Agenda and draft minutes

65.1     RESOLVED to agree as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 23 October 2024.

66.1     Apologies were received for Cllr Colin Belsey and Cllr Anne Cross, it was noted that Cllr Georgia Taylor was in attendance as substitute for Cllr Anne Cross.

Disclosure by all members present of personal interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the member regards the interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct.

67.1     There were none.

Notification of items which the Chair considers to be urgent and proposes to take at the end of the appropriate part of the agenda. Any members who wish to raise urgent items are asked, wherever possible, to notify the Chair before the start of the meeting. In so doing, they must state the special circumstances which they consider justify the matter being considered urgently.

68.1 There were no urgent items.

Verbal presentation by Children’s Services Department.

69.1       The Panel received a presentation on My Things Matter project from a young person representing the Children in Care Council (CiCC).

69.2       The My Things Matter project highlights the importance of Looked After Children’s belongings and personal possessions.

69.3        The Panel thanked the CiCC representative and noted the details of the My Things Matter project and confirmed their commitment to endorsing the project.

To consider excluding the public and press from the meeting for the next two agenda items on the grounds that if the public and press were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as specified in Category 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), namely information relating to any individual.

70.1     RESOLVED to exclude the public and press from the meeting for items 6 and 7 on the agenda (see minutes 50 and  51) on the grounds that if the public and press were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as specified in category 1 of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), namely information relating to any individual. It was considered that the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

71.1     The Panel considered the Quarterly Registered Children’s Home report relating to all East Sussex County Council Children’s Homes, has been developed, including updates from Regulation 44 reports and relevant Ofsted reports for members of the Corporate Parenting Panel to consider.

71.2     There were 2 Ofsted Inspections during Quarter 3: Brodrick House was inspected in October and maintained a judgement of ‘Good’. The Bungalow was inspected in December and the final report will be brought to the April Panel.

71.3     All homes have received monthly visits from their Regulation 44 Independent Person including unannounced visits.  The visits continue to pose valuable challenge and constructive reflection for the Registered Managers. 

71.4     There were 49 recommendations made by the Independent Persons across the 7 homes this Quarter: of these 8 related to Leadership and Management and 12 to the Protection of Children standard.  There were no significant concerns with most issues relating to best practice around recording and better evidence of children’s views being gathered.  There were no significant concerns with most issues relating to best practice around recording and better evidence of children’s views being gathered. In 3 of the homes there are new managers and two further homes will have new registered managers shortly. The Independent Persons have been attentive to new managers.

71.5     Feedback from parents, carers and professionals gathered by the Independent Persons continues to be positive.

71.6     The Independent Persons commented on the positive impact of the introduction of digital case management (Clearcare) at Lansdowne. This is now being rolled out across the homes which will ensure significantly greater management oversight, accountability and improve reporting. Most importantly, this resource will free up staff time to spend with children.

71.7     Recruitment and retention remains challenging in the current market; however the open homes and Lansdowne Secure Children’s Home now have almost no vacancies at support worker level and have seen positive recruitment across senior grades. Overall there has been positive recruitment and retention performance over the last year and officers would like to embed this across all the homes and build resilience amongst staff, additionally there is some excellent regional work to build career pathways.

71.8     Ofsted inspection of Lansdown Secure Children’s Home – 17 – 19 September 2024

A full, three-day inspection of Lansdown in September rated the home Good across all areas.  This was a significant achievement for the home’s first inspection following reopening.  There was one recommendation relating to staff consistently following policies and procedures, and a second relating to the importance of all staff promoting children’s education. The new manager has put excellent routines in place and has high expectations of staff.

71.9     Ofsted inspection Brodrick House – 21-22 October 2024

A full inspection of Brodrick House in October found the home Good in all areas.  There was one requirement in relation to safer recruitment and three recommendations relating to accessing independent scrutiny, supporting children to make positive choices and ensuring best practice in recruitment. 

71.10   Ofsted are demonstrating a focus across all homes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

72.1     The Panel considered a report by the Director of Children’s Services which provided an update on Looked After Children (LAC) statistics introduced by Sally Carnie, Head of Looked After Service.

72.2     The Panel heard that in the last quarter there has been an increase in LAC from 691 to 698 (increase of 7). There were 61 children admitted to care and 44 children discharged from care which impacted the overall number. This was made up of several large sibling groups, increased numbers of children being accommodated and a group of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) being transferred via the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).

72.4     As part of our approach to enabling more children to live safely with their families the service has been focused on supporting children to be reunited with their families or wider network where it is possible to do so.  In the last quarter 25 children were supported in being successfully reunified with family/friends.

