Agenda item

 The Panel received a presentation from the Slough Children First (SCF) Sufficiency & Permanency Lead.

In brief, the presentation highlighted:

·  The role of Corporate Parenting and responsibilities to Children Looked After (CLA) and Care Experienced Young People (CEYP) in Slough.

·  As of April 2023, there were 255 CLA with 291 young people who were entitled to a leaving care offer of support. Also in this period, there were 259 CEYP (16 +).

·  The legal requirements including the Children Act 2004, placed a duty on local authorities (LA) to promote co-operation with ‘relevant’ partners’. Additionally, the Children Social Work Act 2017, ensured the nurturing and positive experiences for CLAs, young people and care leavers.

·  Our responsibilities – The task of parenting becomes the responsibility of everyone at the Council as corporate parents, when a child comes into care. This includes Councillors, officers, school staff and partner organisations. Children are at the centre of the Council’s Corporate Parenting Strategy and Council was also required by law to have a Pledge covering the six areas set out in the presentation.

·  The purpose of the CPP, its membership and frequency of meetings.

·  As well as the role of Cllrs being vital, it was also crucial to ensure that the right people from the Council and partner organisations were represented on the Panel, to enable the Panel to have overview and scrutiny, where officers could be asked about the services being provided for children and young people. It would also mean that cabinet members and officers could be responsible for each of the 6 areas of the Pledge, with Cllrs becoming champions. The Pledge could be used as a way of measuring and keeping an oversight to ensure the delivery of services to children and young people.

Panel members welcomed the presentation and discussed that the LGA had raised concerns about how often the Panel met and the level of involvement of children.

A question was asked about how effective the CPP had been in the past, the Executvie Director of People (Children) and CE of Slough Children First (SCF) (ED) reported that Ofsted had highlighted the CPP as being poor, and at a low base. This was further noted from the LGA Peer Review and urged for their recommendations to be implemented.

Hearing young people’s voices was vital, and one of the ways of doing this was for a representative to attend REACH Out! meetings (the ED attended the meeting in April 2023). Care Experienced Young People (CEYP) requested being able to view pictures of accommodations allocated prior to them viewing the properties.

(The Chief Executive left the meeting)

The SCF Head of Children Looked After & Support Services suggested that the role of the CPP should be published on the Council’s website and advised that she would be working with the SCF Head of Service, Sufficiency & Permanency, to develop a programme for improving the CPP, and would look at ways of raising awareness that everyone was responsible for corporate parenting.

The Panel Resolved to: Note the presentation.