific aspects of an agreement all LAs might look to adopt to enable better notifications to be made.

The following sub-groups relate to children’s services: resettlement; transfer of responsibility for accommodation to children’s services or housing in the receiving LA; schools; and, notification arrangements.

Action Required:

As well as looking for ADCS reps to join these sub-groups, the LGA project lead is keen to speak to some more children’s services reps about the different issues being experienced across the country as well as the scope of the voluntary agreement with regards to children and families.  At present the main cohorts of focus are children in need due to NRPF or becoming intentionally homeless but there is an ongoing debate about drawing in all children in need placed out of area. It is not proposed children in care are drawn into the scope of this work.

I’d be grateful if you could share this information within your regions and ask anyone with an interest in this issue to get in touch with me.  

If you would like to make a contribution to this debate, please contact Katy Block, Policy Officer, ADCS 0161 826 9490 

Reminders from previous weeks

Programme:

Parliamentary Education Committee Inquiry in Social Care Workforce

Update:

An inquiry into children’s social work will examine what the workforce needs in order to provide the best help and protection for families, the parliamentary education committee has announced. The committee aims to explore “what social work looks like in 2019” – focusing on the capacity of social workers to intervene early, as well as how effectively they can access professional development and support. More information is available here.

Action Required:

An inquiry into children’s social work will examine what the workforce needs in order to provide the best help and protection for families, the parliamentary education committee has announced. The committee aims to explore “what social work looks like in 2019” – focusing on the capacity of social workers to intervene early, as well as how effectively they can access professional development and support. More information is available here.

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

Tools & Templates

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

A report by the Department for Education, Evaluation of regional adoption agencies

NCH Campaign for National Childhood Strategy

Children’s Commissioner Report on Childhood Vulnerability

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

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?”

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.

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

Education Network: Chris Owen (South East Sector-Led Improvement Programme)

chris@bright-spark.net

07825 862330

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