1. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress and Challenges Hertfordshire Children’s Services External Support Team Headline Report – May 2008

2. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Context Progress against agreed Indicators Beyond External Support - Residual Risks Final Report Headlines

3. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Context

4. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 External Support Team Children First is a collaboration between Mouchel Management Consultancy and Outcomes UK Appointed through a competitive process led jointly by Herts CC and DCSF Requirement from DCSF following inspection and welcomed by Herts Project ran from Sept 07 until April 2008

5. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 External Support Team GO East chaired - Multi-agency Project Board on behalf of DCSF CX, DCS and PCT CX on the Project Board Consultancy Team and Interim Head of Service Later Interim Chair of HSCB Diagnostic process/challenge followed by support to implement change and improvement Outcomes of the diagnostic were accepted by the Project Board as the main areas for the work of the external support team

6. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Safeguarding1Inadequate Looked After Children1Inadequate Service Management2Adequate Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities2Adequate Capacity to Improve3Good Context - 2007 JAR Despite improvements made throughout 2006 the key judgements were:

7. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Key Improvement Themes Safeguarding - this included safe staffing processes and undertaking development work with the HSCB Interim management of fieldwork services Performance management Partnerships

8. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Ensure safe staffing processes are robust Improve operational fieldwork performance in social care – assessment and Looked After Children Improve data quality and target setting Improve effectiveness of Children Schools and Families Board and extended board in managing others Refocus Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board Performance Improvement Aims

9. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 4 Key Strategic Risk Areas Leadership and performance management Integrated Children’s System – In other authorities this has impacted on assessment performance Accountability Framework Common Assessment Framework implementation requires agreed thresholds

10. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary

11. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Strong commitment to improve from Members, Officers and Children’s Trust partners – by October provide evidence of changed practice HCC and partners agreed a Post Inspection Action plan and allocated additional funds Openness to challenge and support from DCSF, GO East and External Support Team partners - this provides a sound baseline for Hertfordshire CSF as a self improving organisation

12. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Overall there has been good and rapid improvement in children’s services over the past six months First milestones are mostly achieved delivering acceptable performance in most areas Overall the capacity to improve is good if plans are implemented in a timely manner

13. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Leadership by the DCS and CSF board is now more focused on Performance Management and committed to ensuring greater consistency in management practice and Members can have confidence in this CSF have developed with a comprehensive Performance Improvement Action plan Safe staffing processes are in place and working

14. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Agreed key indicator outcomes of 12 previously judged Red (significantly underperforming) against comparators they are now – 5 Green – equal to or exceeding comparators 5 Amber – 4 of which exceeded the March 08 target set but are still below comparators but should be achieved by September 08 if progress is maintained 2 Red – still in need of significant improvement

15. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Achieving targets set and agreed for September 2008 will evidence sustainability and consistent performance against comparators Achieving targets set and agreed for March 2009 will show good performance against comparators

16. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Strengthening PM corporately will help sustain improvements in CSF Recognition that all managers need to improve PM – training is a requirement for all - this shows a high level of commitment from DCS and CSF board

17. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Training must lead to genuine behaviour change Strengthening PM across partnerships is a continuing need Systems for managing poor performance need to be consistent and make use of full range of management tools

18. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Agreement of Local Area Agreement 2 indicators – these show a clear emphasis on vulnerable and there is suitable tie up with the Children and Young Persons Plan Need to revise Corporate Plan Current aim by 2009 - work has started following development of the Community Plan Therefore the new Children’s Services targets are not currently reflected in the Corporate plan

19. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Executive Summary Agreement for facilitation and development programme for Members To enable Members to keep pace with the performance management improvements

20. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Key Quantitative Indicators

21. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Initial Assessments

22. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Core Assessments

23. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress More children and families are receiving assessments in Herts than comparator authorities Timeliness still needs to improve to match comparators some assessments falling just outside timescale Performance on timeliness for core assessments still variable in teams

24. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 LAC Worker Allocation

25. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress Now full CP allocation Some improvement in qualified LAC allocation But appropriate worker 100% Child Protection reviews on time are 100% De-registration is timely Re-registrations are lower than other LAs The rate of BME children on the CPR and in LAC is lower than similar LA’s

26. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Review and Participation

27. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Key Qualitative Indicators

28. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Performance is discussed more frequently than it was and with greater forensic attention to detail Middle managers say that they are now more clearly focussed on outcomes and use performance information Corporate expectations for middle managers’ role in PM set out in paper to SMB on Performance Management Progress - PM

29. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 All members of CSF Board have an agreed data set for which they are held to account Monthly performance monitoring reports are used by Board to challenge progress Corporate expectation that a Performance Agreement will be put in place between every member of staff and their manager is a positive step forward Progress - PM

30. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress - Safeguarding Improved number and timeliness of assessments Secured multi-agency agreement to thresholds and eligibility criteria Improved the working style and accountability of HSCB and leadership

31. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress – Safe Staffing Comprehensive file review including historical checks Revised policy and procedures communicated to staff Staff vetted including redeployed staff Reducing vacancies for qualified social workers in fieldwork teams but still some way to go Monthly case meetings to progress “live issues”

32. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress – Fieldwork PM Fieldwork service has made significant improvement in performance management Confidence in data is significantly improved Front line and service managers are more consistently using data to monitor performance Aim to spread this throughout other services

33. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Progress - Partnerships Trust partnership – has reviewed role and function - plans to recast roles by September Shadow board established - proposed future link to Exec HSCB and HCTB Executive developed Compacts Core Executive – re-focussed on an ECM outcomes based approach and improved partnership working through Outcomes leads

34. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Beyond External Support

35. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 What Needs to be Embedded/Sustained? Full delivery of the Performance management Improvement programme Performance management training for members, senior leaders and corporate link Compacts embedded with Partnerships Need to link performance agreements to appraisal process Need to integrate and align processes not add more

36. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 HR Case File cleansing and Historical CRB check Finalise new files and backdated checks and ensure evidence is recorded on all files as planned by May Aligning PM improvement in Children’s Services with Corporate Performance Management Improvement programme agreed. PID Produced and Project Management approach begun CAF Implementation and understanding of agreed multi agency thresholds Training commenced in all districts. Multi agency thresholds agreed – Close Project monitoring required Assessment and Looked After Children KPI’s Continuing drive on improvement. Implement action plans from clinics Residual Risks

37. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Senior and middle managers do not model best practice in PM Training to be implemented and progress tested by Children First through autumn review Functionality of ICS to produce appropriate reports and alerts to enable proactive PM Need to clarify that what bespoke output reports are needed to assist sustained PM Unwillingness of partners to accept the need for improved performance management LSCB and Trust Board formally signed up to the CYPP. Finalise and implement Compacts Unable to maintain social worker recruitment Revisit recruitment strategy and flexible case management for LAC and Care leavers Different systems recording key data for Safe Staffing Ensure integrated HR IT systems interface SAP/ Checkpoint/ Access database Residual Risks

38. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Residual Risks – Actions Continued drive on operational risk areas ICS to deliver timely and accurate reports for managers through implementing Business Objects software CAF implementation and monitor impact of referrals to Social Care by District Ensure systematic prevention services are developed including Integrated Youth Support

39. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Residual Risks – Action Complete HR file update – due this month (May) HR, Members and senior officers need to continue to assist middle leaders and provide confidence so that managers take appropriate action to manage performance Communicate to staff turnover and outcomes from disciplinary, capability and absence action

40. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Residual Risks – Action on KPI’s Still to improve - still below comparator authorities Core and Initial Assessments in time, Reviews on time and Participation, PEPs, Pathway Plans, Health and Dental checks Implement action plans from Performance Clinics and develop further

41. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 October Review – Check Sustainability and Improvement Embedded 3 Phases- Desktop Review  KPI data against agreed targets  APA Self Assessment  Fieldwork – Focus Groups, Interviews and Observations Written Report

42. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Proposals for October Review Review and analyse progress on agreed KPI’s Identify further evidence of improvement against the agreed qualitative indicators Check perception of HR support – evidence of changing behaviour of managers and impact on performance File Health Check on Safe Staffing

43. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Proposals for October Review Check delivery of performance management improvement plan Check join up of plans Corporate/LAA/CYPP Check evidence of children and young people’s input Look at individual performance agreements to check if priorities go down to individual level

44. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 John Harris DCS Hertfordshire Children’s Services Response

45. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 Questions and Comments

46. Simon Westwood – Mouchel 2008 thank you