Agenda item
Signs of Safety Scrutiny Task Group Report
A report from a task group which had been set up in order for scrutiny to evaluate the introduction of Signs of Safety by children’s services. The document summarises the results of the review undertaken by the task group in the period between October 2016 and January 2017.
Minutes:
At the invitation of the Chair, Councillor Hoda-Benn, introduced the report on the implementation of Signs of Safety, which was a practice framework for working with children and families and child protection. She explained that the report had been produced a result of recommendations for scrutiny made by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) in 2015 to give more consideration to child safety and the implementation of Signs of Safety. Cllr Hoda-Benn highlighted that the task group had made four recommendations and that these were detailed in page 22 to the Agenda. She summarised that Signs of Safety was a good model for social work in Brent and expressed her gratitude to all officers involved, including front-line staff who had given up their time to support the work of the Task Group.
The Chair invited Councillor Mili Patel (Cabinet Member for Children and Young People) and Gail Tolley (the Council’s Strategic Director of Children and Young People) to comment on the report. Councillor Patel thanked the Task Group and the former Cabinet Member for Children and Young people for their work and stated that she would be able to provide annual updates to the Committee about the progress in implementing Signs of Safety. Ms Tolley acknowledged that the work completed by the Task Group had been extremely helpful and said that the recommendations had already been incorporated. She informed the Committee that Dr Andrew Turnell and Professor Eileen Munro (Child Protection Consultants) had received the report and had sent very positive feedback.
In response to a Member’s question regarding resources that would be available if Brent’s application to receive funding during stage three of the Innovation Programme was successful, Ms Tolley explained that if the bid was successful, the Children and Young People Department would be enabled to access more funding for implementing Signs of Safety and build on the progress that had been achieved so far. In response to a Member’s question as to whether the Council could generate income from offering training to other bodies once the potential additional funding had been received. Ms Tolley responded that Signs of Safety was a branded product which meant that it was unlikely for Brent to be able to conduct training. Nevertheless, she pointed out that two of the Council’s practice leaders had been coached to deliver elements of the training but they firstly had to be validated for quality and it would not be possible for them to train outside of the organisation. In response to a Member’s question about the future of the model if funding was stopped, Ms Tolley assured the Committee the model would still be used, with existing progress being embedded to become business as usual. Moreover, Brian Grady (the Council’s Operational Director of Safeguarding, Performance and Strategy) said that collaboration would be encouraged, forming a strong partnership with the other nine local authorities to share learning. However, he estimated that there would be a negative effect on staff retention.
In response to a Member’s question related to turnover and retention of officers, Councillor Hoda-Benn acknowledged that the retention of social workers had been a problem, but was confident that the Signs of Safety model had been well received and could encourage social workers to remain in their jobs. Ms Tolley added that the overall percentage of permanent social work staff had increased from 33% to 66% in the period between 2014 and 2016, with 72% of front-line social work staff being employed on permanent contracts. She said that retention was linked to other underlying issues, such as the cost of housing, which were not affecting social workers exclusively.
In response to a Member’s question in respect of collaborative working and best practice, Ms Tolley stated that Brent employees had visited Suffolk County Council and had received a visit by representatives of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, both of which had allowed for helpful elements to be identified to be built up on.
The Chair thanked the Members of the Task Group and Brent Council staff involved in the preparation of the report.
Councillor Hoda-Benn left the meeting at 7:28 pm.
RESOLVED that:
(i) The contents of the Signs of Safety Scrutiny Task Group Report be noted;
(ii) An engagement programme with partners such as schools, GPs and other health professionals to help raise awareness of Signs of Safety be developed;
(iii)The effectiveness of training in Signs of Safety be monitored, using existing workplace surveys to benchmark effectiveness and highlight any issues which may prevent the proper development of training;
(iv)On an annual basis, the Committee be updated by the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People about progress in implementing Signs of Safety, including social worker retention and other factors which may affect development practice; and
(v) Measurements be developed for assessing how effective Signs of Safety had been in the long-term in improving outcomes for children and young people and information about developing measurements for assessing the effectiveness of the model be shared with other local authorities who use Sings of Safety.
Supporting documents:
- 5. Covering Report Signs of Safety Task Group Report AI, item 5. PDF 124 KB
- 5a. FINAL 1 February 2017 Scrutiny Task Group Report Signs of Safety, item 5. PDF 259 KB