Corporate Parenting Board

WQ.321/2021

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND EDUCATION BY THE CONNÉTABLE OF ST. JOHN

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 28th JUNE 2021

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 5th JULY 2021

Question

Will the Minister inform members of the following –

1. whether or not the Corporate Parenting Board (C.P.B.) is still in existence, and if it is, the reason for the pause in its meetings since 3rd December 2019;
2. the actions that have been taken (if any) to arrange a meeting of the C.P.B. since 3rd December 2019;
3. the anticipated release date for the C.P.B.'s Annual Reports for 2019 and 2020;
4. the membership of the working group cited under Item 6 of the C.P.B. minutes from 3rd September 2019;
5. an update on the progress of this working group with regards to the "long list of actions" identified by the C.P.B. in the same minutes; and
6. a date for the publication of the working group's findings?

Answer

1. The C.P.B is still in existence and the last meeting was held on 11th September 2020. The Minutes for this meeting will be uploaded to gov.je once they have been approved by the Board at their next meeting.
2. Meetings have been planned since then. However, initially due to the onset of the pandemic, combined latterly with the several changes in the responsible Minister who chairs this board, the diarised meetings have been postponed enabling new Ministers to familiarise themselves with this aspect of the portfolio. The last postponement was the 28th June 2021 meeting which was not considered appropriate to proceed with due to the election of a new Minister taking place the following day. Deputy Wickenden has now been elected as Minister for Children and Education at last week's Sitting, the cycle of quarterly board meetings can now resume and the next one has been arranged for 20/09/2021.
3. Due to the disruption caused by COVID-19 it is proposed that a report on the work of the Board during 2019 and 2020 will be completed no later than the end of this year and published alongside the Board minutes on the Government website. (A date for the publication of a report for the publication of a report into the Board's work and achievements in 2021 will be agreed at the next meeting of this body.
4. - (f) The actions identified in the Board meeting of 3rd December have been severely disrupted by the emergency Government response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result, the working group, as originally identified in the minutes of the Board, was not established. However, key actions that have progressed include:

• Continued progress to place Corporate Parenting into the draft Children and Young Peoples (Jersey) Law 202- which is scheduled for lodging with the Assembly later this year.

• A whole of Government workshop on 22nd January 2020 to explore the application and meaning of Corporate Parenting led by the Chief Executive, the CYPES Director General and other senior officials. There were 135 Senior Government Officers participating with a guest speaker who had experience of care (and works for the Government of Jersey). Evaluation of the event showed that 90% of attendees found the event either useful or very useful. The workshop built on previous Children and Housing Minister's correspondence to Council of Ministers which were referenced in the Board minutes of 3rd September.

• A follow up workshop with Senior Leaders across the Government of Jersey will take place in September to further cement their commitment to Care Leavers with tangible actions for delivery

• Arrangements to work with Jersey Cares and Who Cares Scotland via a letter of engagement was agreed in January 2020, shortly before the Pandemic took hold during 2020.

• The reconvened Board, with strengthened governance to include the Independent Reviewing Officer team manager will, with the Executive Leadership Team and the Council of Ministers, be taking stock in the second half of 2021 of the engagement and delivery strategy across Government to ensure that corporate parenting is at the leading edge of the Government's commitment to put children first.

• The Children in Care Partnership and Care Leavers Outcomes Boards were established in 2020 to strengthen the partnership working across government and external agencies, focussing on tangible actions to directly improve outcomes for children.