Agenda item

    The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Communities which gave details of the current numbers of Children in Care of Other Local Authorities (CICOLA) and the possible impact on services within Halton.

 

The Board was advised that Local Authorities have a statutory duty in determining the most appropriate placement for a looked after child. However for a variety of reasons, a person could be placed outside of the Local Authority that they lived in.

 

The Board was further advised that Halton had the second highest concentration of one bed homes in the region (St. Helens had the highest with 15). The costs per week ranged from £2600 - £4995.  However the average placement cost for local provision equated to £4211 per week – this was substantially higher than the regional average cost which currently was approximately £2750 - £2835 per week.

 

It was reported that in total there were 116 children’s homes with the current OFSTED inspection with the following findings:

 

·        83 - Good or outstanding;

·        22 – Satisfactory;

·        2 – Inadequate; and

·        7 homes not yet having received their first OFSTED inspection due to being newly opened provision.

 

In addition, it was highlighted that within Halton there were 63 placements for Independent Fostering Agencies and 37 placements within a residential setting.

 

Furthermore, it was reported that there were some issues with the quality of the current data and how Halton ‘tracked’ the young people in Care from other Local Authorities.  The current figures showed approximately 266 young people in Halton from other Local Authorities. These young people were aged from 1 to 17 years old and included foster carers approved from other Local Authorities. However, it was highlighted that the data was constantly changing.

 

Using the current information and looking at police data at the amount and type of police contact there had only been 36 separate pieces of intelligence for 16 individuals over the past 12 months mostly around anti-social behaviour and 12 arrests for 7 individuals.

 

The Board noted the future work being undertaken to address the issues and the Procedures for Notification of Children In Care Placed In Other Local Authorities attached at Appendix 1 to the report

 

The following comments arose from the discussion:-

 

·        It was noted that placements from other authorities which resulted in anti social behaviour or arrests reflected on Halton as Corporate Parents;

 

·        The challenges in respect of private companies placing people in establishments with private carers, which the Authority were unaware of was noted;

 

·        The challenges facing the authority in respect of placements from other authorities and the financial and resource implications on the Council was noted;

 

·        It was noted that from April there was a requirement that Local Authorities should not place children further than a 20 mile radius from their home address.  However, it was also noted that this may reduce the number of children placed in Halton,  but it could also result in the children that were placed in the Borough could be more problematic as local placements had not been successful;

 

·        It was noted that if any issues / concerns are raised about a particular home, the Local Authority and the Police would undertake an emergency inspection; and

 

·        the actions taken when Ofsted place an establishment below the standard was noted.  It was also noted that Halton would not place a child in any establishment that was below a certain standard on the list.

 

The Chairman highlighted the excellent work being undertaken by Halton and reported that the Community Safety Team were the link with all the partners.  He indicated that it was vitally important that they were retained.  In addition, he encouraged Members of the Board to support the Community Safety Team via mainstream funding in the future when considering the future budget.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)          The content of the report and comments raised be noted;

 

(2)          further is work is undertaken to get an accurate picture on how many CICOLA’s reside in Halton, ensuring that the procedures around notifications of CICOLA’s is clearly in place;

 

(3)          Work be undertaken with other key agencies, such as the Police, Education and Health to understand the demand and impact of CICOLA’s on Halton services and to investigate the avenues for charging other Local Authorities for certain key services; and

 

(4)          The report be referred to the Children & Young People’s PPB for further consideration