The Committee received a report presenting the 2017/18 Quarter 3 (October - December 2017) performance report for the Wirral Plan Pledges under the remit of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The performance report, which was included as an Appendix to the submitted report, provided a description of progress in Quarter 3 as well as providing available data in relation to a range of outcome indicators and supporting measures. 

The performance report contained details of the progress made, and overviews of that progress from the Lead Cabinet Member,  in respect of individual measures being pursued with regard to the following Wirral Plan Pledges pertinent to the Committee - 

·  Children are Ready for School;

·  Children are Ready for Work and Adulthood;

·  Vulnerable Children Reach their Full Potential;

·  Reducing Child and Family Poverty (Improving Life Chances);

·  People with Disabilities live Independent Lives; and

·  Zero Tolerance to Domestic Violence.

Paul Boyce, Director for Children presented the performance report and invited comment from Members on the content contained therein –

Councillor Moira McLaughlin noted the reduction in performance related to pregnancy scans and, while pleased to see improved performance in respect of development checks of infants by the time they were 8 weeks old, noted declining performance for health visitor reviews at 12 months and at 2–2 ½ years.  The Director undertook to respond to the query.

The Chair queried the roles and functions of the Panels referenced against the ‘rate of looked after children’ indicator.  The Deputy Director – Children’s Services advised that the Planning for Children Panel focussed predominantly on children in the care system with a care package or placement in place, or on children who received a costly care package: this Panel brought together all aspects of health, education and social care.  The Edge of Care Panel focussed on children at risk of becoming looked after and through a multi-agency approach considered what could be put in place for such children.

The Chair noted a reported decline in the number of child protection plans and queried whether this was necessarily a positive.  The Deputy Director – Children’s Services advised that when the Pledge was written the number of such plans was very high and so a reduction would have been seen as a positive at that time.  Over time, following a levelling off of the numbers of children coming into care and the inspection report, the ratio was now in line with other local authorities.  The situation would continue to be monitored as  a continuing downward trend might be a matter of concern.

The reported reduction of 40% in the number of young people presenting to A&E following self-harm or attempted suicide was noted, and it was queried whether that could be attributed to the recently introduced advice line.  The Director indicated that while that was unlikely to be what the data suggested, take up of the advice line was positive, particularly with regard to parents seeking support.  There was a need to further interrogate the data to understand what was happening.

Councillor Moira McLaughlin referenced work in relation to the Improving Life Chances pledge, noting the lack of performance data and the resultant ability to judge progress.  In a similar vein, Councillor Steve Williams noted the delay on data being provided in respect of the reduction of medication for ADHD.

Councillor Alan Brighouse noted the work being done for children coming out of care and queried the work undertaken by the Council to support the NEET (not in employment, education or training).  The Committee was advised that the 14-19 Team worked hard to try and ensure that young people were in employment, education or training.  Benchmarking on this issue had recently changed and it would now require 12 months data to comment definitively on progress.  Overall, it was thought that performance in the 16-17 years age group was good, but that there were issues about sustainability at the ages of 18-19 years.  Further to this issue, it was noted that a number of asylum seekers placed in the Borough had never been to school, and approaches as to how to engage with this group were under consideration.

RESOLVED –

That the report be noted.