Agenda and minutes

The committee is advised that the public may be excluded from meetings whenever it is likely in view of the nature of the proceedings that exempt information would be disclosed. Meetings of the Corporate Parenting Committee are attended by representatives of Care In Action (CIA), the council’s Children in Care Council. The committee is therefore recommended to exclude the press and public for the duration of the meeting,  as the attendance of CIA representatives necessitates the disclosure of the following category of exempt information, set out in the Local Government Act 1972:  - information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

RESOLVED: that under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the duration of the meeting, on the grounds that the attendance of representatives from the council’s Children in Care council, necessitated the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2, Part 1 of Schedule 12A, as amended, of the Act, namely: Information which is likely to reveal the identity of an individual.

Apologies were received from Councillors Hirani and L. Smith, and Palvinder Kudhail (Director of Early Help and Social Care, Brent Council).

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, any relevant disclosable pecuniary, personal or prejudicial interests in the items on this agenda.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting as a correct record.

RESOLVED: that the minutes of the last meeting, held on 13 October 2025, be approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

Kelli Eboji (Head of LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) provided an update in relation to the request for discounted driving lessons. Officers had contacted other local authorities to ask about their offer, and had identified that local authorities who did fund or subsidise driving lessons had strict criteria for how, why and when that assistance would be provided. Barnet’s offer had been reviewed, who partnered with a charity, and there may be an option for Brent to partner with a charity who may be able to apply for grant funding. Officers were now putting together a proposal for the local offer to set out how, when and why care leavers would be supported financially to undertake driving lessons. Once that detail was fully understood the offer would be brought back to the Committee.

In relation to the vaccination rates for HPV for looked after children and care leavers, Kelli Eboji had met with Public Health and Vaccination UK, and been advised that they were not currently in the HPV promotion cycle and were focused on MMR for the current term. The following term would be focused on HPV, so officers were working with Public Health around communications on that. The meeting had been positive with officers feeding back some of the barriers young people faced. A detailed communications plan would be developed and disseminated through Brent channels including Whatsapp, social media, newsletters, the Brent magazine and the website. In person and online sessions would also take place in Brent schools to inform parents and carers about the vaccinations programme.

In relation to training for social workers on casework recording, Nicole Levy (Quality Assurance and Learning Manager, Brent Council) was including this in the training for all practitioners which would be launched in the next few months.

Debbie Gabriel (Adopt London West) had confirmed that she was talking to the web team about marketing and communications on the Adopt London West website to analyse the data and how it was being used.

In relation to the action for the Committee to receive the link for the public consultation on the adoption support fund, members were advised that the consultation had not yet been launched, and so this would be circulated when the consultation went live, likely in March 2026.

This is an opportunity for members of BCJ 2.0 to feed back on activities over the last quarter and facilitate discussion on issues pertinent to Brent children and young people with members. This will include a progress update on co-produced work relating to the Bright Spots Action Plan.

The Chair welcomed representatives from Brent Care Journeys 2.0 (BCJ 2.0) to the meeting and invited them to provide updates from the group.

SA outlined the budget and merchandise proposals the rebranded Care Leavers Group – Empire Care Leavers – were requesting from the Council. She reminded members of the budget request, and provided several options for merchandise dependent on the budget the Council could allocate to this branding project. She explained that the branding project would help young people feel a sense of belonging and part of a group, and she presented the recreated logo which would be printed on the merchandise. The group had agreed that they would visit semi-independent providers to spread the word about Empire Care Leavers and offer them a package that included the branded merchandise to make them feel a part of the group. She hoped to have ordered the merchandise for the packages by February 2026.

N updated the Committee on the meeting Empire Care Leavers had with Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children, Young People and Community Development, Brent Council) the previous month, where they had discussed opportunities for a dedicated care leavers space. Three options had been proposed and the group were waiting to get keys for a viewing for two of them. She noted that the Curve, which was currently available as a space for young people, was felt not to be appropriate as it was unwelcoming and not private, with staff members moving young people along from there as they did not know the space was for them. The main ask was for the space to be somewhere care leavers could have some form of permanency, and one of the spaces had outside space and a kitchen which had been positive.

