Agenda item

Umer Khonat, Practice Improvement Officer, Business Intelligence, LCC

To receive and discuss the Performance Report for February 2021.

Umer Khonat, Business Intelligence Team, Lancashire County Council provided an overview of performance information for February 2021 that is produced in relation to Children's Social Care and more specifically Children in Care and Care Leavers that the Board received with the agenda papers.

The Board received the headline indicators which are a subset of the main indicator set, which gives further breakdown data.

A few highlights from the data was:

·  Number of referrals – since lockdown referrals have been decreasing and there have been fewer referrals from education, due to schools be closed.  As lockdown is eased referrals will be monitored closely and where increases are being found, there is pinpoint work (down to Ward level) to challenge where this happens.

·  Number of Re-referrals – children who have been re-referred during a 12 month period.  The trajectory again is decreasing, and Lancashire's rates are below National figures as well as statistical neighbours.

·  Number of children on Children in Need Plans (CiN) - again decreased, and there are 171 fewer children on plans since January 2021.

·  Number of Child Protection Plans - these have also decreased, and since February 2020 to February 2021, there has been a decrease of 282 plans (a third).

·  Number of Children Looked After – for five months, the rates have been decreasing and there are 36 fewer children in care in comparison to January 2021.

·  Percentage of Children Looked After with an up to date Statutory Visit – 95% of children in care have been seen within timescales.

·  Percentage of Children Looked After with an up to date health assessment – this is the highest it has been in over 2 years at 92.9%.

·  Percentage of Care Leavers in Suitable Accommodation (18-20 year) has seen an increase of seven care leavers in more suitable accommodation.

·  Percentage of Care Leavers in Education, Employment or Training (18-20 years) has unfortunately reduced by ten care leavers.  A further look into the data set of those Not in Education, Employment or Training was broken down as follows:

Ø  64 care leavers– due to illness or disability

Ø  48 care leavers – due to parenting or pregnancy

Ø  230 care leavers – due to "other" category when recording

·  Percentage of Care Leavers with who the Local Authority has been in contact with in the last 2 months (18-20 years) has been maintained for the second month at 591.

Following on from the ongoing issues in terms of dental assessments, Brendan Lee and Caroline Waldron have established a pilot scheme in Rossendale with a Dentist who runs his own practice.  The pilot will commence on the 22 March 2021.  The Board noted that the pilot will be around enhancing and prioritising dental checks for children looked after.  The Dentist is committing to two days per week for young people in care settings and will work closely with Amanda Barbour, Senior Manager for Rossendale to prioritise the young people in care settings who have been missed.  This pilot will then be rolled out across Lancashire.

A testament was given in terms of Health Assessments and multi-agency working with partners that has seen the percentage of assessments carried out in February 2021 at 92.9% when a few years ago, this figure was at 12%.

Resolved:  That the Board noted the performance information presented.