UPDATE NO 366 23 August 2019

AD Safeguarding Network – next meeting 6 September 2019

The next meeting is a couple of weeks away (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)

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

AD Education Network – next meeting Friday 13 September

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. Other agenda items include:

• Data requirements for understanding children missing education;
• effective strategies to prevent exclusion and develop inclusive and restorative practice;
• strategies for working with LAC and previously LAC children;
• ofsted annual conversations

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

Memorandum of Cooperation – Review of effectiveness

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%.

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.

Out-of-area Housing Placements

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.

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 

Parliamentary Education Committee Inquiry in Social Care Workforce. Closes Friday 30 August

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. Closes Friday 30 August.

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. Closes Friday 30 August.

DfE Call for Evidence: Children’s homes workforce. Closes Tuesday 27 August 2019

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

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 Tuesday 27 August 2019. Click here for further information