Appendix A
DRAFT
Hertfordshire Children’s Trust Partnership
Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP)
2010/11
100113 Education and Skills Cabinet Panel
Item 4 Appendix A – Draft CYPP 2010/11
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Appendix A
Theme / SafeguardingPriority 1 / Children and young people are safe from abuse and neglect
Priority Lead / Ann Domeney, Deputy Director (Children and Families)
Every Child Matters
Outcome / Staying Safe
(a)Population
What specific groups of children will this priority focus on?
Children and young people who are at risk of significant harm
Children and young people who are vulnerable and have additional needs
(b)Conditions We Want To See
What positive conditions of wellbeing do we want to see?
Children and young people:
- Are protected from abuse and neglect wherever they live
- Can access preventative services earlier and more easily
- Are involved in and consulted about the services they receive
- Have good access to information and services to help them support their children
- Can access preventative services to prevent problems from escalating
- Demonstrate a minimum base of core safeguarding competencies
- Communicate and share information with one another effectively
- Are helped to improve the quality of their safeguarding practice by the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board
- Work collaboratively to provide effective integrated support to children and young people who have additional needs
(c)The Story Behind The Baseline
How have we been performing against this priority in the last year?
Additional text to be inserted – APA 2008/ unannounced inspections
The position statement for safeguarding will update the story behind the baseline and this will be published in late January 2011.
(d)How will we know if we have improved?
Which key performance indicators will tell us if we are improving?
(1)Rate per 1,000 children and young people who have social care referrals compared with those who have Common Assessment Frameworks (CAFs)
(2)The number of children subject to a child protection plan for more than two years.
National Indicator 64
(3)The percentage of initial assessments for children’s social care carried out within seven working days of referral.
National Indicator 59 (LAA2 target)
(4)The percentage of core assessments for children’s social care that were carried out within 35 working days of their commencement.
National Indicator 60 (LAA2 target)
(5)The number of repeat incidents of Domestic Violence
National Indicator 32 (LAA2 target)
(6)Number of allegations of violent or sexual assault committed on a child by an adult that leads to an offence brought to justice
(7)Number of cases referred into social care (baseline to be established April 2010 - Local indicator)
100113 Education and Skills Cabinet Panel
Item 4 Appendix A – Draft CYPP 2010/11
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(e) Action Plan for Priority
The following key actions will make the greatest contribution to improving performance against this priority in 2010/11. Please note these do not represent all actions taking place to improve this priority, but the actions that will have most impact.
No / Actions / Milestones / Timescales for Delivery / Lead Agency / Lead Officer / Agency / How will we monitor progress1.1 / Improve the quality of Hertfordshire Children’s Trust Partnership (HCTP) safeguarding practice in collaboration with Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB): / HSCB / Andrew Wellington
(a)Safeguarding Training sub-group to identify and ensure that key staff in all agencies are trained to respond to safeguarding risks arising from religion, culture, race, gender, disability issues (Deborah Brice)
(b)Clarify guidance produced for all agencies regarding sharing information at level 2 (Chris Miller)
1.2 / Improve the quality of HCTP safeguarding processes and systems to improve the outcomes of children at risk / CSF / Ann Domeney
(a)Embed the consistent application of clear thresholds across the partnership for CAF, assessments, and referrals to children’s social work (David Ring) / March 2011 / CSF / Multi agency audit of cases referred into social care
(b)Embed the consistent application of thresholds across the county for children who are subject to child protection plans (Sue Williams) / March 2011 / CSF / Audit of quality of CP plans
(c)The HSCB to consider adopting the Graded Care profile Scale as a model/tool to address deficits in the assessment of neglect by all agencies(Deborah Brice) / HSCB
(d)Improve the identification of children at risk that present in A & E and improve the joint working with acute trust, the police and social work teams – SMARTER action to follow Scrutiny committee early in 2010 (Deborah Brice)
(e)Better co-ordinate pre-birth planning between midwifery, adult services, HFTP, CMHT and Children’s services (Midwifery Lead) / Tbc
Tbc / Health
Health
1.3 / Identify 6 children’s centres to be part of a pilot over the next 12 months to measure and evidence the impact that children’s centres have had on safeguarding / March 2011 / CSF / Helen Ashdown
1.4 / Strengthen support to schools, health, voluntary organisations and others to develop Early Intervention:
(a)Establish local multi-disciplinary early intervention teams, which will:
- enhance the provision and impact of targeted services by ensuring children and young people receive the right response at the lowest level of need, by the right agency at the right time
- enable swift and easy access to more specialist services where the thresholds are met
Outcomes of CAFS
(b)Where thresholds are not met ensure the CAF processes are used effectively to identify and meet the additional needs of children and young people at the earliest possible time (David Ring)
(c)Ensure effective management of cases at the interface of the early intervention teams and the specialist safeguarding teams by increasing the work done at level 2 (Ann Domeney)
(d)Partners to agree resources that will be made available for multi-agency teams (John Harris) / March 2011
1.5 / Improve the quality of the information shared on Domestic Violence with the Police, health and social care in order to better prioritise and establish appropriate levels of interventions / March 2011 / Police / Chris Miller / NI32- TBC
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Item 4 Appendix A – Draft CYPP 2010/11
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Appendix A
Theme / SafeguardingPriority 2 / Children and young people achieve their full potential whilst in and moving on from care
Priority Lead / Jonathan Fisher, Head of Placement and Provider Services, CSF
Every Child Matters
Outcome / Staying Safe
(a) Population
What specific groups of children will this priority focus on?
