Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the report of the Head of Children’s Services which was presented to provide Members with information on how Children’s Social Services supported vulnerable children since the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020.

The Head of Children’s Services spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.

A Member enquired if resources were available to cope with any increase in cases coming forward with the easing of Covid restrictions.   The Head of Children’s Services said that there were no additional monies set aside, and there was a mixed view regarding whether there would be a significant increase in the numbers of referrals.  There had been no significant increase after the first lockdown and preventative services such as Families First and Flying Start had continued to work with families across Blaenau Gwent on a preventative level to stop their needs escalating.  She felt the Service was as prepared as it could be.

A Member referred to any increase in domestic abuse referrals and enquired if this had impacted on Children’s Services.  The Head of Children’s Services said that it was not the number of increased cases but the complexity of the situations of the cases being referred that was more difficult.  There were increased numbers of domestic abuse cases but they were not disproportionate at this time in comparison to previous years.

The Corporate Director of Social Services commented that regionally there had been an increase in the number of referrals of domestic abuse cases across the board.  Over the last 12 months referrals had steadily increased in Wales and the Regional Safeguarding Board would closely monitor the situation.  There were concerns that with the easing of lockdown restrictions there could be a further increase in referrals as people would have the opportunity to come forward looking for support.

A Member enquired if Social Services staff had been offered the Covid vaccine.  The Head of Children’s Services said the names of all the social care staff had been put forward for vaccinations, the majority had received their first vaccination, however, the criteria had been made more specific which may exclude some of the front line Social Services staff.  As such there was a small but significant cohort of staff within Children’s Services who had not yet had their first vaccination, however, their names had been submitted for the ‘mop up’ sessions.

A Member referred to the use of virtual technology and enquired if this was now considered good practice in relation to Children Looked After, the Head of Children’s Services explained that all of the teams and social workers had laptops and work phones, the move to using Microsoft Teams had led to holding virtual meetings, although it had been difficult to get children and families involved in that particular platform of meetings.  She advised Members that work was currently being undertaken to ascertain what was working well during Covid and what could be improved or returned to.   Some of the feedback from this work was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7