Issue - meetings

To report to the Scrutiny Committee on the performance of the Children and Supporting Families Department.

To accept the report.

The report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Children and Supporting Families and the Head of Department.

It was reported that the department implemented the Council Plan 2023-2028 and reported on the progress made to the end of March 2025, acknowledging that it was still early days in the context of some of the new pledges in the document since April last year.

It was noted that the Children and Supporting Families Department had two projects in the Council Plan, namely the Autism Plan and Developing a residential provision for looked after children in small group homes plan. It was explained that the Autism Plan was thriving, with a training programme for front-line staff continuing with the aim of being a local authority with an understanding and awareness of autism. It was also mentioned that the collaboration with the Education Department continued with internal and external staff engaging with the third sector. Pride was expressed that there was currently no waiting list for the Autism Team, but it was assumed that this would not continue for long as there was a high demand for the service.

It was explained that the developing a residential provision for looked after children in small group homes plan had significantly developed over the past year. It was noted that staff had been appointed to the first home in Morfa Bychan and two children were welcomed to the placement. It was also reported that two additional properties had been purchased, and preparation work had commenced to get them to a registration standard.

During the discussion, the following observations were made by the Members:

Enquiries were made about the Derwen service, specifically regarding the access criteria for the Derwen service. It was explained that the criteria were if the child had a learning disability or a significant delay in more than one development field. The member noted that he appreciated all of Derwen's great work but that this meant that many families with children who needed a similar service to what Derwen offered were missing out as they did not fit into the learning disability criteria. It was believed that the Council only defined based on 'IQ' and therefore many children, for example children with autism, were missing out on the service that they required. It was explained that the Council did not use 'IQ' for the Derwen criteria, but it was acknowledged that there was a gap and that was the reason for establishing the autism team to try to address part of the gap.

It was asked whether the department could provide assurance that every autism team worker had received training to the highest level in the autism field. It was noted that it was one of the department's priorities to ensure that public-facing staff received appropriate and relevant training for the work that they did. It was explained that they could not say with certainty that every staff member had currently received the training, but the programme was in place and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8