Agenda and minutes

• Councillor Matin, substituted by Councillor Lorber
• Co-opted member Ms Rachelle Goldberg

Members are invited to declare at this stage of the meeting, the nature and existence of any relevant disclosable pecuniary or personal interests in the items on this agenda and to specify the item(s) to which they relate.

Personal interests were declared as follows:

• Councillor Sheth – full list of declarations available HERE
• Councillor Collymore – lay member of several NWL ICP Boards

To hear any deputations received from members of the public in accordance with Standing Order 67.

There were no deputations received.

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

RESOLVED:- The minutes of the meeting on 5 July 2023 were approved as an accurate record of the meeting.

There were no matters arising.

To provide an overview of the recent Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) and how practice is being improved based on learning from the inspection. The report outlines current workforce challenges and how the service is addressing these.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children and Young People, Brent Council) introduced the report, which he explained had two parts. The first part provided an overview of the recent Ofsted ILACS Inspection and its findings, which took place in February 2023, and the second part provided details on where the Children and Young People Department were with workforce challenges, particularly in social care.

In continuing the introduction, Nigel Chapman outlined the general ILACS inspection process. He informed the Committee that the Council would normally expect to be inspected on a three-yearly cycle, but the pandemic had stretched that and Brent’s previous inspection had taken place in 2018 where the Council had been judged ‘good’ overall, with some variability in sub-categories. The department had been very pleased to receive an overall ‘good’ rating when the new judgement was published in April 2023 following the inspection in February, with ‘good’ across the board in all sub-categories. This was the first time Brent had been judged ‘good’ across the Board in all areas. The process for inspection was not standalone but an ongoing cycle, and within a three-year period the Council would expect to receive another inspection, likely in 2026, and midway through that cycle a focused visit. This was a 2-day visit on a chosen topic approximately one year following inspection. This provided reassurance to the Council alongside the scrutiny function. Within the 2023 inspection outcome, there were some areas for improvement that Ofsted expected the Council to action. Palvinder Kudhail (Director of Integration and Improved Outcomes, Brent Council) explained that the Council was expected to produce an action plan to Ofsted within a specified time period based on the 4 recommendations given by Ofsted, which had been done. Alongside that, the Children and Young People (CYP) department had a wider, comprehensive practice improvement plan which picked up other areas that had been highlighted during the inspection but which had not been included in the Ofsted recommendations, in order for the department to be thorough. One of the main priorities of that was the revised workforce development plan to create stability in the workforce at every level, particularly those hard to recruit to frontline posts.

Councillor Gwen Grahl (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Schools) added that the inspection had came at a time of significant change within the CYP department, with Nigel Chapman, Palvinder Kudhail and herself relatively new to the roles. She explained that even though workforce and turnover was a national problem, Brent wanted to be a leader in attracting good quality social workers to Brent on a long-term basis, and she felt that Nigel Chapman and Palvinder Kudhail had showed good leadership on that across London.

In relation to the second part of the paper, Nigel Chapman highlighted that workforce was the biggest risk area to the department regarding social work activity, and workforce was one of the highest risk factors across the board within the Council, not just CYP. Workforce and turnover of social workers had been a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide an overview of services for Brent’s children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), including Brent’s readiness to implement the DfE SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan and Brent’s position in relation to a future inspection by Ofsted / CQC on the effectiveness of local SEND partnership arrangements.

Councillor Gwen Grahl (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Schools) introduced the report which updated the Committee on the SEND Strategy, which was an important obligation of the local authority. The report highlighted several positives including; the additional 427 placements that had been introduced across the borough in both mainstream schools and the brand-new school being built; that the 22/23 had not added to the existing deficit in the High Needs Block from which SEND support was funded and; the waiting times for accessing an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) had improved significantly. The Council had invested in the provision of post-16 skills and was building 2 centres for that in Welsh Harp and Airco Close. She highlighted that there was further work to do in this area given the huge increase in demand recently.

Nigel Chapman (Corporate Director Children and Young People, Brent Council) added that there were now over 3,000 children in Brent with an EHCP, compared to this time last year where there was just under 3,000. The continued growth was a national position, but it was putting strain on the system. He highlighted the positive that there were now more children being educated within mainstream schools, but there remained pressure for the Council to build special school places and the Council were making progress there.

In relation to readiness for a Joint Ofsted / CQC Inspection, the Children and Young People (CYP) department had been working closely with colleagues in health to ensure it was as ready as possible. The new inspection framework had been introduced in January 2023 and only a handful of inspections had taken place so far, with feedback from those areas showing that it was a much more granular inspection process than the previous version and looked more in depth at the experience of children and young people. Those that had completed an inspection had fed back that it was a tough process. There were 3 possible narrative judgements from the inspection; that the experience and outcomes of children and young people was generally consistently good; that the experience and outcomes for children and young people were inconsistent or; that the experience and outcomes for children and young people were generally poor. The local authority and health colleagues were being realistic about their position and believed that most children and young people generally did receive positive outcomes, however there were areas that needed focus and improvements such as waiting times for services. The importance of evidencing that action was being taken was highlighted.

Jonathan Turner (Borough Lead Director – Brent, ICP) had been working with CYP in preparation for the inspection in order to know where there were issues. He agreed that outcomes were generally good but that there were areas where plans to improve the experience of children and young people were needed, for example around waiting times for ASD and ADHD assessments. The Brent Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) would be bidding to NWL Integrated Care Board (ICB) to level  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Please note that this item has been withdrawn and will no longer be considered during the meeting.

This item was withdrawn from the agenda.

To present the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee recommendations tracker 2023-24.

The Committee noted the recommendations tracker.

Notice of items to be raised under this heading must be given in writing to the Head of Executive and Member Services or her representative before the meeting in accordance with Standing Order 60.

None.