Public Document Pack
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Public Document Pack Meeting Cabinet Date/Time Tuesday 22 January 2002 at 2:30 pm Location Goscote Committee Room, County Hall, Glenfield Officer to contact Miss P.B. Ewen - (0116 265 6036) E-Mail [email protected]. Membership Mr. H. Barber CC (Chairman) Mr. R. Mason CC Mr. R. Miller CC Mr. I. D. Ould CC Mr. D. R. Parsons CC Mrs. L. A. S. Pendleton CC Prof. M. E. Preston CC Mr. E. F. White CC Mr. P. G. Winkless CC AGENDA Item Report by Marked 1. To Advise of Any Other Items which the Chairman has Decided to take as Urgent on the Agenda 2. Declarations of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interest in Respect of Items on the Agenda 3. Quality Protects Management Action Plan Director of Social A Services 4. Learning Disability Joint Investment Plan Update Director of Social B 2002/03 Services 5. Education Development Plan 2002-2007 Director of Education C 6. Early Years Development and Childcare Director of Education D Implementation Plan 2002/2003 7. Changes to the Procedure for Appointing LEA Director of Education E Governors _______C O U N T Y H A L L • G L E N F I E L D • L E I C E S T E R • L E 3 8 R A_____ T E L E P H O N E: 0116 232 3232 • F A X: 0116 265 6260 • M I N I C O M: 0116 265 6160 8. Implementing the Expanded Shire Grants Scheme Acting Director of F Planning and Transportation, Director of Education, Head of Museums and Chief Executive 9. Melton Furniture Recycling Project - Service Acting Director of G Agreement Planning and Transportation 10. M1 Multi-Modal Study - M1 Corridor Consultation Acting Director of H Report on Draft Preferred Package Planning and Transportation 11. Request for Reduced Speed Limit, Paudy Lane, Acting Director of I Seagrave Planning and Transportation 12. Leicestershire Rural and Community Touring Head of Museums J Scheme 13. New Opportunities Fund - The People's Network - Bid Chief Librarian K for Additional Funding 14. Highway Agency Agreement with North West Chief Executive L Leicestershire District Council 15. Consultation on the Budgets for 2002/03 of the Chief Executive and M Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Combined Fire County Treasurer Authority and the Leicestershire Magistrates' Court's Committee 16. Items Referred from Overview and Scrutiny 17. Any Other Items which the Chairman Decides are Urgent Document Pack Page 1 Agenda Item 3 REPORT TO CABINET - 22ND JANUARY, 2002 QUALITY PROTECTS MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN 2002/03 REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES Part A Purpose of the Report 1. The purpose of this report is to inform the Cabinet of the preparation of the Year 4 Quality Protects Management Action Plan (M.A.P.) (Appendix ‘A’) and to seek approval for the financial proposals set out in paragraph 20. Recommendations 2. That the Cabinet: a) authorises the Director of Social Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Lead Members, to make such amendments as may be necessary in response to further information, which may become available and to finalise and submit the Quality Protects M.A.P. to the Department of Health (DOH) by 31st January, 2002. b) agrees to the allocation of the uncommitted balance of the Quality Protects Grant. c) notes the position regarding the Leaving Care Grant. Reasons for Recommendations 3. All Social Services Authorities are required by the DOH to complete their fourth Management Action Plans for the Quality Protects programme by the 31st January, 2002. The acceptance of the plan by the DOH will ensure that Leicestershire receives the fourth year Special Grant of £2,504,000 for the financial year 2002/03. REPCABINET/CABQPMAP Page 1 of 8 Document Pack Page 2 Timetable for decisions 4. Guidance for the 2002/03 M.A.P was provided by the DOH in November 2001 although the detail for both the actual format of the M.A.P. and the grant were not received until late December. This leaves a very tight time-scale for constructing and consulting on the M.A.P. Policy Framework and Previous Decisions 5. The Quality Protects Programme was launched by the DOH in October 1998 with the aim of transforming services and outcomes for looked after children and children in need. The initial three year programme has now been extended to five years, running to 2004. 6. Since the beginning of the Quality Protects Programme, reports have been received at least annually by members firstly as Children's Services Subcommittee and then as Cabinet and Health and Social Care Scrutiny Committee. Resource Implications 7. This report has been prepared in consultation with the County Treasurer. As part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, Leicestershire County Council will receive £2,504,000 of Children’s Services Grant. This comprises £ Quality Protects - Main Programme 761,000 “ “ - Disabled Children 83,000 IT for Looked After Children 52,000 Children Leaving Care 1,608,000 £2,504,000 8. The main programme allocation has increased by 3.7% (£27,000). However, after allowing for inflation of 3% (£22,000), this is only a real term increase of 0.7% (£5,000). The allocation for disabled children (£83,000) is unchanged from last year and is in real terms a reduction as no allowance has been made for inflation. 