Contact: John Clarke, Deputy County Education Officer, telephone: 01962 846464, email: [email protected] or Steve Love, Assistant Director of Social Services, telephone: 01962 847284, email: [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report describes the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) of the County Council's services for children.

1.2 The self assessment exercise measured performance against the five outcomes of the Children Act 2004 and considered aspects of service management.  As such, all the corporate aims of the County Council are addressed in this analysis.

2 Background

2.1 Beginning in 2005, annual performance assessment is being undertaken every year in children's services authorities by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). It replaces the previous performance assessment of children's social care and the previous arrangements for the rating of education.

2.2 Judgements will be made on the overall contribution of the County Council's children's services to the five outcomes for children and young people, incorporating separate judgements on the contribution of the Council's education functions and those for children's social care. Summary ratings will be made on a four-point scale.

2.3 The judgements to be made and evidence used within the APA process do not require fieldwork and they relate only to services provided or commissioned by the Council. They are therefore more limited in scope than the Joint Area Review which will cover all services for children and young people in the local area including, for example, services provided by health and youth justice. Hampshire's first Joint Area Review is currently scheduled for the period between April 2007 and March 2008.

2.4 The starting point for the inspectors in coming to judgement in the APA process is the self-assessment undertaken by each children's services authority. This is written to a framework supported by guidance and informed by over 120 performance indicators. The complete document for Hampshire appears as the appendix.

3 Hampshire's Self Assessment 2005

3.1 The completion of the self assessment form has been a joint exercise undertaken by the social services and education departments.

3.2 The local authority has assessed itself as a 4 (Outstanding) for education, a 3 (Good) for social care and a 3 for its capacity to improve (page 5 of the appendix). The evidence for these judgements is based on the performance indicators, recent inspection conclusions and written commentaries from the Council's CSCI business relationship manager and the DfES children's services improvement adviser. However, few benchmarks have been provided to support the grading of services and there can be no certainty that these will be the final grades.

3.3 Following the submission of the self assessment form, a meeting will be held in July between officers of both departments and a CSCI and an Ofsted inspector. The focus will be on recognising strengths, considering relative weaknesses and clarifying progress made in the last year against action described in strategic plans. Emerging findings will also be discussed.

3.4 The assessment ratings will be sent to councils by early November, published in the following week and taken forward to the Comprehensive Performance Assessment of the County Council.

4 Emerging Priorities

The self assessment has led to the identification of improvement priorities and these are listed on page 5 of the appendix. These will need to be addressed, along with others identified with the help of partners, in the first Children and Young People's Plan. This needs to be completed by the end of March 2006 but action is already being taken to improve what needs to be improved.

5 Legal Implications

The APA is conducted under the authority of the Children Act 2004.

6 Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising from this report

7 Personnel implications

None.

8 Impact Assessment

Race and equality issues have been addressed through the self-assessment exercise and, where improvements are needed, for example through the educational achievements of some black and minority ethnic groups, they will be addressed in the Children and Young People's Plan

9 Crime Prevention Issues

9.1 Not applicable

10 Views of the Local County Councillor

9.1 Not applicable

Recommendation

1. That the committee notes the conclusions of the self-assessment exercise of the Annual Performance Assessment.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

None