Government Plan 2022-2025 Scrutiny Review (Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel) (S.R.16/2021): Response of the Minister for Children and Education

Findings

Comments

1

The Minister for Children and Education has confirmed that the removal of a social worker role in Children's Services is as a result of a redesign of the service and the early help service providing better support that historically would have been dealt with by Social Workers. It was further stated that the increased caseload and reduction in capacity was a risk relating to the efficiency but was not currently an issue.

Through service redesign, social worker head count has been reduced and the number of family support workers has increased. Family support staff are more often  locally  recruited  and  can  provide  more continuity of care and direct work to support families to  help  with  many  of  the  practical  tasks.  The implementation  of  Early  Help,  delivering  more prompt  low-level  help  before  problems  escalate  is reducing children requiring social care.

Average Social Worker caseloads are 13 children per social  worker,  significantly  lower than comparable statistics in England.

The new Family Intervention Service has now been launched (31st August 2021) and we currently have a

permanent workforce of 17 family support workers in post, 1 social worker and 1 trainee social worker in the team, a total of 19. Previously, we only had 9 family support workers.

Findings

Comments

2

The reduction in non-staff and staff spend within the Integrated Services and  Commissioning  service  of Children,  Young  People,  Education and Skills is defined as a streamlining of  the  service  in  order  to  remove various  hurdles  for  individuals accessing  services  through  the Children and Families Hub.

It has been stated that this will not have an impact on service delivery.

Agreed, better coordination of services and avoidance of duplication has enabled a streamlined service at less cost.

8

Throughout  its  review  of  the Government Plan, the Panel has not received any information in relation to  the  new  funding  formula  for schools that is intended to be in place from  1st  January  2022,  despite repeated requests to have sight of this information.  It  is  the  view  of  the Minister for Children and Education that  the  work  to  produce  a  new funding formula is not connected to the additional funding provided in the Government  Plan  around  the Education  Reform  Programme.  The Panel  does  not  agree  with  this statement.

The Panel have made repeated requests to see the funding formula and have repeatedly been advised that when the work is complete, it would be shared with them. At the Government Plan hearing with the Panel on 1st November 2021 they were advised "we will be able to share the formula with you as a group and with schools before the end of December". Despite this information  the  Panel  continued  to  ask  to  see  the unfinished formula.

At the same hearing the Panel were also advised there was no intention  to implement and to execute the formula transition in one hit, and we were receiving some advice on how to transition from old to new formulas.

Some  elements  of  the  new  formula  will  start  1st January 2022, other elements will transition at a later date, and work on the formula will continue in 2022.

The Minister has not stated the formula and additional Government  Plan  funding  are  not  connected.  The Panel  will  be  aware  that  the  Independent  School Funding  Review  informed  last  year's  Government Plan which committed additional funds to education 2021  –  2023.  The  funding  formula  was  a recommendation of the review so naturally they are connected.

The Minister advised Members in the Assembly that as  the  funding  formula  was  still  not  complete  in November  2021  it  was  not  used  to  inform  the Government Plan 2022-2025 which was lodged in September 2021.

Findings

Comments

9

The Panel is unable to state whether the  "increased"  funding  of  £11.2 million in 2022 is sufficient to cover the  existing  deficits,  training  for teachers and any identified increase in demographics that may arise from the new funding formula.

Noted.

10

There has been an 18-month delay in relation  to  policy  work  within  the Children's  Legislative  Programme due to Policy Officers being seconded to other areas to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.  A  number  of  pieces  of legislation  are  due  to  be  brought forward towards the end of the current Assembly,  however,  there  is  no certainty at this stage whether they will be lodged in time for debate prior to the election.

There has been significant disruption and delay to the Governments overall legislative reform programme due to COVID-19. Council of Ministers have now agreed  on  a  revised  set  of  government  legislative priorities that it will prioritise ahead of the election.

Three  legislative  priorities  are  identified  and prioritised that relate specifically to children.

1. The draft Children and Young People (Jersey) Law  202-.  The  Minister  lodged  this proposition  on  December  6th  (P.107/2021) and the Minister has agreed to postpone the debate until February 8th to allow the panel to complete its work.

2. Draft Children (Convention Rights) (Jersey) Law  202.  The  Council  of  Ministers  are supportive of the Minister lodging the draft law with the Assembly which is scheduled for 15th February with a view to it being debated on the 29th March.

3. Regulations amending the Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014 and the Regulation of Care (Standards  and  Requirements)  (Jersey) Regulations  2018.   The  draft  amendment Regulations  are  due  to  be  lodged  in  early March for debate on 26th April.