K informed the Committee of the recruitment drive Empire were planning, with a target to visit 5 residentials and 5 semi-independent homes to do fun activities, such as cooking sessions, to build rapport with care leavers and encourage them to join the Empire. She had also delivered a presentation with other care leavers at the Children and Young People and Community Development All Staff Conference, speaking about the launch of their business and the importance of leadership in front of over 200 people. Staff present had praised their presentation. She also informed members of the leadership programme that was being developed, where care leavers would train young people to become leaders, which would help to upskills both care leavers through delivering training and those joining Empire.

S informed the Committee of her upcoming Trusted Buddies project, which aimed to provide a mentoring-style programme where 18-25 year olds buddied with a care experienced young person aged 11-18 years old and did activities together so that they developed a trusted relationship with each other. Surveys had gone out to garner interest amongst 18-25 year olds and they would then move on to the pitching stage. N added that having a dedicated space would be useful for the Trusted Buddies project because  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To receive an update on the recent Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) Focused Visit which took place in November 2025.

Kelli Eboji (Head of LAC and Permanency, Brent Council) introduced the report, which updated the Committee on the outcome of the recent focused visit from Ofsted which took place in November 2025. The inspection had a specific focus on the experiences of Looked After Children and Care Leavers. In presenting the report, she highlighted the following key points: 

• Section 4 of the report outlined the background of the Ofsted inspection framework, and 4.7 summarised the key findings of the visit. The report also provided a link to the letter received from Ofsted following their visit.
• The inspectors noted that, since the last ILACS inspection in 2023, children in care continued to benefit from effective services led by an experienced, stable senior team, with strong political and corporate support. They also noted the progress leaders had made in overcoming previous recruitment challenges and strengthening workforce stability and retention.
• In terms of strengths identified by Ofsted, they found that children enjoyed supported stable relationships with their social workers and were happy with the care and support they received. Children were supported to live with their extended families where possible, or were supported to maintain those relationships if that was not possible, and the matching process worked well. Children with disabilities in care also received good support from their social worker.
• In terms of areas for improvement identified by Ofsted, they found two areas to work on; consistency in response to children who go missing from care, including return home interviews and following up on children who go missing; and life story work for children in long term placements.

The Chair thanked Kelli Eboji for the introduction and invited contributions from the Committee, with the following points raised:

The Committee heard from Brent Care Journeys about their life story work, with SA commenting that she had done life story work with her previous social worker who helped her make an art book about her life and the people in it in an age appropriate way. She agreed it was meaningful for young people to have an understanding of why they were where they were. Kelli Eboji was pleased to hear she had meaningful engagement with her life story, but noted that it was the consistency of children in care receiving that support with their social worker and foster carers that needed to be improved. She noted the comments about needing to be age appropriate, mindful and sensitive, and undertake that life story work at an appropriate moment, but added that social workers should be having regular check-ins with children in care so that the young person had ongoing opportunities to ask those questions and explore those themes in an organic way. In order to improve this work, the service had introduced regular case summaries on files to take place every three months, where the social worker would summarise the previous 3 months with the young person and look forward to the next 3 months outlining what they hoped to achieve with the young  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive information about the implementation of the Brent Looked After Children and Care Leavers Placement Sufficiency Strategy 2025-2029 outlining how Brent will meet the current and future placement needs of children looked after and care experienced young people.

Michelle Gwyther (Head of Forward Planning, Performance and Partnerships, Brent Council) introduced the report, which outlined how Brent would meet both current and future placement needs. In outlining the report, she advised that Brent wanted to increase the number of local placements in the borough, as many young people were having to move a long way from Brent. In order to do that, there was a need to increase the number of in-house foster carers in Brent and the number of residential placements, with it noted that there were not many residential placements in London. Brent had its own residential care home due to open and there was the success of the Mockingbird project, looking to keep children and young people as close to their own communities, networks, families and schools as possible and living in high quality, value for money placements. She pointed members to the action plan detailed on page 51 of the agenda pack.

