UPDATE NO 181 29 January 2016

Local Authority Research Consortium (LARC) – Round 7 Now Open

The 7^th round of the Local Authority Research Consortium (LARC) will commence in April 2016. LARC is a collaborative research initiative, sector-led and focused on generating and sharing knowledge to support service and practice development. LARC 7 is co-facilitated by Research in Practice and National Children’s Bureau (NCB), and is chaired by Janette Karklins, (DCS Bracknell Forest). 

Two topics have been shortlisted: Young Carers and Peer-on-Peer Harmful Sexual Behaviour. Local authorities wishing to take part in LARC 7 are invited to express an interest in their preferred topic. See the 2016 consultation document(PDF download, 208KB) for more detail on these topics. 

LARC operates a not-for-profit model. The maximum fee for participating will be £5,800. However, as the costs are divided equally, the fee will be £5,000 if more than 15 LAs participate. This fee covers research support; development of research tools; workshops to provide practical support and share learning; analysis; reporting and dissemination of local and national level evidence. 

Local authorities wishing to express an interest in participating should complete the Participation Form (Word 2003 .doc file, 108KB) and return to chris.green@rip.org.uk by 15 Feb 2016.

Memorandum of Cooperation – We are pleased to add Buckinghamshire County Council to the group of authorities that have signed up to the MoC. We now have 16 of the 19 authorities in our region committed to the MoC.

The next meeting of the MoC Implementation Group is scheduled to take place on the 2nd March 1.15p.m -3.15 p.m. at The Guildford Institute (Ward Street, Guildford GU1 4LH). This will be a critical meeting in the development of the MoC and we encourage all authorities to attend. The aim of the meeting will be to finalise the arrangements for Phase 2 of the MoC, which will include:

• Launch date
• Agency pay rates
• Cooling off period for SE permanent staff moving to agency work
• The outline of the SE Regional Workforce Plan

Please contact Mark@markevansconsulting.co.uk to confirm attendance for representatives from your authority, if you are unable to send someone please contact Mark to arrange a time to discuss your authorities views about development of the next stage to of the MoC.

Thanks to those who have already completed the MoC Phase 2consultation we are working to collate your views to plan the next stages of the implementation. We want to get as complete a picture as possible,  so if you haven’t returned it yet there is still time. The consultation is contained at the end of the MoC Phase 2 November 2015 update. We will include any responses returned by the19 February 2016.

Preventing FGM and Mandatory Reporting – Zero Tolerance Day – 8 February 2016

Bookings can be made here – alternatively please email info@profileproductions.co.uk.

Katy Block, Policy Officer, ADCS writes

“We have been contacted by the organisers of an upcoming event on FGM and asked to share details with our members.  We do not often do this but given the timely topic and the fact it is free I thought I’d share this with you all to send on to regional colleagues. ‘Preventing FGM and Mandatory Reporting – Zero Tolerance Day 2016’, will take place on Monday 8 February at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, Regent’s Park, London”

SE SEND Benchmarking Workshop 4 Tuesday 9th February 10am to 3pm (although we expect that it may be shorter than that)

The next SE SEND Benchmarking Workshop will be held in the Longley Room at Crawley Library. The library is close to Crawley Railway Station and there is a car park next to the library. A final agenda and any other papers will be distributed closer to the meeting date.

The ‘SEND Benchmarking Mar-16 Data Collection’ template which includes the full list of indicators for the return has already been distributed by e-mail. This list will be subject to review at the workshop so there is the potential for some changes, however several LA’s have been asking for the list so that they can begin planning their returns.

As with previous workshops, coffee will be available from 9:30 and a light lunch will be provided- if you are attending please let joseph.hutchings@eastsussex.gov.uk know if you have any special dietary requirements when responding to this invite.

Numbers of Elective Home Educated (EHE) learners in England, ADCS state of the nation survey

The context is that the ADCS Educational Achievement Policy Committee has been looking at the subject of elective home education (EHE) over the last 12 – 18 months. In July 2014 local authorities in England recorded that 27,292 being educated at home, an increase of 17% on July 2013 (23,243). 

ADCS have asked LAs to submit as much information as possible in response to the questions asked in the survey to enable a summary report and a national position statement to be developed and shared with the wider membership. A snapshot of EHE on Thursday 21 January 2016, school census day, should be used to answer the questions and a response made to the survey by Friday 19th February. Full information and a list of the questions in the Survey Monkey survey is provided in the “EHE info request document”.

SE Adoption Leadership Board Next Meeting 12th February 2016 11.00-1.00 at Shute End, Wokingham

The minutes of the last meeting will be circulated in due course

Dates and times for the rest of the year are set out below (all at Shute End Wokingham): 28 April 11:30 to 1:30; 27 June 11:00 to 1:00; 15 September 11:00 to 1:00; 24 November 11:00 to 1:00 

Keeping children safe in education Government consultation deadline 16 February 2016

See full information in the SEGfL E-safety Newsletter

The DfE consultation is on strengthening the requirements on schools and colleges to keep children safe – including online. As part of the NEN, SEGfL will be responding to the consultation but you maybe interested in support material that the Technical Group of the NEN has published over the last few years to support schools and local authorities in the areas covered in the consultation. All SEGfL suppliers offer comprehensive filtering and monitoring services as per the proposed changes but schools will be expected to provide appropriate training, education, policies and management for their settings.

SE Regional Data Benchmarking Network meetings

The following dates have been confirmed for our SE Regional Data Network meetings – please note that the September date is different to the provisional date sent previously:

Tuesday 22nd March 2016; Thursday 16th June 2016; Wednesday 14th September 2016; Thursday 15th December 2016

All meetings to be held in the Longley Room at Crawley Library from 10am to 3pm. Outlook requests will be sent to group members in the near future

South East IRO Network Regional Conference Friday 20 May 2016

More details from https://www.eventbrite.com/e/planning-for-permanence-tickets-19871007719?ref=wphero

SE IRON page at the National IRO Network website

Sharon Martin, IRO Manager BHCC, Chair of SEIRON and Vice Chair of the National IRO Manager Partnership has written:

“This conference aims to increase understanding of the role of permanence in children’s lives and enable participants to make permanence plans geared to improving the outcomes for children and young people. Participants will hear from people with direct experience of care, as well learn from key policy makers about how some services are implementing best practice. Attendance at this event will contribute to IROs ongoing learning and service development.”

3rd February 2016

Leadership Development

A second Train the Trainer course is being planned for 3rd February 2016. All enquiries to Di Smith please (see contact box below).

Early Help

The Early Help Group has published its Evaluation Framework (draft) and accompanying Literature Review

The evaluation framework is aimed at all those working in early help.  It therefore includes all partners across the continuum of work: Local Authority services, Health Trusts, early years and childcare providers, schools, the Police; voluntary sector organisations; and LSCB Chairs and partners etc.