Improvement plan updates

Improvement Board Update - 22 October 2019

Ofsted First Monitoring Visit  15 - 17 October

In Ofsted’s first visit to check on progress with the Improvement Plan they found that no child was deemed to be at risk:

• Generally positive about the progress made but highlighted that it was too early to see the impact these changes were having and they hoped to see this in future visits
• What they saw on site matched what was presented to them at the start of the visit so they feel the council is beginning to know itself better
• Need to embed processes and engage more with families and children
• Praised the new ‘Levels of Need’ document and acknowledged that this was being effectively used
• Effective work was taking place in intensive family support, but there are still some delays
• Now good at describing issues families were having but there wasn’t as much focus on what impact this was having on the child

The final letter will not be published but will be provided at the next Board meeting with the next monitoring visit is expected to take place in late February or early March.

Director of Children’s Services Progress Report:

• The new Director of Children’s Services will be Jill McGregor, who is currently working in Rochdale, with her start date to be confirmed
• Most of the activities in the work streams are on track and are making significant progress, however the Board asked for more in depth updates on work ’in progress’ to clearly outline what has happened so far and by when further progress should be made
• The format for the audit processes for care leaver plans have been agreed and there will be more testing before the end of the year
• A better Early Help model is being developed, working with partners and looking at different Local Authorities to see what good practice can be shared

 The next Improvement Board will take place on Tuesday 3 December 2019.