Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present the Medway Safeguarding Children Board (MSCB) Annual Report 2015-16 to the Committee. The MSCB Independent Chair publishes an annual report describing how agencies in Medway have worked together through the year and how effective the arrangements are in Medway to keep children and young people safe from harm, abuse or neglect.

The report summarises the progress that has been made in 2015-16 and the plans to develop this further in 2016-17.

Discussion:

The Chairman of the Medway Safeguarding Children Board (MSCB), John Drew C.B.E., presented the MSCB Annual Report 2015-16.  He drew the Committee’s attention to the reforms to the system for safeguarding children in England, as set out in the Children and Social Work Bill which was currently under consideration by parliament. These would give local partnerships greater freedom to develop local structures. In referring to the conclusions of Ofsted’s inspection in September and October 2015, which identified improvements in services since the inspection in 2013, the Chairman of the MSBC highlighted what more could be done to maintain these improvements and make more progress. The areas considered to be of growing importance were the recruitment and retention of an experienced workforce; developing services to address the issue of child sexual exploitation (CSE); and improving safeguarding in relation to Cookham Wood Young Offender Institution and Medway Secure Training Centre.    

Members then raised a number of questions and comments, which included:-

·         Medway Secure Training Centre – At the request of a Member, the Chairman of the MSCB advised the Committee of the action taken following the BBC programme on the centre. There remained some specific issues highlighted in the programme that required further review, including the steps taken by the organisations operating within the centre to address poor behaviour by their employees. He explained the process followed in setting up a Serious Case Review.  A Member who had visited the centre raised concerns that the education facilities were not being fully used by the young people at the centre. The Chairman of the MSCB agreed that issues such as this needed to be addressed. The Director of Children and Adults Services (Interim) added that joint collaborative work was being undertaken with other areas where incidents had occurred. Opportunities for greater community engagement, for example enabling young people to undertake education outside the centre, were being explored.

·         Agency attendance at MSCB meetings – In response to a question about the attendance record of NHS England, the Chairman of the MSCB reported that both NHS England and the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service found it difficult to attend meetings. He therefore discussed the agenda items with the representatives before each meeting.

·         Operation Willow – A Member noted the success of this operation in raising awareness around child sexual exploitation and asked about its future. The Deputy Director, Children and Adults Services (Interim), advised that the placing of two social workers within the CSE team at Kent Police headquarters had delivered some success. The operation had been adjusted to provide greater clarity of roles.

·         National Working Group for Safeguarding -  At the request of a Member, the Chairman of the MSCB undertook to find out more about this parental group.

·         The role of schools in tackling CSE – In response to a comment from a Member, the Chairman of the MSCB observed that schools were the first line of defence in tackling CSE and undertook to consider how this role could be better reflected in future Annual Reports.  

·         Child Death Overview Panel – In response to a question on what modifiable factors the panel had identified, the Chairman of the MSCB advised that the Board had recently received a report on this and undertook to provide a briefing note for the Committee.  Noting that the panel consisted of informed lay people, a Member asked how the Council could best signpost people to panel members. The Chairman of the MSCB undertook to raise this with the Governor of the centre.

·         Female genital mutilation (FGM) – Asked whether there was an MSCB sub-group for FGM, the Chairman of the MSCB explained that this issue could be addressed by several sub-groups, including the learning and training sub-group. Information was available to schools and consideration needed to be given to whether a more proactive approach could be adopted to raise awareness further. It was requested that a report be presented to a future meeting of the Committee.

·         Recruitment and retention – In response to a question about the difficulty of recruiting and retaining staff who might be attracted by higher salaries within London, the  Deputy Director, Children and Adults Services (Interim) said that Medway offered a supportive structure for social workers. Operating in small pods of four, and providing the whole system service that was favoured by social workers, enabled a good social worker to manager ratio to be achieved. The new structure had been received positively by staff and there had been an increase in the number of agency staff joining the Council as permanent employees. In addition, thirteen newly qualified social workers had recently been recruited.

·         Ending Gang and Youth Violence Peer Review – In response to a query on the scope of this review, the Chairman of the MSCB confirmed that it included a review of issues for the whole community, including older people.

Decision:

The Committee noted the report.