Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) Presentation to Children & - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) Presentation to Children & Young People Scrutiny Committee 11 December 2017

Joint Targeted Area Inspection • A Joint Targeted Area Inspection (JTAI) is a multi-agency inspection that evaluates safeguarding services across local agencies that work with children, young people and their families. • In March 2017 inspectors from Ofsted, HMI Constabulary, Care Quality Commission and HMI Probation, looked at how the council, the police, health agencies, probation agencies and youth offending services worked together to identify, and protect Hounslow’s vulnerable young people. • The inspection focused on ‘front door’ services (the initial response to a referral) as well as a ‘deep dive’ theme of children living with domestic abuse. • Key headlines from the Ofsted’s feedback report published in June 2017 said that: – The Council leads a strong culture of openness and learning. – Effective multi-agency working leads, in most cases, to improvements in the day-to- day lives of children living with domestic abuse. – Prioritisation of domestic abuse has led to some good and excellent services being available to families. • Key improvement areas were identified as : – Realising the benefits of multi-agency working in the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) (front door service). – Improving performance information and evaluation to support effective strategic planning.

Local Authority Strengths identified • The Hounslow One Stop Shop, which provides support for parents who are subject to domestic abuse, is an excellent service. • The MARAC (Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference) arrangement in Hounslow is strong. • The ‘Learning to Respect’ education programme in schools and the White Ribbon campaign provide good awareness raising of domestic abuse • Parents are very positive about the ‘Let’s Talk’ programme that supports children who have lived with domestic abuse. • The majority of assessments undertaken by social workers are comprehensive, analytical and evidence based with risks and strengths robustly identified. • An emphasis on social workers undertaking direct work with children and their families was a consistent feature. • The Youth Offending Service is working effectively with partners to identify the risk of children experiencing domestic abuse, and appropriate plans have been put in place to reduce risk. • The Hounslow Safer Homes Sanctuary project offers advice and support on practical changes to make properties more secure. This has led to some victims of domestic abuse and their children being safer

Key improvement area: Multi-agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) In its report, Ofsted said that: • Thresholds are not yet consistently well understood or applied. • Performance monitoring of the MASH by partner agencies needs to improve. • The roles of the multi-agency professionals need to be clearer and there should be more joint discussion of individual cases. • We need to inform the referring agency of the outcome of their contacts and referrals. What have we done to improve the MASH? • Created a larger, fully-staffed, dedicated MASH team with a new Team Manager. • Refined MASH data reports to improve reporting and analysis. Data reports are now produced monthly and reviewed by each MASH Operational Group, MASH Strategic Board and the HSCB, improving multi-agency evaluation, monitoring and challenge. • Commenced a programme of training for all agencies through the HSCB to improve the quality of referrals and understanding of ‘front door’ processes. • Improved joint decision-making in the MASH by introducing an opportunity for daily challenge and joint discussion where there is disagreement on the rating for an individual case. • We are making changes to our IT system to provide an automated response to referrers. • Implemented a programme of audit to test improvement. An external audit of the MASH, commissioned by Hounslow Safeguarding Children Board, will take place in December 2017.

Prevent, Protect, Repai r • Ofsted have published an overview report which sets out the learning from the six inspections focused on children living with domestic abuse. Hounslow features positively in both the overview report and the accompanying press release. • The report, subtitled Prevent, Protect, Repair, emphasises that domestic abuse is everyone’s responsibility and calls for a public health approach, including the development of a national campaign aimed at raising awareness. • We are looking closely at this overview report to see what more we can learn to strengthen joint working, both within the Council as well as working alongside partners. • Hounslow has been invited by Ofsted to join a national working group which is looking at the issues arising from Ofsted’s overview report.