All children and young people in Hertfordshire who are currently in local authority care or who are leaving care.[1]
(b) Conditions We Want To See
What positive conditions of wellbeing do we want to see?
The right children and young people are in care.
Children and young people looked after:
- Receive timely and quality care planning
- Have a choice of placements to meet their needs
- Attend school and have flexible and supportive arrangements to do so
- Have regular health and dental assessments to stay healthy.
- Can access appropriate accommodation and do not become homeless
- Can access appropriate skills and qualifications to live independently and remain ineducation, employment and training.
(c) The Story Behind The Baseline
How have we been performing against this priority in the last year?
The number of children looked after has increased by approximately 150 in the last 12 months. This is due to a number of factors such as Baby Peter and the “Southwark Judgment” leading to homeless 16+ young people becoming accommodated and more young people remaining in care post 16. This has put pressure on fostering and residential placements and all support services for children looked after.
We have responded by commissioning service providers and investing in in-house foster care. The new Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has ensured children in residential care are in well designed and resourced buildings. The new Adolescent Resource Centre will ensure effective multi-agency responses to those children with complex needs.
Further improvements in services for children looked after have been made and this continues to be reflected by better performance in ensuring timely Personal Education Plans, Health Assessments, Reviews and the participation of children in their care planning. While they now have allocated social workers, more work is necessary to ensure that children looked after have a good relationship with those social workers.
There remains the opportunity to improve the quality of care planning further and ensure that there are sufficient good quality foster carers to help children and care leavers achieve their potential. We want to expand the support for children to live with family and friends. We wish to promote special guardianship and adoption as alternatives to being looked after and there needs to be a broad range of semi-independent provision.
We want to improve the health of children looked after and ensure that services are accessible to promote their emotional wellbeing and provideadvice, particularly in the area of sexual health. Children’s views matter and we need to ensurethat the views of all children are sought and reflected in the service they receive.
(d) How will we know if we have improved?
Which key performance indicators will tell us if we are improving?
(1)Children looked after cases which were reviewed within required timescale. National Indicator 66 (LAA2 target)
(2)Children and young people feel safe and settled in matchedplacements which meet their needs:
- Number of placements within period of time (NI62)
- Care leavers in suitable accommodation (NI147)
- Timescales to achieve adoption and permanency (NI61)
(4)The percentage of children and young people looked after who hadannual health and dental check
(5)The percentage of children and young people looked after aged 16to 19 in Hertfordshire who are not in education, employmentor training.
(This indicator is now reported as part of Priority 7.)
100113 Education and Skills Cabinet Panel
Item 4 Appendix A – Draft CYPP 2010/11
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Appendix A
(e) Action Plan for Priority
The following key actions will make the greatest contribution to improving performance against this priority in 2010/11. Please note these do not represent all actions taking place to improve this priority, but the actions that will have most impact.
