Agenda item

The Committee to receive a report providing quantitative and qualitative evidence relating to Westminster City Council services for Looked After Children in 2018/19.

6.1      Angela Flahive (Head of Safeguarding, Review and Quality Assurance) introduced the report which provided quantitative and qualitative evidence relating to Westminster City Council services for Looked After Children in 2019/19, as required by statutory guidance. The Committee also invited Sarah Newman (Interim Executive Director of Children’s Services) and Nicky Crouch (Interim Director of Family Services) to join the discussion on this item.

6.2      The Committee noted that as of 31 March 2019, 209 children and young people were Looked After by Westminster City Council. Whilst the total number remained static the composition of the care population within Westminster was changing. The number of children coming into care from the generic population of children under 13 years of age was reducing and the numbers of Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children arriving in Westminster was increasing. This was creating numerous complex safeguarding issues. It was highlighted that 490 Looked After Children Reviews had been undertaken in 2018/19 with 96% of children over 4 years of age contributing to their statutory review. The Committee welcomed that the voice of the child/young person was key to all discussions and care planning arrangements. It was advised that the introduction of minutes for review meetings in the form of a letter to children was being valued by both children and professionals. It helped to ensure that the child/young person was kept at the centre of the reviewing process, that the minutes were personal, that the language was clear and that the plan was purposeful. It was confirmed that an anonymised example of the minutes could be circulated to the Committee.

6.3      In response to questions from the Committee it was explained that in 2018/19 the majority of children aged 14 plus coming into care were placed in supported lodgings. This reflected the high number of unaccompanied minors coming into Westminster who were primarily aged 16 to 17 years old. Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) accounted for 73% of adolescent care entrants. Care planning and reviewing for children originating from other countries brought additional levels of complexity in relation to issues such as establishing jurisdiction, use of interpreters and cultural needs, all of which required additional time to ensure effective care planning. The increase in the number of UASC since 2016/17 had greatly impacted upon the Council’s overall current LAC and Care Leaver populations. It had led to an increase in caseloads which had resulted in several challenges for the Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO) in undertaking the wide range of quality assurance activity. Planning to address these challenges was currently taking place and this included introducing enhanced working with UASC and additional IRO capacity into 2020. The Committee welcomed an invitation to attend a site visit to the supported housing provision for older children.

6.4      The Committee was provided with an update on the fostering service. It was explained that there was a wide selection of carers who were profiled, along with the children, to ensure there were suitable matches. It was recognised that challenges remained in instances when children required emergency placements. All efforts were made however to match children ethnically and religiously taking into account the child’s wishes and feelings.

6.5      Further information was provided on the detailed safeguarding work undertaken with those children and young people who were identified to be most vulnerable. Assistance was provided to carers around planning and keeping children safe as well as to the young person themselves. Each child would have a personalised safety plan, so if the child was deemed to be vulnerable to exploitation they would know where they could go to seek assistance and support.

6.6      The Committee expressed its thanks to the officers for an excellent report and all their hard work in a very challenging and complex area. The Committee expressed its willingness to engage further with the Looked After Children Service and suggested it be informed of any potential areas where it could observe some of the valuable work being undertaken.