11

The  Panel  is  concerned  that responsibility  for  oversight  of implementing the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry recommendations now falls  to  a  number  of  Ministers, whereas  in  previous  discussions around  this  area  responsibility  was clearly  placed  on  the  Minister  for

On 2nd March 2021, the Chief Minister published the States of Jersey (Minister for Children and Education, Minister for Housing and Communities and Minister for External Relations and Financial Services) (Jersey) Order under Article 29A of the States of Jersey Law 2005.

Findings

Comments

Children and Education (formerly the Minister for Children and Housing) to act as a champion in this area. This does  not  appear  to  be  the  case  at present.  There  needs  to  be  greater clarity over the role of the Minister for Children  and  Education  so  that accountability is clear as to where the overall responsibilities lie.

The Order provides for the related transfer of functions relating  to  children  from  the  current  Minister  for Children and Housing. The latter Minister is renamed as the "Minister for Housing and Communities." The Order also renames the Minister for External Relations as the "Minister for External Relations and Financial Services."

https://www.gov.je/government/planningperformance

/pages/ministerialdecisions.aspx?docid=2DB4A8A7-

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The draft Children and Young People (Jersey) Law 202- sets out the roles of Responsible Ministers (the Minister  for  Children  and  Education,  Minister  for Health and Social Services, Minister for Home Affairs and  Minister  for  Housing  and  Communities)  in delivering on the new laws overriding objective to promote and support the wellbeing, and safeguard the welfare, of children and young people. Article 2 of the law describes these general duties out in more detail.

12

There has been further take up of the Care  Leavers  entitlement,  with  78 people currently being supported by Children's Services. Work is ongoing to  establish  an  endowment  fund which  is  expected  to  be  finalised within the coming months following the Government Plan debate.

Noted

13

The Project Design of the Children in Need/Early  Help  project  has  now been completed and the additional the £1.7  million  recurring  funding  in respect of the project relates almost entirely  to  staffing  costs  and commissioning  of  other  services  in respect of the Children and Families Hub. 11 roles are still to be recruited to at this stage and development of the Key Performance Indicators for the Early Help service is ongoing.

Recruitment

The implementation of the new service structure with 42 posts in February 2021 created 24 vacancies. Four rounds of recruitment have been undertaken with a fifth to be completed in January 2022. During this period, three staff (Family Partnership Workers) left the service.

In  January  2022,  the  number  of  posts  filled  had increased from 18 (43% of posts) to 32 (76% of posts). During this period, one agency Senior Practitioner has been employed.

Full recruitment to the Senior Practitioner vacancies has  been  a  priority  to  ensure  the  service  has  the capacity to supervise and develop the skills of Family

Findings

Comments

Mentors and Family Partnership Workers, ensure a robust response to requests for support at the Children and Families Hub, provide training in the Jersey's Children  First  practice  framework  and  support partners from other agencies in early help.

Further interviews are scheduled in January for the recruitment of Family Mentors and Family Partnership Workers which will increase capacity for direct work with  families.  The  remaining  vacant  posts  will  be advertised in February.

Performance framework/development of KPIs

An  outcome-based  accountability  performance framework is under development to consider activity quantity (how much?), quality (how well?) and impact (is anyone better off?).

Development  of  the  early  help  workflow  on  the Mosaic information system will enable a range of quantitative  measures  to  be  reported  routinely. Development of the Mosaic workflow for requests for support coming into the Children and Families Hub in August 2021 has enabled reporting on volume, source and outcomes of referrals and re-referral rates. The further development of the early help workflow on Mosaic  planned  for  Q1  2022  to  record  case management of the Family and Community Support teams will enable automated reporting on numbers of children and families being supported with an early help plan, timeliness of case allocation and length of involvement. As part of this development work, the feasibility of partners using Mosaic to record early help  activity  is  being  explored  so  that  the current cumbersome submission of monthly spreadsheets by each  agency  to  capture  early  help  activity  can  be replaced.

To capture quality of service, an annual survey of families supported by the additional needs team is undertaken  and  qualitative  surveys  for  participants who undertake parenting programmes are routinely administered. Further work will be undertaken in 2022 to develop methods to capture families experience of the service delivered by the generic team and both practitioners and members of the public's experience of using the Children and Families Hub. With the appointment  to  the  Senior  Practitioner  posts,  the

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Comments

service now has the capacity to start to develop and undertake single agency and multi-agency case audits of  early  help  work  and  this  will  provide  valuable information on quality to inform service improvement.

