Inspectors find children’s services in Renfrewshire performing very well

Services for children and young people in Renfrewshire are performing very well, inspectors have concluded.

It follows a joint inspection of services across the Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership by an expert team led by the Care Inspectorate, with support from Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland. Inspectors looked at a wide range of services in the area between December 2014 and February 2015 and published their findings today.

Renfrewshire Community Planning Partnership is made up of a range of bodies and organisations including Renfrewshire Council, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Engage Renfrewshire, the third sector interface organisation. This inspection assessed the difference these services are making to the lives of children, young people and families.

Across nine quality indicators, inspectors found six to be ‘very good’, two were ‘good’ and one, “assessing and responding to risks and needs,” was found to be ‘adequate.’

Inspectors noted that partners were well informed about the needs of children, their families and their communities. They were targeting resources to where they were needed most. Investment in early intervention, positive parenting programmes and high quality supports were having a very positive impact on family wellbeing. Children and young people in need of protection were helped to stay safe and risks were reduced by early information-sharing and effective multi-agency action.

Inspectors noted that health staff needed to be consistently and appropriately involved in decision-making when there were concerns about children, and ensure that the quality of assessment remains consistently high.

Managers should strengthen the use of chronologies to support better assessments and further strengthen planning and reviewing arrangements for children looked after at home and those living in kinship care.

Inspectors noted that the partnership had undertaken some very positive and innovative work to identify and reduce risks to young people at risk of sexual exploitation.

The child protection committee should now strengthen its business planning and use more measurable information to show how it is improving outcomes for children and young people. Inspectors also said staff were meaningfully consulting and involving children, young people and families in developing and improving services.

Karen Reid, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “Protecting young people and ensuring that the services they and their families access are of the very highest standard is crucial.

“By working with our partners, joint inspections like this can ensure we build up an accurate picture of how services are performing. We want to answer the key question ‘how well are these services improving the lives of children, young people and their families?’

“Overall, this is a very positive report, with a small number of areas for further development. Across the Renfrewshire Partnership we found there was strong collaborative leadership and commitment to continuous improvement.

“Since the inspection fieldwork, we are confident that the partnership has taken the inspection findings seriously and implemented some changes. We are confident that partners in Renfrewshire will continue to make improvements to secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people in their area.”

The full inspection report is available here: http://cinsp.in/jiscyp-renfrewshire