Report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services

This report provides context to the LGA Peer Review and an update on progress that has been made against areas identified for further development.  

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director of Children and Education Services which provided the context to the Local Government Association (LGA) Peer Review on Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) and an update on progress that had been made against areas identified for further development.  

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included:

• Background information, including the independent assurance exercise, commissioned by the Greater Manchester Mayor, to explore the current and future delivery models across the region in response to CSE, which had yet to publish its findings;
• Findings of the LGA Peer Challenge; and
• Progress since and in response to LGA Peer Challenge findings.   

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

• That the publication of the Greater Manchester findings on CSE had been delayed and how this was impacting on the work;
• Whether the practices referred to in the report under section 5 were working well; and
• Record-keeping, including how the implementation of the new case management system Liquid Logic was progressing.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services informed the Committee that it was not yet known when the Greater Manchester report would be published.  He advised that this was a retrospective review of how CSE had been dealt with 15 years ago; however, regardless of when this was published, the Council, GMP and partner agencies would continue to work together to address current CSE.  He outlined how current practice on CSE was reviewed and challenged through multi-agency safeguarding audits via MSCB, through Operation Phoenix peer support and challenge and through ad hoc peer challenges, such as the recent LGA Peer Challenge.  He also recognised the role of scrutiny in challenging the work on CSE.

The Strategic Head of Early Help informed Members that the introduction of the Achieving Change Together Model and Clinical Psychology Case Formulation had improved understanding of young people, their vulnerabilities and resilience and different areas of their lives.  She reported that the Peer Challenge findings had emphasised the importance of the balance between building relationships with young people and ensuring effective plans were put in place and that mechanisms such as My Safety Planning meetings were being used to achieve this. 

Superintendent Rebecca Boyce from GMP informed Members about an ongoing investigation into CSE involving multiple offenders and multiple victims, reporting that this had recently resulted in the successful prosecution of four offenders.  She reported that this had been achieved through multi-agency working via the Complex Safeguarding Hub.  The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services reported that practice was now intelligence-led rather than complaint-led, which had been the historical approach.  He suggested that Members visit the Complex Safeguarding Hub, to which the Chair agreed.

The Strategic Director of Children and Education Services informed Members that the implementation of Liquid Logic had been successful but that moving to a new system did present some challenges which the Deputy Director of Children’s Services was working with staff to resolve.  He advised the Committee that this would have some impact on data reporting over the next few months and that Ofsted had been informed of this.  He suggested that the Committee receive a report on this at its next meeting.

Decisions

1.            To receive a further update report, including the impact of the identified actions within the annual Complex Safeguarding Report 2019/20.

2.            To request that a visit to the Complex Safeguarding Hub be arranged for Committee Members.