Preliminary discussion has started with partners on the potential of adopting the Outcome Star system across the early help landscape to measure impact (is anyone better  off?).  The  approach  provides  a  range  of evidence-based  tools  which  align  well  with  the Jersey's Children First practice framework in being person-centred, strengths-based and co-produced. The Head of Service is working closely with CYPES Head of Informatics to identify good practice from other jurisdictions in measuring the impact of Early Help and to seek opportunities to benchmark Jersey's data with other UK local authorities.

14

The  initial  service  design  for  the Children  and  Adolescent  Mental Health  Service  has  been  completed with a number of roles identified to be recruited to during 2022. The overall number of roles within the service is increasing from 28 to 64. There is, however, concern that this significant number of roles will prove difficult to recruit to expediently.

As part of the design of the service consideration has been  given  to  what  skills,  knowledge  and qualifications are necessary for each post. This means that  some  posts  are  designated  as  mental  health practitioners where a range of qualifications may be appropriate such as nurse, social worker, allied health professional, thus increasing the potential number and range of applicants.

Following the CAMHS redesign being approved in 2021 13 posts were recruited which included:

• Medical Secretaries x3

• Service  Manager  x  2  –  Specialist CAMHS and Duty and Assessment

• Quality and Assurance Manager

• CAMHS Nurses x2

In January 2022 adverts are live for nine roles which include:

• Service Manager – Early Intervention

• Behaviour Advisor

• Specialist  Eating  Disorder professionals

• Psychologist

• Mental Health Practitioners.

Findings

Comments

A  UK  based  agency  Penna  will  work  with Government's  recruitment  staff  to  develop  an advertising campaign for further positions / positions we  are  struggling  to  fill.   this  will  include consideration of international recruitment.

15

The  funding  identified  for  the Improving  Educational  Outcomes: Early Years Project in 2022 (£1.27 million)  does  not  cover  the  total estimated  funding  level  of  £3.32 million  estimated  for  the  Nursery Education Fund (NEF) support for 3- 4-year-olds. This is due to a funding reduction of £1.43 million in 2021 for Early Years and the decision taken by the  Minister  for  Children  and Education earlier in 2021 to increase the NEF hours from 20 to 30 per child per week and increase the hourly rate to £6.70 per hour.

Decisions by previous Ministers to reduce the Early Years  growth  budget  and  implement  a  significant increase in hourly rate have put pressure on Early Years funding.

When the Gov Plan was drafted a forecast deficit of £86k in the NEF for 2022 was identified and resolved by an additional £86k within the Government Plan demographics growth bid for CYPES.

NEF numbers for children starting in September 21 were higher than predicted and these children will create a cost pressure until they transfer to schools for the Autumn term 2022. We are predicting a reduction in numbers within the NEF for September 2022 due to lower birth numbers in recent years and this will ease cost pressure. As previously advised, these numbers are liable to fluctuate dependent on parental choice, birth numbers and any effect (up or down) caused by nett migration.

The department remains confident that slippage due to a difficult recruitment environment, will be able to offset any likely NEF cost pressure in 2022.

16

Due to the increase in the Nursery Education Fund Hours from 20 to 30 hours  per  week  per  child,  and  the increase in the hourly rate to £6.70 per hour  agreed  by  the  Minister  for Children and Education in 2021, there is  no  additional  funding  within  the Early  Years  budgets  to  implement targeted support for 2-3-year-olds as per the recommendation of the Early Years Policy Development Board.

Agreed,  however  there  is  a  lot  of  supporting preparation  work  (detailed  in  the  EYPDB  report) required in conjunction with the private sector before we  are  ready  to  implement  an  expansion  of  the targeted offered for 2-3 year olds. This work will take place in 2022 and the Minister will make bids to the Government Plan 2023 process as required.

17

Funding  to  assist  in  the implementation  the

of

Agreed,  the  funding  is  for  level  3,  4  and  5 qualifications  which  are  not  supported  by  the

Findings

Comments

recommendations  arising  from  the Early  Years  Policy  Development Board has been identified from the Covid  Health  and  Social  Recovery Fund which sits under the Heads of Expenditure  for  Strategic  Policy, Planning  and  Performance.  This funding is to be allocated to the Best Start  Partnership  to  assist  with workforce  training,  a  best  start coordinator role and expansion of the Best Start Nursery Plus Scheme by 20 families.  This  does  not,  however, cover funding for degree level courses for practitioners in the private nursery settings as per policy area six of the Early  Years  Policy  Development Board report.

Education  (Grants  and  Allowances)  (Jersey)  Order 2018. Degree level courses are covered by the order and  grants  for  full  fees  for  relevant  courses  at Highlands  are  available  to  those  with  a  relevant income below £119,000.

