UPDATE NO 313 03 August 2018

2018-19 DCS Peer Challenge Arrangements

The recent DCS meeting agreed to carry on with the development of the “Trial Run” Regional Improvement Plan (The restricted v1.7 now available to DCSs only).  

The SESLIP team is preparing missing sections on continuing and new SESLIP improvement activities as well as ensuring co-ordination with the PiP and LGA support programmes.

Thanks to Hampshire, Kent, Milton Keynes and West Berkshire for returning signed copies of the memorandum of undertanding which sets out the rationale for particpation in the SESLI Programme and the Peer Challenges in particular. For details please contact Isabelle Gregory (details below)

For more information please contact Anna Wright or Richard Tyndall (details below).

We are also starting to make the detailed arrangements for the peer challenge of self-assessment arrangements that will culminate in the Regional Improvement Summit on 22 March 2019 – please save this date for DCSs and Lead Members.

Also please save the date 30 November 2018 for DCSs and management team members for the regional training and preparation day. Please contact Anna Wright for more details, and Isabelle Gregory to book your places. 

Thanks to Milton Keynes, Portsmouth, West Berkshire, West Sussex, Windsor and Maidenhead and Wokingham for sharing Annual Conversation letters and to East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Milton Keynes, Slough CST, West Berkshire, West Sussex and Wokingham for sharing their self-assessments. These documents are all available from the restricted DCS-only section of the website.

For access to this page, and to supply further reports, please contact Isabelle Gregory (details below).  

Complex LAC and Edge of Care Project

A productive workshop took place on Thursday 26 July, hosted by Lucy Butler, DCS Oxfordshire and project sponsor. 

During the workshop, the toolkit and guidance notes for the collection of complex LAC data was shared with the participants and it was agreed that everyone would complete the fieldwork by Friday 19 October 2018.  The group made some final amendments to the toolkit and the guidance notes ready for circulation on Monday 30 July. 

The collection of detailed data around risk and factors leading to LAC episodes for older children will support a comprehensive analysis of need for the region, using also regional and national benchmarking data. 

It is hoped that this detailed analysis will be completed by the beginning of 2019 to inform the development of a regional commissioning strategy for Complex LAC cases.  In addition, the toolkit will enable participating authorities to collect and analyse their own data and begin to have local discussions with their own senior leaders and providers. 

The group also heard how this project will fit with other initiatives, including the DfE Fostering Better Outcomes (where this project was mentioned as a good example of regional work); the development of the Secure Estate and our own Regional Improvement Plan.  Active participants in the work are: Oxfordshire; East Sussex;  West Sussex;  Brighton and Hove; Kent; West Berkshire; Portsmouth; Southampton; Milton Keynes; Hampshire; Wokingham (and special thanks to West Sussex, West Berkshire and Kent who helped us pilot the toolkit).  The slides from the event are available here.

Secure Estate

A meeting took place on 18 July involving a number of south east authorities (including the 3 who already have secure units – Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex) to determine whether SESLIP should proceed with a bid for a feasibility study to develop increased capacity in the secure estate.  The outcome of the meeting was 

“That we do not recommend that the region bids for an expansion of existing provision or the development of new provision“

The reasons for this conculsion are:

• this is because the DfE are already funding work at 2 out of the 3 units in the south east; the third is currently not open and, reading the bid documentation, the South East is (according to the DfE) relatively well provided for and therefore would not be a priority.
• that a different type of provision is required either as an alternative to secure provision and/or to enable step down and resettlement. We know that there is a need for this but this has not yet been quantified in detail in the region.  The work we are undertaking in the Complex LAC project, the Oxfordshire work on Complex LAC plus the national data collection on secure accommodation co-ordinated by Hampshire will all contribute to a better understanding of needs and the development of a regional commissioning strategy to inform future purchasing intentions.  This work is well advanced and while it could be part of a feasibility study, has its own timescales and outcomes, is not just about secure accommodation and is using the same resources that would be used for this piece of work.
• the DfE already knows about our Complex LAC Project (see other news item) and has shown an interest in how it progresses and the outcomes it achieves; the work we are doing was mentioned in the recent DfE Fostering Better Outcomes report.
• therefore we would not make a formal bid within the timescales for the feasibility study; we would however start a dialogue with the DfE about the work we are doing and how this feeds into a commissioning strategy for all complex LAC cases, including secure accommodation.  Lucy Butler, DCS Oxfordshire and sponsor of the Complex LAC project will have the initial discussions and seek a meeting with the DfE to discuss the possibility of some funding to support the work.

Data Benchmarking Group

The Data Benchmarking Group held a regular meeting on 23 July. Deleagtes were present from Brighton and Hove; East Sussex; Kent; Medway; Reading; Surrey; and West Berkshire

The notes of the meeting are here

The AP census VBA spreadsheet is here