Agenda item

The purpose of the report is to update the Health and Wellbeing Board on the work of the Medway Safeguarding Children Board (MSCB) during 2017-18 and to provide members with an update on the MSCB Strategic Plan 2017-20.

The report has been written in accordance with the joint protocol between strategic partnerships in Medway and it follows the presentation of the MSCB Annual Report 2016-17 in November 2017. The MSCB Annual Report 2017-18 will follow later in the year.

Discussion

The report was one of two updates provided to the Health and Wellbeing Board each year on the work of the MSCB. This was in accordance with the protocol agreed by each of the boards. This mid-year update would be followed by the annual report, which was due to be considered by the Health and Wellbeing Board in November 2018.

A key issue highlighted to the Board was that of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE). Prevalence in Medway was in line with what would be anticipated for a place of its size. National best practice was being fully utilised to address the issue. The level of CSE was impacted by a range of factors including whether there is a history of abuse, particularly sexual abuse and gang prevalence. It was considered that the local response was as effective as it could be.

A number of Serious Case Reviews (SCRs) were in progress or had been concluded. These are undertaken when it was acknowledged that there had been significant issues in relation to child safeguarding. The undertaking of reviews demonstrated an awareness of issues and was not necessarily a bad thing.

The most high profile case was in relation to the Medway Secure Training Centre. This review was still in progress so it would not be appropriate to discuss further but it was anticipated that the learning from the review would have implications across the country. This review is likely to be published by the end of September.

Two other serious case reviews were in progress with two more having recently published, each of which had common themes. The children involved had been less visible to public authorities than they should have been. Detailed case summaries, recommendations and agency responses had been published on the MSCB website. Neither of the cases were principally about actions that the Council had or had not taken. The reviews demonstrated that there was an issue with information about children moving into Medway not being passed on to local agencies quickly enough.

In line with Government legislation, the processes around children’s safeguarding had to be reformed by September 2019. The reforms, which provided more local freedom in relation to safeguarding arrangements, involved three key partners. These were Medway Council, Medway Clinical Commissioning Group and Kent Police. There was considerable agreement between the partners about what the arrangements would look like. Care would be taken to consider what was being planned in other areas.

Half of cases audited in Medway were good, while one third required improvement. Approximately 10% of cases had not reached a satisfactory level. There had recently been a peer review of safeguarding in Medway. Plans to employ a second Council auditor in this area were welcome, as audit activity was critical to help raise standards.

Recruitment and retention of staff was challenging as Medway was in direct competition with London Boroughs, who were often able to pay more. For the last couple of months, Medway had been adding a market premium to social worker salaries to make them more competitive compared with other areas. The number of applications received had increased during this time and there had been a reduction in the number of staff leaving posts. This had also been helped by the creation of area pods and stronger supervisory arrangements.

Caseloads for each social worker were still slightly higher than was desirable, but had fallen by 1.5 cases per worker in the last year. Along with salaries,  manageable caseloads were another important factor in attracting staff to Medway.

The Board raised a number of points and questions, which were responded to as follows:

Impact of gangs – The impact of gang culture was a growing concern. Research undertaken in London suggested that the impact of gangs had increased significantly in the last ten years. London gangs were known to be sending drug runners out into surrounding areas, with the whole of the South East being at risk, although there was no evidence to suggest that Medway was a particular target. The involvement of young children in these activities was considered to be increasing. It was acknowledged that the response to this risk needed to consider all the component parts that could lead to children becoming involved in drugs.

A Board Member advised that Home office funding had been provided for a local organisation. This had run two training sessions for people working with youngsters to help them recognise signs of involvement in gang activity. Work was also taking place in local primary schools to ascertain what children knew about gang culture. This had shown that many were fascinated by the idea, but that reassuringly few had hands on knowledge.

It was noted that Medway Council had retained a targeted youth service and that work had been undertaken in relation to gangs. A conference for foster carers had recently been held, which had explored the issues of gangs. It was noted that Looked After Children tended to be more vulnerable to becoming involved in gang activity.

Social Workers - A Board Member advised that Medway’s Transformation Board had invested £0.5 million in social worker kits for mobile working and that there was ongoing work to reduce Council reliance on agency provided social workers.

Serious Case Reviews – A Member was concerned that one of the Serious Case Reviews had highlighted issues dating back 15 years in relation to reporting and documentation. The Member felt that Medway as a place had lessons to learn and that the review highlighted a system that collectively needed to improve. Concerns were also raised about use of the word ‘should’ in the recommendations for one of the serious case reviews as there was concern that this may not lead to action being taken. It was requested that further information about the recommendations for the serious case reviews completed during the year and actions taken since adoption be circulated to the Board.

In relation to the ‘Ellie’ Serious Case Reviews, it was explained that mother and daughter had been placed in Wolverhampton due to availability of accommodation rather than due to them having a connection to the area and had subsequently been relocated to Medway, again due to availability of accommodation. There had been a lack of notification of relevant authorities in Medway and joint working between agencies had not been strong enough. There had also been a weakness in how the local GP had been made aware of the case. The housing provider in Medway had not been informed of the family needs. There was confidence that if the circumstances of the case were to be repeated there would not be the same issue.

Decision

The Board:

i)             Considered the contents of the update report and provided comments as set out in the minutes.

ii)            Requested that further information be provided to the Board in relation to the actions taken following the two published Serious Case Reviews.