The Corporate Parenting Committee was scheduled to meet on Thursday 17 April 2025 to discuss care leavers, the Corporate Parenting Committee work plan, and updates from Speakerbox.

Care Leavers into Employment

The committee was scheduled to hold a workshop and discussion on care leavers into employment. The report pack noted that there is:

national momentum towards improving outcomes for care leavers. The government introduced ‘Keep on Caring’ strategy in 2016, increased council statutory duties to care leavers in the Children and Social Work Act in 2017, appointed a national Adviser for Care Leavers who produced a report in 2018, alongside the national launch of the Care Covenant.

It also noted that in 2017, Southwark Council and Catch22, a social enterprise, received funding from the Department for Education Social Care Innovation Programme to work in partnership to design and test new ways of working to support care leavers, and that the Care Leavers Partnership (CLP) works to improve outcomes for young people in Southwark by working across boundaries, reshaping the service delivery model, unlocking capacity in the community, and co-designing solutions.

Corporate Parenting Committee Work Plan 2025-26

The Corporate Parenting Committee was scheduled to review and update its work plan for the upcoming year. The committee's role and functions include:

• Securing improvements in the life chances of looked after children.
• Developing, monitoring, and reviewing a corporate parenting strategy and work plan.
• Maximising the life chances of looked after children in terms of health, education, training, and employment.
• Developing integrated services across council departments, schools, and the voluntary sector.
• Ensuring looked after children and young people play an integral role in service planning and design.
• Monitoring performance and reviewing data to ensure sustained improvements in outcomes.
• Receiving an annual report on adoption and fostering services.
• Reporting to the council’s cabinet and scrutiny sub-committee.
• Appointing non-voting co-opted members.

The draft outline for the 2025-26 work plan included several key dates and topics for future meetings:

• 16 July 2025: Speakerbox verbal update, exclusions report back, and care leaver employment - council wide approach.
• 22 October 2025: Speakerbox verbal update and report back on actions, annual health report for looked after children, and foster annual report.
• 25 February 2026: Speakerbox verbal update/annual report, annual independent reviewing officer report, adoption annual report, and annual virtual head teacher’s report.
• 22 April 2026: Speakerbox verbal update.

Speakerbox Verbal Update

Speakerbox was scheduled to provide a verbal update to the committee. Speakerbox, established in 2005, ensures that the views of looked after children and care leavers are used to influence decision making that affects their care and support, particularly service planning and design. The programme represents children and young people between 8 and 24 years old and provides a peer-to-peer networking support system for looked after children. It is operated independently and run by the young people themselves, with support from the council’s children services and councillors.

Other Items

The agenda also included standard items such as apologies for absence, confirmation of voting members, notification of urgent business, disclosure of interests and dispensations, and approval of the minutes from the previous meeting held on 26 February 2025.