Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the annual refresh of the statutory Sufficiency Statement. This detailed how Medway Council, through working with all its partner agencies, would meet the placement needs of current and future Children in Care and Care Leavers, and improve their outcomes in light of the Council’s understanding of their needs and current provision.

The report stated that after peaking in 2015, the numbers of new Looked After Children had reduced across all age groups except the cohort aged 16+. However, the numbers in the 16+ age group were so small that any fluctuation was highly visible and did not indicate any particular trend. It was concluded, therefore, that overall, the numbers of new entrants into care was reducing in line with the policy of strengthening families and building resilience in the community.

The Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered this report on 5 December 2017 and its comments were set out in section 6 of the report.

Reasons:

Publication of the updated Sufficiency Strategy will enable the Council to fulfill its statutory requirement to take steps to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient accommodation for Children in Care within the local area and will enable Medway to act strategically to address gaps in provision.