An apology for absence was received from Penny Burnside.

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 12 September and 3 October 2012.

The minutes of the meetings of the Board held on 12 September and 3 October 2012 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider the following documents in relation to the Children’s Partnership Improvement Programme:

·         Children’s Partnership Improvement Programme – Progress Update

·         Children’s Partnership Improvement Programme – Report Card

·         Responses from the Director of Children’s Services to questions previously asked by the Overview and Scrutiny Board

·         Torbay Fostering Service Review – Outline Action Plan

(Consideration may also be given to the information relating to Children’s Services in the Performance and Public Value Report and Revenue Budget Monitoring Report which are both scheduled to be published before the meeting of the Board.)

The Board received a report which provided an update on the progress made on the projects which made up the Children’s Partnership Improvement Programme.

The Board heard that, in order to assess how the Programme was having a positive impact on children in Torbay, a sub-group of the Torbay Safeguarding Children’s Board had been established made up of young people who would actively monitor progress from a young person’s perspective.

The Board was informed that the projected outturn position in relation to the Children’s Services Revenue Budget for 2012/2013 was currently an overspend of £2.4 million.  It was also noted that this budget was still volatile.  Children’s Services were, however, actively recruiting with a number of posts being successfully filled thereby reducing the need for agency staff and the associated costs.  There also continued to be pressures in relation to residential placements and it was expected that the application of funding from reserves would be used to address this.  This would reduce the projected overspend within Children’s Services to £1.3 million.

The Director of Children’s Services reported that he was developing a two-year spending plan for Children’s Services which would sit alongside the Improvement Plan and that this spending plan would build in a number of assumptions in relation to Torbay.

In answer to questions about multi-agency working, the Board was given details of the Interim Torbay Safeguarding Hub, briefing sessions with different agencies and the feedback received from the new Chairman of the Children’s Improvement Board on how to build relationships at a senior level.

The Board went on to ask a number of questions about the performance of Children’s Services with respect to indicators in the Children’s Improvement Board Report Card (which were also included with the Council’s Performance and Public Value Report).