Agenda item

·  Note SCF’s Annual Report for 2023/24.

·  Note that Corporate Improvement and Scrutiny Committee has agreed a work programme which includes improvement and recovery of Slough Children’s Services as one of its three main strands and has included a specific item in October to review the Annual Report to inform whether the updated draft Business and Improvement Plan should be recommended to Cabinet for approval.

The Lead Member for Children and Education Services introduced the Slough Children First’s (SCF) annual report for 2023/24.  It was noted that although SCF did not produce an annual report for 2022/23, Cabinet approved an up to date Business and Improvement Plan in December 2023 as well as new contractual key performance indicators. 

The Assistant Director, Legal and Governance reminded Members that SCF delivered statutory children’s services on behalf of the Council in accordance with a direction of the Secretary of State for Education. Early preventative measures across the service were being developed to ensure that resources were being invested in the areas where they were most required. 

Raj Bhamber, Non-Executive Director highlighted that although considerable progress had been made over the past year, challenges remained related to the budget setting process for forthcoming years. It was noted that as SCF became more closely aligned with the Council, and as such a critical part of the Council’s overall improvement journey,  it was important to learn from areas where the company had developed expertise and build on this across the Council.

In welcoming the annual report, a Member asked what the challenges were in implementing the Improvement Plan. The Director of Children’s Services explained that a Demand Strategy was in place to identify forthcoming pressure in service areas.

Members welcomed the current projected outturn for 2024/25 which was showing as a surplus and it was explained that this was due to projections around placements being higher than actuals.  Subject to appropriate approval this projected in-year surplus could lead to a reduced contract sum for 2024/25 of approximately £0.5m. In addition to this, further work was being done to identify opportunities to mitigate the wider Council overspend

The Cabinet raised a number of other issues during the course of the discussion including the work being done with public health to tackle childhood obesity and the key risks facing SCF.  Financial risks included the relatively high cost of agency staffing and external residential placement costs.  A significant amount of work had taken place to mitigate the risks and the company had an excellent commissioning team in place which sought to maximise value for money on high cost residencies where they were required.  Members also recognised the direction that remained in place for children’s services and the regular and strong engagement that took place with the DfE Commissioner.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Cabinet commended SCF for the progress it was making and the recommendations in the report were agreed.

Resolved –

(a)  That SCF’s Annual Report for 2023/24 be noted.

(b)  That it be noted that Corporate Improvement and Scrutiny Committee had agreed a work programme which included improvement and recovery of Slough Children’s Services as one of its three main strands and had included a specific item in October to review the Annual Report to inform whether the updated draft Business and Improvement Plan should be recommended to Cabinet for approval.