A report by the Head of Intelligence introduced the 2018/19 Quarter 2 (July – September 2018) performance against the Wirral Plan pledges under the remit of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Appendix 1 to the report provided an overview of the progress made in Quarter 2 and available data in relation to a range of outcome indicators and supporting measures.

Quarter Two Wirral Plan Performance was summarised as follows:

·  Provisional data for the Early Years Foundation Stage had showed good progress for children being ready for school. The headline outcome indicated that Good Levels of Development (GLD) had increased by 1.2%, taking performance above 70% for the first time since the launch of the Wirral Plan.

·  It was very encouraging that GLD had also improved in priority groups with the achievement gap for children eligible for free school meals and their peers closed by 4%, which was a significant achievement; and there was an encouraging increase in children looked after achievement.

·  Infants and children receiving development checks were below the targets set, work was underway to share good practice with GPs to improve infant checks and a centralised appointment system had been developed for children’s checks to support children being seen on time.

·  The achievement gap (provisional data) between pupils eligible for free school meals and their peers achieving the 'expected standard' in English, reading, English writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 had widened overall by 1.5% to 23.5%. Within this figure the attainment of both cohorts had increased however non-FSM pupils had increased by 2.9% more than double the FSM pupils (1.4%).

·  Provisional Progress 8 Score (2017-18 Academic Year) had improved from the previous year to 0.03. The National average Progress 8 score was 0 and Wirral was slightly above the average and better than the North West and Statistical Neighbours.

·  Officers working collaboratively with head teachers of secondary schools had reduced the amount of permanent exclusions by a third. They were focusing on secondary and specialist schools to continue to reduce permanent exclusions by providing appropriate challenge as well as timely interventions.

·  Wirral was ranked in the lowest quintile for both primary and secondary absence and persistent absence levels had increased compared with a decrease nationally. Reducing persistent absence and improving attendance for all pupils with a specific focus on the most vulnerable was a key priority. Work was underway to examine and implement the recommendations of the independent review of the Education Social Welfare Service seeking to develop a consistent partnership approach to reducing attendance. Improving the process of issuing fixed penalty notices as result of a new Education Social Welfare Service was underway.

·  The children looked after rate had seen a reduction since 2017-18 year end; however, this was still double the national average figure and 35% higher than Wirral’s nearest statistical neighbours.

·  The number of children in need had increased on the previous quarter but remained over 20 percent above the national average. However, the Quarter 2 figure represented a 5.3% improvement since start of the Wirral Plan.

·  The rate of children who became the subject of a child protection plan at Quarter 2 was 65.6 per 10,000; a 26% increase since the last quarter. This was 51% above the national average, 21% higher than the North West and 22% higher than Wirral’s nearest statistical neighbours.

·  The employment rate for people aged 16-64 who were Equality Act core of work limiting disabled had improved again to 48.8% and was at its highest since the Wirral Plan had been launched.

·  The proportion of people who were feeling supported to manage their condition was 60.1% for the period January 2018 - March 2018. This had reduced from 67.2% the previous year which reflected a reduction nationally (national average 59.6%, down from 64% last year).

·  A total of 813 cases had been dealt with at MARAC in the 12 months prior to September 2018. This equated to 59.3 cases per 10,000 female population. A high level of absenteeism in the Family Safety Unit had meant a reduction in contact attempts. A reduced level of contact could impact on the number of cases taken to MARAC. Emergency measures had been put in place to ensure that all gold level victims received appropriate support and work was underway to build resilience into this service.

Members asked the Officers present, includingtheCorporate Director for Children Servicesand Lead Commissioner Community Services & Resiliencea number of questions which were answered accordingly. Matters highlighted included the following:

·  The attainment gap between boys and girls in KS1 was continuing to widen and there were various interventions that needed to be put in place to address this. This was not just a specific local issue.  It was a national issue.  The curriculum was being reviewed and consideration was being given to whether it would be possible to change how certain subjects were taught so boys could be better engaged.  They did not do well in examinations but fared better with continuous assessment.

·  Wirral was ranked in the lowest quintile for both primary and secondary absence and persistent absence levels had increased compared with a decrease nationally.  Officers were involved in ongoing dialogue with schools regarding the causes of absence and the Service was being redesigned to ensure an improvement in provision. It was important to communicate to parents the importance of not keeping their children off school.  The responsibility to ensure children went to school rested with their parents and schools undertook enforcement action. Schools should contact parents to let them know that their children were not in school.  There needed to be a campaign approach to promote the benefits of children going to school and Children’s Services would work with the schools to promote it.

·  Staffing issues that had had an effect on the figures within the report – Zero Tolerance to Domestic Violence.  There had been a high degree of absence which had now been addressed by employing temporary staff.  During the period there had been an unexpected and unique rise in domestic abuse.  It was expected that there would now be a reduction in the number of victims of domestic abuse. The reporting mechanism was better but there were concerns that there may be a spike at Christmas.  The Service was in the position to know who had been flagged as high risk and there needed to be resources available to manage an extreme level of high risk. This was a high risk process and the Council was working with its third sector partners on this e.g. Tomorrow’s Women Wirral.

RESOLVED:

That the content of the report be noted.