18

The grant allocated to the Jersey Child Care Trust in 2022 has been reduced by £30,000 due to previous agreement in the Medium-Term Financial Plan 2016-  2019  with  the  planned reduction  from  2019  never  being brought forward. This reduction will result in the charity not being able to deliver the accredited nanny service in 2022.

The Minister accepted the Panel's amendment 8 to the Government Plan to ensure the JCCT grant is not reduced in 2022.

19

The  funding  levels  allocated  to Higher Education have exceeded take up since the scheme was introduced in 2018. Changes to the manner in which parental income is assessed in 2021 by  Order  have  raised  concern  that some  students  may  be  affected  in terms of the amount of grant available to them from the start of the 2021/22 academic year.

The Panel were made aware through a private briefing that the Minister will ensure no negative impact is felt by current students in receipt of grants. The Minister made  the  Education  (Grants  and  Allowances) (Amendment  No.2)  (Jersey)  Order  2022  on  20th January 2022 to achieve this aim.

22

There is currently not clarity over the siting of a new North of St. Helier Youth  Centre.  Whilst  funds  are attributed to this project in 2022, the

Noted

Findings

Comments

Panel is concerned that the project has not  been  suitably  prioritised  in  the capital programme to date.

23

The additional funding for the Young People Intensive Support Programme is being brought forward to provide targeted support for a small cohort of young people with the greatest needs. This  will  help  to  support  a  multi- agency  team  to  with  training, additional  staff  and  increase  the support available in the school setting.

Noted

24

The  funding  allocated  to  the Education  Demographics  Pressures project is required to fund increased numbers of students moving through the  school  system  via  the  Average Weighted  Pupil  Unit.  The  funding also provides a catch up on funding for students at Mont à L'Abbé where an increase has not happened for a number of years. There is £2 million allocated to demographic SEN within Government  Reserves  in  the  event need exceeds demand. The Panel is concerned,  however,  that  without details of the new funding formula being developed, the level of funding within the Government Plan cannot be identified as sufficient or not.

Noted

29

There are a number of capital projects within the Education portfolio that are being progressed in 2022, however, there is still uncertainty in relation to the  outcome  of  the  School  Sites Review which has yet to be presented. Until such time as the outcome of this review is known, there is uncertainty over the level of funding allocated to the  Schools  Estates  programme  for 2022.

The outcome of the School Sites Review will be made available following consideration by Ministers at the Regeneration Steering Group.

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/ completi

on

1

The  Panel  is  concerned about the rationale for the removal  of  a  social worker  post  which  is planned  as  a  £50,000 recurring  spend reduction.  The  Minister for  Children  and Education should ensure that the impact of the cost reduction  is  assessed through  the  quarterly performance  report  for the  department  for Children, Young People, Education and Skills and an update provided to the Panel in advance of the Government  Plan  2023- 2026.

MC ED

Accept

The Minister will assess any impact and update  the  Panel  in  advance  of  the Government Plan 2023-2026.

30/9/22

2

The Minister for Children and  Education  should ensure that the proposed efficiency savings are not impacting  service delivery  within  the Integrated  Services  and Commissioning  service. An  assessment  of  this reduction  should  be undertaken on a bi-annual basis  against  the  new people  strategy  and  any negative  impact  on services or wellbeing of staff rectified.

MC ED

Accept

An  assessment  of  the  impact  of  all efficiency savings in the department will be made at the time of proposals and there  will  be  an  ongoing  impact assessment with continuous review.

31/12/22

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/ completi

on

9

The Minister for Children and  Education  should publish the new funding formula for schools to the States  Assembly  as  a matter of priority prior to the  Government  Plan debate taking place.

MC ED

Reject

The funding formula work is ongoing and  will  continue  in  to  2022.  As previously advised, it was not possible to publish it before the Government Plan debate.  The  Scrutiny  Panel  will  be offered a briefing on progress to date.

10

The Minister for Children and  Education  should publish  an  action  plan alongside  the  Inclusion Review report as a matter or  priority  with  clear financial  and  human resources  implications identified  in  respect  of each action. This should be completed by the end of January 2022.

MC ED

Partially Accept

The Minister will develop an action plan to implement actions arising from the Inclusion  Review  Report.  It  is  not possible  to  carry  out  this  significant piece of work to an appropriate level of quality and accuracy in the timescales identified by the panel. The Minister will publish an action plan by the end of the second quarter of 2022.

30/06/20 22

11

The Minister for Children and  Education  should report,  by  the  end  of January  2022  and thereafter on a quarterly basis,  the  status  of  the outcomes  from  the Independent  School Funding  Review.  This should include updates on the  policy  initiatives being brought forward as a result.

MC ED

Accept

The Minister will report on a quarterly basis following a request from the Panel.

