My Report to Council

Posted By: Zulfiqar Ali
Date Posted: 15/01/2010

Thank you Mr Mayor for the opportunity to report to the Council the latest developments on various matters relating to the Children, Schools & Family Portfolio.

Schools Service

Building Schools for the Future
The BSF contract was due to be signed by the date of the Council meeting allowing works to start on site in January 2009 at Hollingworth and Siddal Moor (An update will be provided before Council).

Primary Capital Programme
Three schemes St Marys RC, Middleton, Kentmere, Rochdale and Harwood Park, Heywood are in the process of being contracted with works commencing before the end of the financial year. Design work progresses on the Deeplish, Heybrook and Holy Family schemes.

Primary School Admissions
Good discussions have been held with key stakeholders on the demand for school places due to increased birth rates. An update will be provided to Cabinet at its January meeting.

Schools Causing Concern:
The two existing schools in Ofsted categories, (Hollin Primary in Special Measures and Balderstone with a Notice to Improve) have both received positive reports following HMI monitoring visits this Autumn. Both reports highlight the effectiveness of LA support, and the schools are likely to be removed from the categories well within timescale.

Recently Alkrington Primary was given a ‘Notice to Improve’ following inspection in September. Robust plans are in place to ensure this school is brought out of the category within the expected timeframe.

Extended Schools
Extended Schools in Rochdale is currently at 92%, which is above the regional average - this means that 92% of our schools are currently meeting the core offer for extended services. They may be doing that through provision on site or by signposting to provision in their local area. 100% of our schools are engaged in their hub - where geographically placed schools work in partnership with each other to deliver extended services and activities throughout the year. We have some excellent partnership working going on between schools and other agencies, specifically Children’s Centres and the Youth Service, as well as other partners including the Voluntary and Community Sector.

The DCSF has stipulated that all schools (100%) must be extended by the end of September 2010 and we expect to achieve this ahead of schedule as we have for the last 4 years and maintain our Green RAG rating. The success of this work has been down to teamwork across Children’s Services as specialist colleagues have worked closely with schools to enable them to develop their delivery of different aspects of the core offer.

Healthy Schools Programme
Overall we have 95% of schools with Healthy Schools Status, which means we have exceeded our stretch target of 92%. This can be broken down as:- 71% of High Schools, 100% of Primary Schools, 100% of Special Schools and the Pupil Referral Service with National Healthy Schools Status.

Learners & Young People’s Service

My last report referred to the success of the Youth Service in increasing the number of young people it is in contact with and we are determined to continue to build on this. Youth Service staff are already working with their partners in planning the ‘Safe 4 Summer’ activity for 2010 so that there’s a good offer for young people across the Borough. The arrival of two more vehicles – the Youth Buses – increase the opportunities for young people to get involved and the support from Townships has been invaluable in getting to this point.

Our Children’s Centres go from strength to strength. Many of you will have read about the success of Moorhouse Children’s Centre in our customer Service Awards and that focus on the needs of the children and their families is at the heart of our provision.

One disappointment was the outcome of the Youth Offending Team inspection. Inspectors criticised the way in which the computer system that tracks all the support for young people was managed and steps have now been taken to put those issues right. A recent report to the Performance Scrutiny Committee confirmed that all actions following the inspection were on target. There was no criticism of the actual work with young people and indeed we have reduced the number of first time entrants to the criminal justice system.

This year’s Big Listen has been a real success. The theme was around how we can best spend our money and the views of the children will be summarised in a final report. It’s important that we listen to what our future citizens think matters to them and how they see the Borough in the years to come. We will make sure that all Services have access to that report as it affects all of us.

Children’s Social Care Service

Budget
Significant progress has been made in reducing the budget deficit. However, two recent problems have arisen regarding residential children’s home placements. We are pursuing colleagues in health regarding one issue. The second issue relates to a provider who has gone into administration, where ourselves and Learners and Young People’s Services have already paid a term in advance (standard education contracts practice). This is also being investigated further.

Vulnerable Children
Our current children in care numbers are 441, a slight increase on September’s, reported at 429. 60% of our children in care are aged 10 and under. We currently have 149 children who are subject to a child protection plan.

Fostering Recruitment
Still on target to recruit 19 Foster carers this year, an increase of 20% on last year .The promised recruitment campaign has been in evidence across the local authority.

OFSTED Inspection of Duty Social Workers
On December 1st and 2nd 2009, Ofsted completed an unannounced Inspection of our Duty Social Work Services. They reported on a committed team of workers who believe in their new structure and believe that they are receiving high quality training. They also reported that the workers caseloads are very high. The inspectors listed a number of Strengths, Areas For Development and three Areas for Priority Action. These priority actions are :-

▫ Improved management of assessment of potential risk at point of first contact with the Children’s Social Care Service.
▫ Child Protection investigations not always progressing in a thorough and timely manner
▫ A large number of Child Protection conferences taking place outside of required timescales. 

Our initial response to this has been to :-

(i) In collaboration with Performance and Development Service colleagues, establish an Improvement Board to oversee our response to the inspection report over the next 6 months.
(ii) Amend the Duty Team management structure to facilitate additional management oversight of risk assessment at first point of contact and timeliness of child protection investigations.
(iii) Seek to secure additional staffing (on a temporary basis) to clear a substantial administrative backlog.
(iv) Research staffing levels within other Local Authorities in the North West to ensure that we are staffed and structured appropriately.

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Children, Schools & Family Portfolio.


Councillor Zulfiqar Ali
21st December 2009