Agenda item

That SCF’s business plan for 2022 to 2025 be approved on an interim basis.

That is be agreed that approval was subject to the following:

·  Quarterly monitoring reports being presented by SCF to the Council for formal comment and noting by Cabinet setting out achievements against the business plan;

·  The SCF business plan was to be timetabled for consideration by the People Scrutiny Panel in the first quarter of 2022/23;

·  An updated business plan for 2022 to 2025 was to be presented to the Council in Quarter 2 of 2022/23;

·  SCF was to submit its business plan for 2023 to 2026 by 30 September 2022 in accordance with the requirements set out in the Articles of Association and to allow sufficient time for this to be considered by the People Scrutiny Panel and incorporated in the budget setting process.

That SCF staff be formally thanked and congratulated on the fact there were no longer any inadequate services within the company and that this was a significant milestone, which reflected that hard work of staff within SCF.

The Executive Director of People (Children) / Chief Executive of Slough Children First (SCF) gave a presentation and summarised a report that sought approval for SCFs annual business plan.

It was noted that SCF was a company wholly owned by the Council and approval of the annual plan was a reserved matter under SCFs Articles of Association.  This was an interim business plan that sought to set out SCF’s priorities and budgetary requirements, together with the assumptions underlying its financial strategy.  It was noted that the business plan should have been presented to Council in September 2021.  This was therefore an interim plan for 2022 to 2025.  The new plan for 2023-26 would be presented by September 2022, with reports to People Scrutiny Panel and Cabinet in quarters 1 and 2 of the 2022/23 financial year respectively.

The key elements of the business plan were summarised including the vision and values, practice model, workforce issues and key strategic aims.  The aims included quality improvements throughout a children’s journey with a target of 70% of casefiles being good within 18 months and stability in the workforce with less than 20% agency workforce.  The plan included the aim to work within budgets through addressing demand, for example through a continuum of Early Help; reduced reliance on agency and innovative spend; income maximisation by working with partners; and back office efficiencies.

Lead Members asked a number of questions and raised several points during the course of the discussion which are summarised as follows:

·  The Cabinet recognised the improvements that had been made since the establishment of SCF both in terms of the stronger working relationship with the Council and, crucially, the improvement of services.  Lead Members welcomed the fact that no service in SCF was rated as ‘inadequate’ for the first time in a decade and whilst it was recognised much more progress needed to be made this was a significant milestone.

·  The financial position of the company was discussed, particularly the importance of SCF operating within its financial envelope and delivering its savings plans.  The concerns raised by the Commissioners on this issue were noted and the Cabinet agreed the increased reporting as set out in the report ensure progress could be monitored.

·  Lead Members agreed that hearing the ‘voice of the child’ in the plans and strategic documents was crucial but did not come through strongly in the business plan and they would like to see more examples and evidence of this in future versions.

·  A Lead Member queried the fact that the equality impact assessment did not identify any impacts on people with any protected characteristics.  The Cabinet requested that the next version of plan include evidence and figures to demonstrate that the plan would not have a greater impact on certain groups than others.

·  The workforce challenges were recognised particularly the ongoing issue of permanent recruitment of social workers.  Concern was expressed about the potential over-reliance on Innovate teams.  The Director explained the work being undertaken on recruitment and retention, including the training and development opportunities for newly qualified social workers.

·  The company’s business plan and improvement plan were clearly linked and a Lead Member highlighted that some of timescales in the improvement plan had already slipped, for example priority 3 on participation and engagement.  Assurance was provided that whilst the plans were rightly ambitious, actions and targets would be realistic and this would be reflected in future versions of the plan.

·  A question was asked about the reasons for the high provision made for legal costs of £2.1m.  The Director responded that increased complexity of cases and delays in the courts systems were contributory factors.  The Cabinet asked how confident the proposed £0.6m reduction could be achieved and it was noted that work would need to take place ‘upstream’ to hit this target.

·  A Lead Members asked whether the key target of 70% of all children’s files being good or above within 18 months was achievable given the baseline of 24% at September 2021.  The Director stated that the company had included targets that it would be able to deliver.

The Lead Commissioner addressed the Cabinet and commented that signs of performance improvement were welcomed but further progress was needed.  He commented on the important role that scrutiny should play in reviewing the business plan in detail in the summer and making recommendations to Cabinet.

Councillor Gahir was invited to address Cabinet and he commented on the timeline to reduce agency staff and costs of interim staff.  The Director responded to the points raised.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Cabinet recognised the progress that had been made and agreed the recommendations as set out in the report for future scrutiny and refinement of the business plan.  The Cabinet recognised the significant milestone that no service was rated ‘inadequate’ and formally recorded their thanks to the staff that had contributed to that achievement.

Resolved –

(a)  That SCF’s business plan for 2022 to 2025 be approved on an interim basis.

(b)  That it be agreed that approval was subject to the following:

·  Quarterly monitoring reports being presented by SCF to the Council for formal comment and noting by Cabinet setting out achievements against the business plan;

·  The SCF business plan was to be timetabled for consideration by the People Scrutiny Panel in the first quarter of 2022/23;

·  An updated business plan for 2022 to 2025 was to be presented to the Council in Quarter 2 of 2022/23;

·  SCF was to submit its business plan for 2023 to 2026 by 30 September 2022 in accordance with the requirements set out in the Articles of Association and to allow sufficient time for this to be considered by the People Scrutiny Panel and incorporated in the budget setting process.

(c)  That SCF staff be formally thanked and congratulated on the fact there were no longer any inadequate services within the company and that this was a significant milestone, which reflected that hard work of staff within SCF.