No / Actions / Milestones / Timescales for Delivery / Lead Agency / Lead Officer / Agency / How will we monitor progress2.1 / To keep children looked after healthy: / September 2010 / PCT/CSF / Deirdre Ginnity / Social Care Portfolio Management
Group (SCPMG)/
Social Care Key Dataset (SCKD)
(a)Increase the percentage of health and dental assessments completed(Deborah Brice) / PCT
(b)Improve access to a range ofdiverse mental health services and agree a new model of Children and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) CLA service delivery(Lynne Tyblewski) / PCT
(c)Continue to reduce the number of conceptions by children looked after by improving sexual and relationship education and access to sexual health services and advice(Liz Bell)
2.2 / Provide excellent services forchildren looked after by improving the timeliness and quality of care planning and casework: / September 2010 / CSF / Dawne Brent / SCPMG/ SCKD
(a)Children looked after are able to participate in their reviews in a form most suitable to them
(b)Reviews report that children are well matched and supported in their placement
(c)Children participating in the process receive feedback in a way which is meaningful(Martin Bailey)
(d)Children looked after experience a good relationship with social workers(Jill Forrest) / CSF
2.3 / So that the right children are in care at the right time: / SCPMG/ SCKD
(a)Specialist Children’s Services and Specialist Adolescent Teamsare targeted to help children at risk of significant harm to stay within families and communities wherever appropriate (Helen Mann)
(b)The ‘Think Family’ initiative is engaged in supporting children returning to their families(Helen Mann)
(c)The use of special guardianship and adoption are promoted as alternatives to being looked after (Jill Forrest/Brenda Simmonds)
(d)The Adolescent Resource Centre is targeted at preventing entry into care and placement disruption(Lynn Knowles)
2.4 / Improve the opportunities and services available to children in care and care leavers in Hertfordshire: / April 2011 / CSF / Aidan Moffat / SCPMG/ SCKD
(a)Increase the range and quality of provision of accommodation for care leavers (including specialist teenage placements) (Lin Phillips) / leaving care accommodation strategy / (monitored by percentage of care leavers in appropriate accommodation)
(b)Improvetheproportion of CLA who are in in-house foster care and the range of foster care placements, including teenage placements(Karen Devereux) / Five year invest to save programme / CSF
(c)Increase the use of support of friends and family care (Karen Devereux) / (monitored by percentage of children looked after placed with Friends and Family foster carers)
(d)Involve young people in the choice of placements (Dawne Brent)
(e)Provide care leavers with a timely pathway plan which is reviewed every six months and meets quality standards(Lin Phillips)
2.5 / Agencies work effectively together so that children looked after achieve their full education potential through the development of the virtual school (see 7.1) and: / April 2011 / CSF / Felicity Evans / SCPMG/ SCKD
(a)Improved attendance of children in education (by reducing children looked after absent from school) / Schools and CSF
(b)High quality Personal Education Plans (PEPs) that are undertaken in a timely manner / Schools
(c)Effective pathway planning throughreviewing pathway plans within timescales(Lin Phillips)
(d)Increasing the proportion of children looked after who are engaged in study support and out of school hours learning and other positive activities (e.g. sports, arts) and volunteering(Felicity Evans)
(e)Promoting the use of the extended opportunities subsidy by children looked after (Helen Ashdown)
100113 Education and Skills Cabinet Panel
Item 4 Appendix A – Draft CYPP 2010/11
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Appendix A
Theme / SafeguardingPriority 3 / Children and young people are confident to respond to bullying
Priority Lead / Gill Jones, Head of Standards and School Effectiveness
Every Child Matters
Outcome / Staying Safe
(a)Population
What specific groups of children will this priority focus on?
All children and young people in Hertfordshire, particularly those from vulnerable groups, who are affected by bullying.[2] This includes bullying related to:
- Appearance or health conditions, gender or sexual orientation
- Ethnicity, religion or culture, disability or special educational needs
(b)Conditions We Want To See
What positive conditions of wellbeing do we want to see?
Children and young people:
- Have confidence that bullying is being dealt with effectively in schools and in communities
- Feel empowered to respond confidently to bullying
- See a reduction in the number of bullying incidents over time.[3]
(c)The Story Behind The Baseline
How have we been performing against this priority in the last year?
In Hertfordshire approximately 29% of children and young people reported being bullied in school once or more in 2007/08 (compared to 25% nationally).[4] Children’s fear of bullying is higher than actual bullying, and is higher amongst girls.[5] There continues to be a gap between the level of bullying children and young people say they have experienced and the levels of incidents recorded.
Verbal forms of bullying reduced by 9% during 2008/09 although they still account for nearly half of all incidents. Reported incidents of cyber bullying recorded in schools have risen although they remain comparatively low when compared to the findings of national young people surveys.
The most common form of bullying is around appearance/size (although this has reduced by 14% in 2008/09). Theproportion of sexualised bullying cases has doubled in 2008/09.
In 2007/08, 36% of Hertfordshire pupils reported that their schools deal quite or very well with bullying (national 35%).5 Further details are available at: Engaging children and young people in developing anti-bullying policy and practice is well-embedded in this priority area; during 2008/09, this has included peer support, establishing the ‘HABI Your Say’ initiative and the direct involvement of young people in the workshop to develop this 2010/11 action plan.
The Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (HSCB) has an important role in monitoring policies, practice and procedures for all HCTP agencies. The HSCB Business Plan 2009/11 also includes a particular emphasis on e-safety as one of its key thematic areas.
(d)How will we know if we have improved?
Which key performance indicators will tell us if we are improving?
(1)The percentage of children who report that their school deals well with bullying (Ofsted TellUs; Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire)
(2)The number of bullying and racist incidents reported by schools (district and county data).
(3)The percentage of schools and other settings with anti-bullying accreditation (measured by those who have achieved accreditation and those working towards).
(4)Children who have reported experiencing bullying.
National Indicator 69 (LAA2 Target)
100113 Education and Skills Cabinet Panel
Item 4 Appendix A – Draft CYPP 2010/11
1
Appendix A
(e) Action Plan for Priority
The following key actions will make the greatest contribution to improving performance against this priority in 2010/11. Please note these do not represent all actions taking place to improve this priority, but the actions that will have most impact.