UPDATE NO 341 01 March 2019

2019-20 Regional Improvement Plan

Following four successful Triad peer challenge sessions, work has begun to finalise the SESLIP Regional Improvement Plan.

It will be signed off by the SESLIP Steering Group meeting on 15 March and launched at the SEADCS Branch meeting on Friday 22 March.

Colleagues wishing to contribute to the plan should contact Richard Tyndall (details below) or consult the early draft documents at the DCS restricted page of the web site (filter for 2018 and Other). If you have any specific requests now is the time to ask.

Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Slough, Southampton, and Windsor and Maidenhead 2019 self-assessments have been uploaded onto DCS-only area of website. We look forward to receiving Ofsted Annual Conversation letters as when they are available for circulation here.

For access to this page please consult your DCS or Isabelle Gregory (details below).

Triad 1 – East Sussex, Surrey and Wokingham on Thursday 28 February 2019

Triad 2 – Kent, West Sussex and Portsmouth on 8 May 2019 tba

Triad 3 – Hampshire, IoW, Milton Keynes and Slough on Friday 15 February 2019

Triad 4 – Medway, Oxfordshire and Windsor and Maidenhead also on Friday 15 February 2019

Triad 5 – Brighton and Hove, Buckinghamshire and West Berkshire on Tuesday 26 February 2019

Triad 6 – Southampton, Bracknell Forest and Reading on 10 April 2019

Please contact Isabelle Gregory (details below) for detailed information for these events.

Falling through the gaps – new research into care leavers’ experiences

Falling through the gaps, a new report published by the Innovation Unit, reveals key insights about the experiences of care leavers leaving prison, and the opportunities and challenges they face following release. 

The report identifies SIX KEY INSIGHTS

1. A combination of factors result in care leavers having a higher risk of reoffending on release than non-care leavers.
2. Fragmented and uncoordinated support and intervention from social care and rehabilitation services results in increased vulnerability.
3. There are different practice frameworks and cultures which means that there is no shared philosophy about how care leavers should be supported.
4. The experience of prison, and the label of being an offender, is a barrier to effective rehabilitation.
5. There are not enough resources to meet care leavers needs.
6. Despite system conditions, there are pockets of good practice.

South East Grid for Learning

Heather Hadfield, Consortium Manager at SEGfL, writes:

SEGfL has been involved in a recent Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) pilot to connect up hard to reach rural schools through a fund from DCMS. A few schools in East Sussex and Kent were eligible under the pilot criteria and are now upgrading their broadband to gigabit connections enabling them to embrace the newest technologies as well as opening up their communities to full fibre connections. 

More information can be found here including a list of the schools taking part.

Heather’s contact details are in the panel below. 

Task and finish group – Attendance and children missing education – 2.30pm Thursday 7 March

Mike Stoneman from Portsmouth is convening a task and finish group to consider issues around attendance and children missing education. The group will look at  the work local authorities are doing to address:

• Fixed term and permanent exclusions
• Reduced timetables that go beyond 6 weeks
• Elective home education
• Inappropriate alternative provision or exclusion by another name

and in a linked devleopment, the Children’s Commissioner has produced a report Skipping School Invisible Children – How children disappear from England’s Schools it looks at the phenomenon of off-rolling and the rise in home school. It also advocates the creation of register for all home schooled children, a measure supported by all 92 LA’s who responded to a survey on this issue.

The aim is to hold at least two meetings this term (spring 2019) before going back to the AD Network later in the year with a report detailing some best practice and recommendations. 

The first of these meetings has now been fixed for 2.30pm Thursday 7 March in Newbury. We already have volunteers from Oxfordshire, East Sussex, Wokingham and West Berkshire who will be joining the meeting which will be chaired by Mike from Portsmouth.

If you or a colleague would like to be involved in this group, please contact Mike directly mike.stoneman@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Complex LAC Project

What have we done so far?

Information in relation to 817 children has been collected; it includes 55 separate factors covering needs, risks, vulnerabilities, placement costs, outcomes, stability and many other measures. The information has been collated and shared with the participating authorities. 

The main applications will be assisting authorities in their LAC sufficiency planning and exploring the potential for more joined up commissioning. 

We are in discussion with the DfE about its potential to influence future commissioning arrangements.

The project has also attracted interest from the Office of the Children’s Commissioner as part of her work to campaign for fair and transparent funding for children’s services.

