Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care presented the Children’s Social Care Annual Report for 2013/14 which included details of the key achievements during the year, the implications for the service of the increasing local demand pressures and the outcome of the Ofsted inspection of services for children in need, looked after children and care leavers.

It was noted that there had been significant increases in the number of social care contacts and the number of contacts progressing to a statutory referral.  In turn, the number of children receiving a statutory social care service had also increased significantly, from 1,482 in 2009/10 to 2,183 in 2013/14 which represented a 48% increase over the period.  The Cabinet Member advised that the predominant child protection issues related to emotional abuse and the impact on children where domestic violence was a factor within the family home.  The data showed that the increase in cases and the nature of the referrals reflected changing demographics in the Borough and, in response to a question, the Cabinet Member clarified that there was a significant over-representation of cases relating to eastern European families where alcohol abuse was a factor.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care also commented on data on the number of families moving into the Borough requiring extensive support services and suggested that Barking and Dagenham was receiving a disproportionate number of placements from other London local authorities, which was borne out by the statistics included in the Corporate Director of Children’s Services paper as part of the Budget Monitoring report considered earlier in the meeting.

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the service improvements contained within the review report and action taken in response to local demand pressures; and

(ii)  Note the content and outcomes of the Ofsted inspection of services for children in need, looked after children, care leavers and the Local Authority Children’s Services' Improvement Plan.