UPDATE NO 298 20 April 2018

Consultation on 2018-19 DCS Peer Challenge Arrangements

The consultation on 2018-19 DCS Peer Challenge Arrangements is now closed. A report recommending arrangements will be considered by the SESLIP Steering Group on 11 May. The membership of this group is Stuart Gallimore (DCS East Sussex) (in the chair); Alison Jeffery (DCS Portsmouth); John Coughlan (CEx Hampshire); Cllr Gareth Barnard (Lead Memebr, Bracknell Forest); Mona Seghal (Improvement Adviser, LGA).

We are currently working on the precise shape, costings, staffing support, dates and other details of the programme. There is still time to influence our thinking and contributions should be channeled through Richard Tyndall/Anna Wright (contact details below) or Stuart Gallimore/Alison Jeffery (contact details here)

The outline of the proposal will be as follows:

Autumn 2018: all DCSs complete and share a self-assessment that will be compatible with the Ofsted Annual Conversation template and including Benchmarking Data supplied by the SESLIP Data Benchmarking Group

Late Autumn: Training and preparation session for all participants in the Peer Challenge sessions (date and venue to be announced). Also circulation of menu of choices improvement offer (from PiP programme; LGA; DfE; SESLIP and other regional improvement groups and elsewhere)

Jan/Feb 2019: whole day Peer Challenge sessions in groups of 3 or 4 (details of groupings to be announced)

March 2019: Regional Summit to celebrate whats working well and to agree “even better if” improvement priorities and SESLI Programme for 2019-20

Data Benchmarking Group

The following reports have been uploaded to the Freely Available Reports<https://www.seslip.co.uk/data-benchmarking-group/freely-available-reports> section of the SESLIP Website:

*         (Public) 2017 CSC Workforce Benchmarking Report v1 (Excel)

*         (Public) 2017 CSC Workforce Benchmarking Report v1 (PDF)

Further reports containing unaudited, suppressed and other non-public information are available from the restricted reports section. Access to these pages is restricted to those who have signed the Data Sharing Protocol. 

For furthe rinformation please contact Alastair Lee (details below).

Thursday 28 June – Save the date for UASC Conference

Please save the date of Thursday 28 June for a conference hosted by Kent County Council on the topic of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children. 

The focus of the conference is to share experiences and best practice with other Local Authorities regarding the work Kent have developed with our Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children and Young People – looking at social care, fostering, health, education, accommodation, initial assessments on arrival.

More details will follow in due course. In the meantime please contact Rachel Calver at Kent Virtual School for more details.

Complex LAC and Edge of Care Efficiencies

Following a successful seminar on 16 March 2018 and further discussions with the DCS group, we now have 17 authorities in the region wishing to be part of the fieldwork.  Although we had some success with collecting raw data from our initial group of authorities, it was clear that there are problems categorising type of need as well as children on the edge of care.  Data on cost is more robust.  

Our further thinking is to collect sample data from each LA, developing a “toolkit” which will, as well as providing the in-depth data we need for the analysis, hopefully provide practitioners with a means to record and track their cases in a  more meaningful way.  

We are currently developing this approach as well as identifying lists of external residential establishments and collecting a repository of good practice and innovation which can be shared with colleagues as we proceed.  We are hoping to pilot our new approach during May with a further event for all authorities towards the end of June to launch the toolkit and start the fieldwork.

For more information, and for access to the password-protected shared documents, please contact Mark Evans or Rosemary Perry (details below)

SEND 19 – In the money!

On 9 April, DfE confirmed that the SEND19group would be receiving grant aid for its work for a further year. The sum approved is £22,916.67, which will be matched with the SESLIP contribution of £22,500. Many thanks to Portsmouth for acting as accountable body for this grant.

The group is sponsored by Steve Crocker (DCS, Hampshire and Isle of Wight) and supported by Tracey Maytas (contact details below). Now that funding has been confirmed, the group will, in due course, confirm its programme of activities for 2018-19.

SE DCS Peer Challenge 2018

Planning is underway for 3 Director’s Peer Challenges in 2018. The confirmed participants and dates are in bold on the accompanying chart. 

For more details please go to the SE ADCS Peer Challenge page. Colleagues requiring a more detailed briefing should contact Anna Wright (details below).

The 2018 MoU is now available for particpants to download, sign and return. Thanks to Bracknell Forest and Brighton and Hove for returning a signed MoU.

Thanks to Paul Senior (DCS Wokingham) for joining Triad 2 to cover for West Berkshire while they change DCSs.

I now have a waiting list to join the team to visit Oxfordshire in July; thanks to colleagues from Brighton and Hove, Southampton, Bracknell Forest and Kent for volunteering (names to be confirmed in due course).