Agenda item

– report by Peter Gilroy, Chief Executive)

(1)       This report marked the final stage of the review commissioned by the County Council in December 2008, to be undertaken by the Chief Executive, of the arrangements in Kent for protecting vulnerable children. It gave an over view of the Review Team’s assessment of arrangements in their local and national contexts and set out a number of recommendations for consideration at the meeting of the County Council taking place on Thursday 1 April 2010.

(2)       Mr Gilroy said that rightly in the field of safeguarding children Kent had a strong reputation for innovation and also stability. The Council was currently seeking to strengthen the number of social workers to work in the children sector but was experiencing some recruitment problems but this was something which was common to many other Councils.

(3)       Mr Gilroy also spoke about the need for there to be open and transparent communication on child protection issues and that this needed to stretch across not just the Council but other key partners and agencies such as the police, the health economy and other public sector agencies. Mr Gilroy also spoke about the importance of quality and consistent training for social workers and suggested the Council consider for the future doing more of this  in-house. There also needed to be a constant pursuit to improve good practice and standards and with the Council the Kent Children’s Safeguarding  Board had an important role to play in this. Mr Gilroy also spoke about the position of KCC relative to other parts of the country and said in comparison Kent remained one of the safest environments. However no matter what there was no room in this field of work for complacency in order to meet the challenges which lay ahead. In conclusion Mr Gilroy said local and other sector bodies could not tackle these hard issues of child protection on their own and there was a need for communities and individuals to play their part in meeting these challenges.

(4)       Mr Carter said he supported the views expressed by Mr Gilroy and supported the view that there needed to be more communication across agencies and that this could best be achieved by having more openness and transparency around these issues. Mrs Hohler said that she welcomed the report and the fact that it provided a platform for discussion not only by Cabinet but also by the Vulnerable Children Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee before being the subject of a full debate by the County Council at its meeting on 1 April 2010.  Mrs Hohler also praised the work of social workers in children’s services who undertook their job in often difficult and challenging circumstances. Rosalind Turner endorsed what had been said and in particular about the role of social workers working in the field of child protection. The report itself raised a number of important issues and she welcomed the fact that it was to be widely discussed and debated. She also welcomed the recommendation that there should be at least an annual report to the Kent Children’s Safeguarding Board coupled with a programme of reporting to Cabinet and the County Council in order to provide an open and systematic approach to quality assurance.     

(5)       Cabinet then placed on record it’s thanks to Mr Gilroy for his comprehensive and wide ranging report which would now go forward for discussion by the Vulnerable Children Overview and Scrutiny Committee and  debate by the County Council on 1 April 2010