What are we planning to do next?  

• Develop a model complex LAC sufficiency document pre-populated with data gathered from the project (for each of the participating LAs)
• Explore key themes, issues and differences highlighted by the data
• Design a market position statement describing the regions needs for complex LAC
• Explore the appetite for joined up commissioning for some LAC services across the region (this may be thematic, sub-regional or other possible variations)
• Setting up an event to share some of the key findings from the project with providers of services to investigate their interest in alternative commissioning models (i.e. moving away from spot-purchased placements)
• Share some of the key findings from the project to date with Health colleagues (NHS England)

The work will be presented to the regional DCS group on 22 March 2019, where priorities for the next phase of the project will be agreed.  

Please contact Mark Evans (details below) for more information

Working Towards Excellence 11 March Lincoln

This is a Partners in Practice conference about Lincolnshire County Council’s innovation journey, which has created positive and lasting change for Lincolnshire’s families and staff

• Workshop 1: Aligning your system to Signs of Safety
• Workshop 2: How to recruit a stable workforce
• Workshop 3: An introduction to Caring2Learn and Futures4Me projects

The conference will be at the Doubletree by Hilton Brayford Wharf North, Lincoln LN1 1YW on Monday March 11 from 9:30 to 4:30.

To book your place or for further enquiries please contact: partnersinpractice@lincolnshire.gov.uk 

Early Help – Developing an effective local offer – LGA event on 19 March 2019

This LGA event will see the launch of research from the Isos Partnership into effective early help offers. You can learn more about how practice is developing  while also exploring how early help could evolve in future.

Attention has recently focussed on “what works” in children’s social care, with a focus on the effectiveness of early help. However, less attention has been focussed on the wider contextual factors that support the effective delivery of these services locally.

The LGA commissioned the Isos Partnership to review the implementation of early help, working with a sample of local areas to understand the factors that help the development of local partnership offers and how to overcome barriers.

For local areas considering how to develop their own early help offers (including universal, targeted and specialist provision) both now and in the future, this event is an opportunity to explore how these services are delivered in practical terms –for example ways to effectively integrate early help across different services and agencies, how to build the confidence and resilience of partners, and how to harness the capacity of communities.

With considerable funding pressures throughout the public sector, the event will also consider what the current experience of early help delivery can tell us about potential “next practice” as services continue to develop and evolve over the coming years.

More details are here

South East Strategic Partnership for Migration (SESPM) UASC group – 29 March 2019

South East Strategic Partnership for Migration (SESPM) UASC group invites LA reps responsible for UASC to attend a strategic leads meeting.  The purpose of this meeting is

• For SESPM to communicate effectively relevant updates and information from the Home Office regards UASC.  
• Share good practice, to strengthen and build consistency across the region.
• Identify strategies to overcome barriers and pressures; providing practice examples to inform future policy and decision making.
• Data sharing to assist in identifying patterns of movement across the region. 
• Consider the needs to EU national children in LA care applying for settled status post Brexit.

The first meeting will be held 1.30-3.30pm on 29 March 2019 at Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton Street, Westminster, London  SW1P 3RB.  This meeting follows our executive board meeting, where there will be a networking lunch provided between 12.45-1.30pm, please feel free to join us. 

Please respond to sarahspain@secouncils.gov.uk to confirm attendance.

Social Work England – Consultation events in March and April

These events will focus on the rules and standards which are required before Social Work England can become operational This includes the standards they have drafted for social workers and training providers, and the rules they are putting in place for how:

• Social workers will register with SWE
• How they deal with concerns raised about social workers.
• How they approve social work courses with education and training providers.

At each event, you will have the opportunity to hear from members of the Social Work England leadership team, to test their thinking and help shape the regulator they will become.

For more information and to register for an event, please click on the date you wish to attend below.

Wednesday 6 March, 10:00-15:00  |  Woburn House, 20-24 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9HQ

Wednesday 13 March, 11:45-15:00  |  University of Plymouth, Plymouth, PL4 8AA

Wednesday 20 March, 12:45-16:00  |  Maxwell Upper Hall, The Crescent, Salford M5 4WT

Thursday 21 March, 10:45-14:00  |  The Royal Station, Newcastle, NE1 5DH

Wednesday 3 April, 10:45-14:00  |  The Priory Rooms, Birmingham, B4 6AF