The Committee considered a report and two presentations of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided an update on the Our Children Sufficiency Strategy 2022 – 27 and outlined Children’s Services’ response to the Supported Accommodation Regulations (March 2023) and the requirement to register all supported accommodation with Ofsted.

Key points and themes in the Sufficiency presentation included:

• Commissioning provision;
• Implementation timeline, including the launch of Mockingbird; and
• Internal service provision.

Key points and themes in the Supported Accommodation report and presentation included:

• Background information;
• Categories of registration;
• Demographics;
• Framework for inspection;
• Our provision; and
• Challenge/risk and service response.

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

• To welcome the positive work the Council was doing with its partners;
• To welcome work to ensure that Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children were in touch with local support networks;
• To welcome that young people had been involved in the decision-making in relation to this work;
• Identifying and supporting young people with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) or a neuro-behavioural problem;
• Young people waiting for a place in supported accommodation; and
• Support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people with no immigration status when they reached 18.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services reported that FASD and other conditions could be identified through the Annual Health Assessment and he informed Members about work to increase the number of review health assessments and plans to develop a Health Profile, which could include the number of children with FASD.  He also informed Members about the transition process, which included an assessment of young people’s needs, and highlighted the use of dual registration accommodation, which was registered with both Ofsted and the CQC, and the focus on providing a stable home.  In response to a Member’s question, he advised that the aim was for children to grow up within their local community and that the Council had a performance measure for placing children within 20 miles of their home address, which the vast majority were.

In response to a Member’s question about the outstanding activities on the project plan, the Assistant Director (Children in Care and Care Leavers) reported that a lot of work had been completed since the report had been published, while highlighting some of the activity which remained outstanding and the reasons for this, including some work which could not be completed until the Inspection Framework was published.  She reported that young people who were waiting for a place in supported accommodation would remain in their current placement until a place became available for them.  In response to a Member’s question, she outlined how the Council worked with other local authorities through the Greater Manchester Care Leaver Board with the aim of ensuring that young people across Greater Manchester had the same experience, regardless of their home local authority, and that reciprocal arrangements were used to best support young people.  In relation to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, she reported that the number of young people over the age of 18 without an immigration status had significantly reduced but there were concerns about the impact of the Illegal Migration Bill on this group and work was taking place to prepare for this.

The Chair welcomed the progress made since 2014 when Manchester’s Children’s Services was judged to be inadequate.  She expressed concern that the Council and providers were having to prepare for the new regulations on supported accommodation when the full details had not yet published, advising that this was unfair and should be raised with Ofsted.  She also expressed concern that the new regulations would place additional pressure on staff and could deter some people from providing supported accommodation, particularly people providing supported accommodation in their own home. 

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People recognised the Chair’s points about the risks and difficulties involved, including having to prepare for a new inspection regime without the full information, while advising that the Council was in a much stronger position to respond to these challenges than it had been previously.  In response to a question from the Chair in relation to a specific case, he suggested that they discuss this further outside of the meeting.  He highlighted that the Council had increased the allowance to young people by £20 to help them with the cost-of-living crisis.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services reported that the National Association of Directors of Children’s Services had raised some of the concerns discussed at the meeting in relation to the impact of the new regulations.  He reported that guidance had been issued and that this was unlikely to change significantly so the Council was planning ahead on this basis.  He advised that the capacity issues would fall mainly on the providers but that the inspections were likely to focus on the provider, rather than the provision, so would not necessarily involve visiting individual homes.   In response to a question from the Chair, he informed Members about work to build capacity for Regulation 44 visitors, recognising the much more detailed reports which were now required.

Decision

To note the report.