Issue - meetings

Ms Skinner (Head of Adoption) and Ms Smith (Assistant Director – Corporate Parenting) were in attendance for this item.

1.          Ms Smith introduced the report which set out the proposed decision to create a new Regional Adoption Agency (RAA) through combining the adoption services for the three authorities of Kent, Bexley and Medway.

Ms Smith and Ms Skinner then responded to comments and questions from Members, including the following: -

a)    Ms Smith confirmed that the accountable person in relation to the Kent, Bexley and Medway RAA and the oversight of the practice within the three local authorities would be the Head of the RAA, who had not yet been appointed.

b)    Ms Smith said that each local authority would continue to report in the same way in relation to their adoption data and equally each local authority would be expected to report back to Members within their individual local authority on their adoption data, although statutory returns would continue to be produced for the adoption data for the entire RAA as well as individually.

c)    Ms Smith confirmed that a partnership board would hold the delivery of regional adoption services to account, underpinned by a robust risk sharing and partnership agreement. She added that Mr Dunkley would be a part of the partnership agreement between Kent, Bexley and Medway.

d)    Ms Skinner said that RAA would be created for the purpose of building upon the success of existing services to improve performance in meeting the needs of children who required permanence through adoption.

e)    Ms Skinner talked about the challenges faced in regard to the creation of a new RAA and the steps that were being taken to ensure that potential risks were minimised. She emphasised the importance of ensuring that the three local authorities worked in tandem and that policies and procedures were followed. Mr Dunkley reiterated comments made by Ms Skinner and expressed his views in relation to the creation of RAA’s and the positive effect that they had on local authorities and support that they offered.

f)     Mr Dunkley reiterated Ms Skinner’s comments regarding the challenges that local authorities could be faced with in relation to the creation of a new RAA and talked about the strategies that were in place relating to pooling and joint appointments in order to minimise risks.

2.          The Chairman confirmed that a regular report was submitted to Kent County Council’s Corporate Parenting Panel in relation to RAA’s.

3.          RESOLVED that the decision proposed to be taken by the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education to:

a)    complete the full business case for regionalisation (for presentation and consideration by CYPE Committee in October 2019); and

b)    formulate the detailed design of the Regional Adoption Agency model (between now and October 2019) in collaboration with Medway Council and the London Borough of Bexley,

be endorsed.