An update was then provided on the West London Residential Home Project, which was being led by Hounslow Council in partnership with Brent and Ealing Council, which aimed to open a 6-bed residential home in 2027. Brent was also involved in a Pan London Secure Children’s Home Project to support older children and young people with complex needs at risk of harming themselves or others. She added that Brent was ready to take advantage of any future projects, whether independent, tri-borough, or across London, where they were right for Brent’s children and young people and financially viable.

The Chair thanked Michelle Gwyther for the report and then invited comments and questions from Committee members with the following raised:

The Committee was pleased to see the multiple examples of Brent working across London and with other local authorities to achieve the best quality placements for children and young people.

The Committee asked for further details about the Pan-London Secure Unit, noting that a potential site had been identified in Waltham Forest. Michelle Gwyther advised that the DfE had temporarily paused the project due to issues identified with funding, but the project had recently started again and transferred to Waltham Forest to take the lead, so it was anticipated it would move forward much quicker. Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Community Development, Brent Council) added that there would be a need for each individual local authority involved in the project to take this through their Cabinet to commit to supporting the secure home, as there would be a financial commitment from each local authority required. Once signed up, Brent would share the burden of liabilities for running the home alongside the other 32 London boroughs. He confirmed that there were currently no secure children’s homes in London and children were required to travel long distances to access a secure unit, often with very complex needs. He agreed to bring a future report to the Committee about the Council’s readiness for this project. 

A discussion was had with Brent Care Journeys /  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To receive an update on the progress of work undertaken to open the local authority’s own Residential Children’s Home.

Tom Donovan (Service Manager, Looked After Children and Permanency, Brent Council) introduced the report, which provided an update on the progress of opening a Council-owned residential children’s home in Brent. In introducing the report, he highlighted the main challenge currently was recruitment and onboarding of a Deputy Manager, as the person recently appointed had withdrawn. He was checking with the Recruitment Team that the grading for the role was correct because this was the third recruitment round for the Deputy Manager post. He confirmed that it was possible for the home to open without a deputy. Other progress made included the completion of renovations, with furniture now ordered, and the Council was now quality assessing that so that the home was ready for inspection.

The Chair thanked Tom Donovan for the introduction and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following issues raised:

Noting the recruitment challenges outlined, the Committee asked why there were difficulties in retaining someone in the Deputy Manager post. They heard that there were residential home recruitment issues nationwide, as Ofsted had strict safer recruitment criteria around senior and deputy residential posts. When the department had sent reference requests for the most recent offer holder, the person had withdrew, and Tom Donovan advised it was good to be rigorous now at the onboarding stage to avoid these types of issues occurring later into the running of the home. The staff who had been onboarding were keen to start, and it was planned that a robust induction programme that was residential specific would be delivered across March 2026.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children, Young People and Community Development, Brent Council) highlighted that the Council had undergone its annual engagement meeting with Ofsted the previous week, and flagged the importance of expediting the inspection as quickly as possible. He was hopeful that this  would be done in April 2026 so that the home could open as soon as possible.

The Committee asked whether this type of initiative was being done in other local authority areas. Tom Donovan confirmed that there was a lot of activity in this space due to the lack of placements nationally, but the Regional Manager Inspector had made clear that they were significantly behind in undertaking inspections. Those who had received DfE funding were getting priority, which Brent was one of, so it was hoped the process could be expedited. The Registered Manager was visiting Greenwich Council’s residential home which had opened the previous year to learn from them and any issues they faced in opening their home, as well as any messages they had from their inspection.

As no further issues were raised, the Committee resolved to note the report.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Deputy Director – Democratic and Corporate Governance or their representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.