31/12/23

13

The Minister for Children and  Education  should ensure that there is a clear plan  for  the  recruitment

MC ED

Partially accept

The Minister received the Panel's report on 8th December, and it is not possible to

share a plan before the end of 2021.

31/12/22

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/ completi

on

of  the  additional  roles within  the  Children  and Adolescent  Mental Health  Service.  This should be provided to the Panel by the end of 2021 alongside  quarterly updates on the uptake of the  roles.  This  update should  also  include details  of  the  impact  of the  new  roles  and  how they  have  reduced waiting times within the service.

Recruitment has taken place towards the end  of  2021  with  a  number  of  roles successfully  recruited  to  with  further recruitment underway in January 2022. An  external  company  has  been commissioned to assist with recruitment for  roles  considered  more  difficult  to recruit to. This will be in the UK and consideration  of  appropriate international recruitment.

The  Minister  is  happy  to  provide  an update  on  CAMHS  at  the  quarterly scrutiny hearings.

14

The Minister for Children and  Education  should ensure that the full grant amount  given  to  the Jersey Child Care Trust is maintained over the next four-year  period  of  the Government  Plan  and that funding is identified from  2023  onwards  for this.

MC ED

Accept

The  Minister  accepted  the  Panel's amendment  to  the  Government  Plan 2022 – 2025.

31/3/22

15

The Minister for Children and  Education  should ensure  that  budget allocations  for  Early Years are revisited in the Government  Plan  2023- 2026  to  ensure  that  all funding  identified  to support  the recommendations  of  the Early  Years  Policy Development  Board  is placed  within  the

MC ED

Accept

The Minister will bring bids forward to future  Government  Plans  when  the necessary work has been completed to accurately identify funding requirements and  achievable  timescales  for  the implementation of new initiatives.

30/9/24

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/ completi

on

Departmental  Base budget in future years.

16

Following the publication of the Early Years Policy Development  Board report,  the  Minister  for Children  and  Education should publish an action plan  for  how  the recommendations will be implemented by the end of  January  2022.  This should  outline  the financial  and  human resources implications of each recommendation.

MC ED

Partially accept

Following  agreement  made  with  the Panel  during  the  Government  Plan debate,  the  Minister  will  publish  an action plan by the end of March 2022.

31/03/22

17

The Minister for Children and  Education  should continue  to  monitor  the take-up  for  higher education  funding  as  a result  of  the  changes made  in  the  Education (Discretionary  Grants  - General)  (Jersey)  Order 2021  to  ensure  that  no students  are  adversely affected by the change in assessment  of  parental income

MC ED

Accept

The Minister already monitors the take- up of higher education funding and is pleased with the significant growth in numbers  2018  –  2021  since  the introduction  of  the  Education  (Grants and Allowances) (Jersey) Order 2018.

31/12/22

21

The Minister for Children and  Education  should ensure  that  work  is progressed in 2022 as a matter of priority to build the  new  North  of   St. Helier Youth Centre.

MC ED

Accept

The Minister will continue to work with other  Ministerial  colleagues  and Assembly  Members  to  deliver  this important facility.

31/12/22

Recommendations

To

Accept/ Reject

Comments

Target date of action/ completi

on

22

The Minister for Children and  Education  should establish  a  baseline measurement from which to  assess  the  Intensive Support  programme  in order  to  demonstrate  its effectiveness  and  the tangible  outcomes  for children  and  young people.  The  progress  of this  project  should  be reported  back  to  the Children, Education and Home Affairs Panel on a quarterly basis

MC ED

Accept

Target  outcomes  are  explicit  in  the business case for the service. It is likely that the Outcomes Star will be used for each child to measure progress towards positive outcomes and will be recorded in an individual child's care plan. This will  include  progress  in  learning, involvement in offending behaviour and missing  from  home  episodes. In addition,  CYPES  is  working  with partners including the SOJP to develop a dashboard of measures to support and monitor performance and outcomes of the Intensive Youth Support Service, the service is part of a system response to children and young people with a range of complex and challenging needs. The service does not stand alone and should not be viewed in isolation.

30/06/22 (ongoing)

24

The Minister for Children and Education should, by the end of January 2022 provide  the  outcome  of the school sites review to the  Children,  Education and Home Affairs Panel and  provide  a  private briefing to the Panel on its outcome.

MC ED

Partially Accept

The Minister accepts the need to publish the outcome and of course is supportive of  a  private  briefing  with  the  Panel. However,  due  to  the  continued development  of  the  outcomes  and necessary  approvals  it  will  not  be possible  to  do  this  before  the  end  of January 2022.

TBC