This meeting of the Children and Families Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to include updates on a variety of topics relating to Children and Families, including the provision of childcare for families, a report on complaints about Children's Social Care, and the adoption of the Youth Justice Plan.

Early Years Childcare Places

This item was scheduled to provide the committee with a detailed report on the provision of childcare places in Waltham Forest.

The report says that:

The eligibility criteria for these places was expanded by the Government in phases from April 2024 to include working families.

The committee was scheduled to consider the recent Early Years Improvement Model and Service Plan Academic Year 2023/24. This plan sets three priorities for the service:

1. Reduce the gap in level of development across all EYFS¹ age cohorts.
2. Ensure that learning and developmental delay/SEND² is identified early, and timely appropriate support and information is provided to ensure children make expected levels of progress.
3. Roll out of Governments expansion of Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) places for children from 9 months old to 2 years olds from working families, and increase the uptake of the free early year’s education offer among 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

The plan sets out a number of actions that are to be undertaken to achieve each of these priorities, and the report to the committee was scheduled to include an update on each of the actions.

Waltham Forest Youth Justice Plan 2024-2027

This report to the committee was scheduled to provide an overview of the Waltham Forest Youth Justice Plan 2024-2027.

The plan was scheduled to be submitted to the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The plan is a three-year strategy that sets out four priorities for the service:

1. Reduce Serious Youth Violence.
2. Reduce First Time Entrants³ Rates.
3. Tackle racism and racial disparities.
4. Improve outcomes for all children through consistently good practice.

Each of these strategic priorities is supported by a number of objectives. The plan includes details about the local context that the Youth Justice Service is operating in, and a summary of recent performance and challenges for the service. It includes a detailed plan for the service over the next three years.

Children's Social Care - Annual Complaints Report 2023/24

This report was scheduled to provide the committee with the Children’s Social Care Annual Complaints Report 2023/24.

The report says that:

The legislation states that local authorities must each financial year publish an annual report regarding its operation of its statutory children’s complaints procedure.

It summarises the statutory complaints procedure and provides data on the number and nature of complaints.

The report was scheduled to be published on the Council's website by the end of January 2025.

The Scrutiny Report

This item was scheduled to provide the committee with an update on their work.

The report says that:

The Committee is invited to review the Forward Plan for ongoing municipal year and make recommendations as necessary.

The Committee was scheduled to consider a draft of their forward plan. This included a list of the topics the committee was scheduled to discuss at its future meetings:

1. An overview of the work of the Youth Justice Service, Education services and Children's Social Care.
2. Consideration of the Ofsted report published in July 2024.
3. An update on access, participation and inclusion in mainstream education.
4. A briefing note from the Virtual School on outcomes for children in care at Year 11 and Year 13.
5. A report on the In-Borough Home to School Transport contract for Children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
6. The Children’s Sufficiency Strategy 2024 - 2027.
7. The annual Corporate Parenting report.
8. A report on Early Years childcare places.
9. Consideration of the Children's Social Care annual complaints report.
10. The Waltham Forest Youth Justice Plan.
11. A review of the benefits of making care experience a protected characteristic.
12. The SEND Self-Assessment and Implementation plan.
13. The Attendance Policy.

It also included details of topics that were raised at previous meetings for inclusion in future forward plans: a report by Anne-Marie Koroma on the Waltham Forest Youth Justice Service action plan, and a review of the investigation of Whitefield School.

The report was also scheduled to provide the committee with an update on actions and recommendations from previous meetings.