9. An addition, this year is the introduction of a new allocation of £52,000 per annum available over the next two financial years to increase access to information and communication technology (ICT) for looked after children and care leavers. This grant can only be used for capital expenditure, such as the purchase of equipment, and cannot be used to meet recurrent costs. The M.A.P. includes proposals on how this allocation will be applied. REPCABINET/CABQPMAP Page 2 of 8 Document Pack Page 3 10. The final allocation of £1,608,000 is for the implementation of the Children (Leaving Care) Act. This element of the specific grant is composed of existing expenditure transferred from the SSA, benefit payments transferred from the Department of Work and Pensions and allocations transferred from the main programme allocation. It is difficult at present to calculate precisely how much of the grant is required to meet on going commitments from the various sources. On this basis, it is not proposed to make any new commitments at this stage. If it becomes clear that there are any uncommitted funds available, then proposals to use these will be brought to the Cabinet in due course. 11. The bulk of the grant is already committed to ongoing expenditure from previous plans, leaving an amount of £54,730 uncommitted. This report contains proposals for the use of that amount. Circulation under Sensitive Issues Procedure 12. None. Officer to Contact Flick Schofield 0116 265 7441 REPCABINET/CABQPMAP Page 3 of 8 Document Pack Page 4 Part B Background 13. The Quality Protects Programme was launched by the DOH in 1998, initially as a three year programme which has now been extended to five years. Its aim is to transform services - and more importantly the outcomes achieved - for the most vulnerable children in our society and their families. 14. The programme is now beyond its half way point and the evidence suggests that overall it has led to major changes in services for vulnerable children and has proved a powerful vehicle for change at a local level. 15. A key concept of the programme is that of corporate parenting with members and officers working together to improve the life chances of children looked after by local authorities. 16. The format for the M.A.P. is strictly prescribed by the DOH. It is structured around eleven Government objectives for children's social services and their associated performance indicators. Local authorities are required to describe progress made under each objective and their plans for future work, with a particular emphasis on evidence of improved outcomes for children. Priority Areas 17. The priority areas for grant for 2002/03 remain as for 2001/02, with the addition of the ring-fenced element for increasing access to ICT. However, the amount of grant uncommitted from last year totals only £54,730, so there is very little opportunity to introduce anything other than minor changes to existing expenditure. The priority areas are: • Objective 1: Increasing the choice of adoption, foster care and residential placements for looked after children, including appropriate choice for black and ethnic minority children. Substantial investment continues to be made in this area to promote placement choice and stability primarily through improving foster carer recruitment and retention. • Objective 4: Improving the life chances of looked after children. A range of work is being undertaken jointly between Social Services and Education. The grant has been used to increase the capacity of Child Care Operations teams and this year will be used to introduce a senior practitioner grade into each team. REPCABINET/CABQPMAP Page 4 of 8 Document Pack Page 5 In addition, the resources identified to support Corporate Parenting in the 2001/02 budget are beginning to bring about real change in this area, e.g. a project to improve reading skills and an awards ceremony for looked after children. • Objective 5: Implementation of the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. This is funded through a separate ring-fenced element of the grant. The Leaving Care team and its associated budgets have been augmented year on year through the Quality Protects programme. • Objective 6: Services for disabled children. The ring-fenced grant is the same amount as for 2001/02 and will be used to increase support to the families of disabled children and to contribute to the development of a multi-agency, county wide Disabled Children's Database.