Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

Considering the national challenges surrounding the provision of care placements for children, the purpose of this report and supporting presentation is to provide an update on the progress of the implementation of the 2020 – 22 Our Children’s Sufficiency Strategy, which was presented to the Committee in September 2022. The aim of the 2022 – 27 Strategy is to continue to embed the developed practice, sustaining and progressing the partnership approach to deliver innovate models of accommodation.

The Committee considered the report and presentation of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided an update on the progress of the implementation of the 2020 – 22 Our Children’s Sufficiency Strategy.  It reported that the aim of the 2022 – 27 Strategy was to continue to embed the developed practice, sustaining and progressing the partnership approach to deliver innovative models of accommodation.

Key points and themes in the report and presentation included:

• Background information;
• Key outcomes; and
• Implementation timeline.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome how the Council was working innovatively to find solutions in a situation where the market had failed;
• Provision for asylum-seeking children;
• Seeking clarification on unregulated accommodation; and
• Young people from other local authorities being placed in the city.

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People suggested that the Committee consider an item on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at a future meeting, to which the Chair agreed.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services explained how the Council was working with partners in relation to placement sufficiency, including joint commissioning with the NHS.  In response to a question from the Chair, he reported that 88 children were in external provision and that, while the cost of these placements was high, the Council had reduced its spending by having fewer children in external residential provision and reducing the number of children becoming Looked After.  He explained that children’s homes were registered with and regulated through Ofsted but that supported housing for young people aged 16 and over was unregulated; however, the Council did scrutinise this unregulated accommodation through its commissioning arrangements and from April 2023 this type of provision would need to register with Ofsted and from next year would be subject to regulation and inspection by Ofsted.  He reported that the Council was engaging with the providers to ensure that they registered with Ofsted.

In response to a question from the Chair, the Strategic Commissioning Lead reported that ethical providers were those which were not for profit or community interest companies or providers who had agreed to a fixed profit margin.  She stated that local providers were also encouraged, as well as those which had worked with children previously and those which would commit to delivering social value as part of the contract.  She informed Members about the preferred providers framework, which enabled the Council to work with providers that it knew and trusted, providing stability and building positive relationships.  She confirmed that it was not uncommon for young people from other areas to be placed in the city and that there was a duty to notify the host authority when this happened.  She informed Members that Greater Manchester authorities were working collaboratively on sufficiency and addressing commissioning difficulties and that Manchester had been able to share its learning with other Greater Manchester councils.

Decisions

1.            That the Committee will continue to monitor this area of work.

2.            To receive a report on new arrivals and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children at a future meeting.