Agenda item

Purpose: To provide an overview and update on the functioning of the West Berkshire Corporate Parenting Panel.

The Commission considered a report (Agenda Item 7) concerning Corporate Parenting. It was noted that originally, OSMC had been asked to look at the Fostering and Adoption service, but that service was being reviewed by the Audit Team, so the decision had been taken to review the Corporate Parenting Panel and how Corporate Parenting could be made more effective instead.

Pete Campbell (Head of Children and Family Services) introduced the report. Key points from the presentation were as follows:

·         Corporate Parenting covered all children who were not able to live with their immediate birth family and were in the Council’s care up to 18 years old.

·         There were about 175 children in the Council’s care, with a similar number of ‘care leavers’.

·         A recent Ofsted inspection had included an assessment of Corporate Parenting – the Council had been praised for its ambition for children in its care.

·         Given the recent Ofsted inspection, there was no point in OSMC checking to see if the Council’s Corporate Parenting function had a ‘clean bill of health’. Instead the report focused on the general Corporate Parenting duty on Members and Officers.

·         Members had received Corporate Parenting training in 2019, with some refresher training since then, but Members did not receive regular updates on Corporate Parenting as a matter of course.

·         Members of the Corporate Parenting Panel were well-informed, but there was an opportunity to communicate achievements of and ambitions for children in care more widely.

·         A review had been undertaken of what other local authorities were doing. While some activities carried out by larger local authorities would not be practical in West Berkshire, some ideas could be implemented here.

·         The Council was keen for children to provide feedback on services via social media or face-to-face.

·         The report’s recommendations took account of planned changes to Ofsted reviews, which would include care leavers in future, and also the findings of the MacAlister Review of Children’s Social Care to which the Government was expected to respond before Christmas.

·         It was noted that many Members already took an interest in Corporate Parenting, but the report’s sought to improve communications and better celebrate achievements.

Councillor Dominic Boeck was invited to comment as Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Education. He articulated his ambition to do an even better job of Corporate Parenting and for Members to be more aware of their responsibilities and to be more involved outside of the Panel.

Members noted recommendations to produce an annual report on Corporate Parenting to Full Council, and to improve information on the Council’s website, and asked what was stopping this from happening. It was explained that the Council had previously organised an annual celebration event. This had lapsed during Covid, but would be re-introduced for October 2022. It was then planned to have an annual report 6 months later. This would be made as accessible as possible to a wider audience.

It was noted that the Scottish Government had moved to a system of Community Parenting. Members supported the idea  and asked how it could be implemented here. Officers felt that this could be encouraged and enabled locally, and partners such as the police, schools and Berkshire Youth were very supportive. Officers suggested that similar legislation may be introduced in England in due course.

Members commented on previous memorable experiences of talking to looked after children about their experiences of the Council and agreed that there was a need to engage Members more. It was noted that other Members did not get minutes of Corporate Parenting Panel and they felt excluded as a result.

It was noted that there would be a number of new Members at the next election due to existing Members retiring and they would require a good briefing. A comparison was made with the Chief Constable’s annual report, which was provided before the annual meeting of Council and was considered to be useful.

Members praised the briefings that had been provided previously by Children’s Services. Members also noted that Pete Campbell would be leaving the Council and took the opportunity to thank him for his efforts.

Members agreed with the report’s assertion that Corporate Parenting had a low profile within the Council and stressed that this needed to change. Officers highlighted that the Panel had been focused on scrutiny, which had been appropriate when Ofsted had concerns about the Council’s performance, but this had missed the opportunity for celebration and promotion.

It was noted that other local authorities had a Corporate Parenting Board that met in public and asked if there was any downside to doing this. Officers expressed concern that there was a risk of being able to identify individual children in a small local authority such as West Berkshire.

The report proposed a policy of having no housing evictions for care leavers. Members suggested that this may be a step too far. Officers explained that this had been introduced in Derby and the MacAlister review had picked it up as something for other councils to consider.

Members asked if there was care leaver representation on the Panel. Officers confirmed care leavers were represented and they became ‘care champions’. The Government Advisor was expected to provide appropriate recommendations for engaging with care leavers.

Councillor Boeck concluded the item by stressing that Corporate Parenting should be about more than an annual report and made the appeal for Members to be involved all year round.