Agenda item
Risk Management in Services
Presentation by Service Director Children and Young People on the strategic and operational risks facing the Service and the internal controls and governance in place to manage / mitigate those risks to demonstrate how risk management is embedded within services. (Verbal presentation)
Minutes:
4.1 The Chairman welcomed Ms Donna Manson, Service Director Children and Young People, to the meeting. Ms Manson was in attendance to give a presentation on the strategic risks affecting her service and the internal controls and governance in place to manage and mitigate those risks. Ms Manson began by providing some background and explained that the Children and Young People’s Service included Children and Families Social Work; Education; and Community Learning and Development and that her presentation would include the context, risks and mitigation within each. As part of Children and Families Social Work, Children’s Services had been subject to inspection. An Action Plan was developed following the inspection and good progress was now being made with its implementation. The Children and Families Social Work service had to take account of risks resulting from increasing need; Named Person requirements; the historic child abuse national programme; neglect; and drugs and alcohol issues and Ms Manson explained how the service was making improvements in these areas. A range of improvements were now in progress going forward, including: a very positive recruitment process; moderated thresholds of intervention and identification of risk; better quality improvement and auditing being embedded in the service; and focus on a Neglect Toolkit. Ms Manson then addressed the risks which the service needed to take cognisance of and she considered that overall, these risks were mitigated effectively. Within the recruitment of staff, there was a move towards “grow our own social workers” which reduced the need for agency staff; recruitment of foster carers, especially for teenagers, needed to be considered in a different way to meet current need; the risks in terms of performance of partnership staff in child protection procedures were mitigated through joint training and the quality of relationships and quality assurance within the Children and Young People’s Leadership Group, with the revised Plan focussing on Looked After at Home outcomes; the performance of staff in leadership roles was mitigated through support structures and high quality professional learning.
4.2 With reference to Education, there had been governance changes such as the Education Bill and SEIC which affected the service. There was also a need to close the poverty-related attainment gap and consider the mental and emotional health of young people. Pressures relating to the impact of budget allocation, the recruitment of teaching staff, performance of schools in the Scottish Borders, and the impact of anti-social behaviour, drugs and alcohol, as well as severe weather, all presented risks for the service. Ms Manson reported that improvements were being made across the service, including progress with SEIC collaboration and PEF actions. Improvements in recruitment were noted, school leadership was above satisfactory and there was a cultural improvement towards focussing on collaboration and professional learning. Ms Manson considered that the budget allocation was well-managed and that the service continued to take account of lessons learned in respect of how severe weather conditions were managed within schools. Risk mitigation in the service had improved and all vacancies in schools would be filled for August 2018. Performance in schools was also improving and learners’ needs were being met by means of a new Inclusion Strategy, ongoing modernisation of the curriculum, development of parent networks for autism and dyslexia and an Autumn 2018 Parent Summit to improve the way in which the service engages with parents. Tailored training was being developed to provide additional support for managers. A drug and alcohol strategy was a priority going forward in 2018/19 as was further work in relation to the mental and emotional health of young people.
4.3 Community Learning and Development was link connected with Area Partnership developments and it was essential that the service retained the intergenerational learning function. The service operated within a small budget area, providing support to some of the most vulnerable in our communities and would need to develop more budget leverage out with the Council. The service had received a very good inspection report with a focus on the provision in Galashiels. More work was taking place in relation to the development of a Young People’s Network and support for LGBTi young people. Ms Manson explained that nationally, budgets were being reduced. The localities agenda offered an opportunity for the service to move more towards early intervention and prevention, using staff skills to full potential and making best use of strong partnership engagement and planning to mitigate against the risks that accompany an increasingly complicated landscape.
4.4 The presentation identified a number of areas where general risk management mitigation was required, including the need to maintain the Children’s Service identity; grow the economy in the Scottish Borders to encourage young families to settle in the area; find ways to engage differently with the media to reduce negativity; and develop more partnerships and shared services with organisations, businesses and the Third Sector. Other measures were also being developed including a range of regular meetings between service Senior Managers and Audit and Risk colleagues; business partners; Service Teams; and CMT and DLT. Ms Manson highlighted some areas where significant progress had been made, such as new approaches to recruitment; use of data to inform quality improvement; quality of leadership across services; capacity to take forward new initiatives; strong transformation performance; and improving outcome measures.
4.5 Discussion followed and Members requested that the scorings given to each Risk within the Risk Register be included in future reports. Officers answered questions raised by Members. Ms Manson provided clarification as requested. She explained that partnership working was essential in order to take forward new ways of working. In terms of under-performance, Ms Manson explained how this was addressed locally and confirmed that all schools now had their own Action Plan. Ms Manson also advised Members that Scottish Borders Council were currently rated third nationally for upper school performance and there was no ceiling on the number of subjects students were permitted to study. Ms Stacey added that the Corporate Risk Officer was working with Officers to help Services to focus on risks and their Risk Register. The Chairman thanked Ms Manson for her attendance and succinct presentation.
DECISION
(a) NOTED the presentation.
(b) AGREED that future reports in respect of Risk Registers would include the scoring for all Risks.