Agenda item

The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Mieka Smiles, was in attendance to update the Board on her aims and aspirations, progress made to date and to highlight any emerging issues relating to her portfolio. The Director of Legal and Governance, the Executive Director of Children’s Services and the Director of Education and Partnerships were also in attendance.

The Deputy Mayor / Executive Member opened by thanking the Board for the invite and advised that she would highlight some of the key areas she had been working on, as well as some of the emerging issues relating to her portfolio. During the presentation the following key points were made:-

·         The Deputy Mayor / Executive Member stated that there was no greater responsibility than the future generation of Middlesbrough.

·         In 2019 Middlesbrough Council’s Children Services had received an inadequate rating from OFSTED in every single area. Not only had this been worse for Middlesbrough children financially it had been ineffective.

·         The Deputy Mayor advised that she now felt reassured in every respect that Children’s Services was delivering what the people of Middlesbrough deserved. The recently developed departmental score card was on track and the Board could be reassured that the headline figures - the number of children in care and the number of children in external residential places - had decreased. In June 2020 Middlesbrough had 670 children in care but that had figure had now reduced to 507.

·         Reference was made to the cost of external residential placement and it was highlighted that it was extremely alarming for local authorities across the country that the average cost of a placement had risen significantly in recent years from an average of £3,500 per week to £5,500.

·         In addition the recruitment of Social Workers remained a real challenge and the amount of agency staff employed in Middlesbrough was a further area of concern. It was emphasised that although staff received a generous pay package and had flexible working arrangements in place recruitment and retention remained a key issue in the town.

·         The Board was advised that the high number of school exclusions was another major issue in Middlesbrough both in terms of fixed term exclusions and permanent exclusions. However, work was currently being undertaken in partnership with schools in an effort to address this issue.  

·         In terms of her main ambition the Deputy Mayor/Executive Member stated it was crucial that Middlesbrough received a better OFSTED judgement and that the next full inspection was expected to take place early next year.

·         Another main ambition was to ensure that every child in Middlesbrough had access to a musical education. Work had therefore been undertaken with the Music in Secondary Schools Trust and Kings Academy to enable an entire year group to learn a musical instrument. As a result 240 children at Kings Academy were learning to play the violin and the scheme would be rolled out at Outward Riverside Academy in September 2022.   

·         Finally, it was advised that Eton Star Academies had teamed up with Middlesbrough Council and a bid had been submitted for an area of land, which Eton would have an option on. It was emphasised that places at the school would be heavily weighted towards children from deprived backgrounds including children in receipt of free school meals.

Following the update, Members were afforded the opportunity to ask questions.

A Member of the Board queried whether it was the case that Social Workers were leaving local authorities to undertake agency work, as it was more profitable. In response it was confirmed that recruitment remained a challenge and although Middlesbrough salaries were competitive and retention payments were comparable very few Social Workers were looking for permanent jobs. In response to a recent advert for Social Workers in the assessment team no applications had been received and the agency pool of staff was very limited. Managed agency teams were being brought into numerous local authorities and the department’s reliance on agency staff had been picked up in the recent OFSTED monitoring visit.  

In terms of Social Worker caseloads it was acknowledged that the average caseload was 18 cases per Social Worker. However, there had been an outflow of Social Workers on the assessment team and although the ideal number of cases per Social Worker was around 17 caseloads were increasing as a result of the workforce challenges. It was a difficult time and there were significant pressures on the service. Middlesbrough Council currently employed 173 Social Worker FTE’s. Demand in the assessment service was high and Middlesbrough received more safeguarding referrals than North Yorkshire, which was four times the size. Currently Middlesbrough had the highest level of demand in the country.   

A Member of the Board queried whether the admissions policy for the new Eton College had yet been determined. It was advised that there would be some of selective admissions process, however, the aim was to improve social mobility for children living in the most deprived areas and therefore if that was not part of their cohort Eton College would have failed in its mission.

Reference was made to the astronomical cost of external residential care placements for children and it was queried whether this was an issue that was being looked at nationally. It was confirmed that the government was currently looking at this issue and there was widespread acknowledgement that the children’s residential care market was broken.

In response to feedback provided by a Member of the Board in relation to the Council’s current child safeguarding referral forms the Deputy Mayor/Executive Member advised that this would be taken onboard. It was also advised that if any Members had serious concerns about the safeguarding of a child then they could contact the Deputy Mayor/Executive Member of the Executive Director for Children’s Services at any time.  

In terms of local authority children’s homes it was advised that Middlesbrough currently had five home, as well as the hub, which looked after our most complex children. Again recruiting staff to work in children’s residential homes was becoming problematic and a significant amount of work was being undertaken in this area. The Deputy Mayor / Executive Member advised that it was a key aim to have as many Middlesbrough children returned to the area as possible. From a high of 74 children being looked after in external residential placement in June 2022 this figure had now been reduced to 37. Work continued in an effort to reduce this number further.   

In response to a query regarding school exclusions it was confirmed that the rates had now decreased, as was expected towards the end of term.

The Chair thanked the Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for Children’s Services and the relevant Directors for their attendance and contributions to the meeting.

AGREED that the information provided be noted.