UPDATE NO 260 21 July 2017

Improving the Quality of Audit Project

Today is the day of the first workshop, on s47 audits. Agencies attending are Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, and Slough. Brighton & Hove are unable to attend on the first day but will subsequently.

The first workshop will concentrate on defining practice standards for s47 audits. This is likely to be the hardest part of the process. Not many LAs do this so it may come as a surprise. Here is an example of a typical audit statement:

“There is evidence of appropriate consultation with other agencies about the investigation and its issues.” 

This is a vague statement and there is no guarantee that any two auditors would agree what it means or what the evidence would look like. What is appropriate? What is consultation? What are issues?

David Goosey (contact details below) is running the project and he says,

“I hope that at the end of the first workshop we will have a set of draft standards for people to take back to their organisations to consult on.” 

The second workshop is scheduled for Friday 21 September. for more details, go to the Improving Audit Quality page or contact David Goosey.

Please can you check the listings at the Quality Assurance/Audit Managers page to make sure we have the most appropriate contact in your team.

Data Benchmarking Reports

This week we have published 

•  (Restricted) Adoption Benchmarking Report 2016-17 Q4 v1 [Excel & PDF]

‘Restricted’ reports contain unsuppressed data, and data which is not in the public domain. Please do not share these outside of your LA.

Also this week: Social Care Benchmarking data collection- 2017-18 Q1 and Provisional 2016-17

We have distributed the Data Collection sheet for the 2017-18 Q1 and Provisional Annual 2016-17 Social Care Benchmarking returns.  The deadline for submission is Monday 21 August, with the reports expected to be published during the first week in September. Returns should be sent to the following email address: CS.DataManagement@eastsussex.gov.uk

ALB Quarterly return Q1: Please also remember to send a copy of your LA’s ALB Q4 child level return to: Joseph.Hutchings@eastsussex.gcsx.gov.uk at the same time as submitting to the DfE.

Regional Adoption Leadership Board

The membeship of the Regional Adoption Leadership Board has been revised, and the current list is published here.

We have a new ALB sponsor from the national ALB – Annie Crombie, Chief Executive of CVAA.  

Rosemary Perry (details below) is supporting the Regional ALB.

Topical Peer Challenge Round 10

Bookings for Topical Peer Challenge Round 10 are now open. Currently two participants: Buckinghamshire (MASH Front Door) and Wokingham (Virtual School).

Please let Richard Tyndall (contact details below) know if you would like to join in Round 10, the field work for which will be undertaken in late 2017 or early 2018.

Leadership Development

We continue to offer our successful portfolio of Leadership Development Courses all of which have been positively evaluated by delegates.

We are offering LAs the opportunity to train their own trainers for all our courses. Our aim is to increase the capacity and capability across the region  to ensure future sustainability within LAs. Courses can also be delivered with adult services and/or for schools. Please contact Di Smith, details below, if this is of interest to you.

All courses are run in-house in the LA who provides the venue. Each course is accompanied by a range of training resources for the delegates including a comprehensive handbook. The current courses on offer are as follows and details of each course and the costs for each can be found by downloading the April 2016 Leadership Development Prospectus. 

Coaching to Improve Performance

Embedding a Coaching Culture

Leading Change in Times of Austerity

Step Up to Leadership   

We can also arrange one-to-one coaching, especially to support newly appointed 2nd and 3rd tier managers

If you require further details or wish to book a course please get in touch with Di Smith (contact details below)