The Executive Director of Children’s Services will provide a verbal update on Covid Recovery in Children’s Services.
Minutes:
S Butcher, Executive
Director of Children’s Services, was in attendance to provide the Panel with a
verbal update on Covid recovery in Children’s Services. It was explained that as part of the Children’s
Services Improvement Plan, it was considered that the work being undertaken by
Children’s Services during the Covid pandemic should be shared with Members of
both Children’s Scrutiny Panels and the Corporate Parenting Board. The Chair of the Panel agreed that this item
would be placed on the agenda for each Panel meeting.
It was explained that
Bronze, Silver and Gold meetings were held within the Council to look at issues
across the service at operational and strategic levels during the Covid pandemic.
Members
were aware that all schools were open to vulnerable children and children of
key workers. A vulnerable child was
defined as being a child with an allocated Social Worker and the attendance of
vulnerable children in school was monitored. A dedicated telephone line had been
established for schools to inform the Council when a vulnerable child was not
in school. This notification would
trigger a risk assessment to determine whether action was required.
When
vulnerable children were found not to be in school, systems were in place to
track where they were, ensure their safety and to facilitate remote learning.
It was recognised that head teachers were under immense pressure as they were
essentially managing two schools - a remote school and an actual school. The Council held regular meetings with
schools to support head teachers and staff.
It had been identified that schools within Middlesbrough required
approximately 700 additional laptops/devices to ensure all children had access
to remote learning.
The Council
was liaising with the DfE and had already distributed thousands of laptops
across Middlesbrough, focussing on those pupils that were most vulnerable and
disadvantaged. In addition, schools, private businesses and voluntary organisations
had also been accessing their budgets and working to provide devices to pupils.
The Council aimed to track the distribution of laptops and ensure that schools
received the number of laptops they had requested and it was noted that demand
varied from school to school.
In relation
to staffing within Children’s Services, Members were advised that staff were
all working from home in line with current Government advice. It was acknowledged that this could be
isolating, particularly for newly qualified Social Workers who would usually
learn from working alongside more experienced Social Workers, however, support
was available to staff and the Executive Director held a weekly virtual
briefing to share information with staff.
In terms of
Social Worker visits to children and families, including foster carers, recent
guidance stated that visits should be face to face wherever possible and only
virtual in exceptional circumstances.
Precautions were taken by staff by phoning ahead of the visit to check
that no-one in the household had Covid symptoms and appropriate PPE was
worn. The primary aim was to ensure that
children were safe and Children’s Services was working with Public Health and
CAMHS.
In response
to a query it was confirmed that there were various reasons why a vulnerable
child might not be in school, for example, the child or the foster carer may be
clinically vulnerable and the child’s learning needs may be best met by
remaining at home and this would be looked at on a case by case basis.
AGREED that the
information provided be noted.