72.5        A total of 435 children were living in foster care at the end of December 2024, this is 62% of the total number of looked after children. Of that number, 259 (60%) were living with approved ESCC carers which includes 23 who were placed long term with fully approved family and friends’ carers. 5 children were placed with foster carers who were also approved adopters as part of the Fostering for Adoption pathway which includes 1 child placed in a Foster to Adopt placements with an agency adopter that is not part of the Regional Adoption Agency. 101 children were living with external agency carers. In addition, there were 2 children placed with Other Local Authority foster carers. At the end of the quarter, the number of children who were living with temporary approved family and friends foster carers was 68.

72.6        There were 16 children placed for adoption at the end of December 2024 which is an increase of 4 since the previous quarter. This is 2% of the total number of looked after children.

72.7        There were 95 young people living in supported accommodation and unregistered provision which is a decrease of 4 since the previous quarter. This is 14% of the total number of looked after children. This figure of 95 includes 17 children placed in unregistered provision, the majority of these unregistered placements are where the providers are in the process of registering with Ofsted. Of the 17 unregistered placements there are 4 children that are under 16 years old. These placements are only used in exceptional circumstances where no suitable alternative regulated provision is available. In these circumstances robust risk assessments and monitoring plans are made to ensure children are cared for safely.

72.8     At the end of December 2024, the number of children living in regulated residential children’s homes decreased from 122 to 120. This represents 17% of all looked after children. Of these 120 children, 23 were living in ESCC run children’s homes, and 97 were placed in external residential homes. This represents a downward  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

73.1     The Panel considered a report and presentation by Karen Venditto which provided an update on the Fostering recruitment activities.

73.2     The initial enquiry process has been revised and a home visit is now offered following the first enquiry which mirrors the practice of private agencies and the conversion rate has increased accordingly.

73.3     The payments uplift has made a significant difference in attracting and retaining foster carers and also has allowed carers to focus on the children rather than needing to seek part time work to boost income.

73.4        The East Sussex Fostering Service has performed well against local and national benchmarking. In 2023/24 East Sussex was the second most successful local authority in the Region for converting initial enquiries into applications, and fourth for converting enquiries into approvals. East Sussex has maintained an in-house foster carer rate of 76% compared to 60% national average (against use of Independent Fostering Agencies).

73.5        Local Authority Fostering South East (LAFSE) region hub will be launched in July 2025. This will allow for a closer working practice with neighbouring LA’s within our regional ‘sub cluster’. Funding received by East Sussex County Council has contributed to operational costs.

73.6        The LAFSE have appointed an advertising agency whose campaigns, on platforms beyond individual budgets, went live in Q3 in order to raise awareness of the internation need for more carers.

73.7        As part of the regional fostering pilot, East Sussex received funding to deliver the Mockingbird programme in partnership with The Fostering Network. The programme nurtures the relationships between children, young people and foster families supporting them to build a resilient and caring community of six to ten satellite families called a constellation. Each constellation is led by a hub home carer and liaison worker; the constellation offers vital peer support and guidance alongside social activities and sleepovers to strengthen relationships and permanence.

73.8        The panel RESOLVED to note the report.

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

74.1     The panel considered a report about recognising care experience formally as an additional category in equality considerations at ESCC introduced by Atiya Gourlay and Jill Nwokendi who drew the Panel’s attention to the following points:

• Neighbouring Council’s that have made a public commitment to care experienced people and the proactive steps the Councils have taken to align with public sector equality duty.
• The amendment to the Equality Impact Assessment template to include care experience.
• The launch of the communications plan initially from February 2025.
• The outcome of the 2023 Children’s Commissioner consultation with care experienced people, as set put in the report. Adding that the law has yet to change, and Children’s Services will advise the relevant local authority boards and panels of any shifts in government policy and/or new guidance.
  
  

74.2 </AI10><AI11> Corporate Parenting Panel RESOLVED to agree to a half-day summit bringing together key internal and external stakeholders to:

• Provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to hear what work is already happening to support care experienced people in East Sussex. This will help to clarify gaps in support.

• Hear the voice of young people with care experience. 

• Make a call to action to initiate the work of the partnership working group going forward (pending confirmation that there is capacity and resource for any additional work which arises from it). 

Report by the Director of Children’s Services.

75.1        The Panel considered a report by the Director of Children’s Services which provided an update on the Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) Annual report for the period 2023/2024.

75.2        Dawn Price, Operations Manager – Safeguarding Unit, introduced the report updating on the contribution of the Independent Review Officers to Quality Assuring and Improving Services. This included details on My Voice Matters, and an increase on the level of meetings, Looked after Children and details of consultation and feedback for Child Protection Conferences and My Voice Matters meetings. 

75.3       The Corporate Parenting Panel RESOLVED to note the report.