The Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel were scheduled to meet on 14 July 2025, to discuss membership and terms of reference, the appointment of co-opted members, children's social care performance, private fostering, and the panel's work programme. The Panel was also scheduled to receive a verbal update from the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families.

The meeting was scheduled to take place at George Meehan House, and be broadcast online.

Children's Social Care Performance

The panel was scheduled to receive a report providing an overview of performance data and trends relating to children looked after, children on Child Protection Plans¹ (CPP) and Children in Need² (CIN). The report covered the fourth quarter of 2024/25, with updates for April and May 2025.

Some key points from the report were:

• Referrals to children's social care via the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub³ (MASH) were lower than in the previous four years, with 1,561 referrals in the past six months.
• The rate of children on child protection plans was 39 (209 children), which is in line with the national average, and most plans were open for less than six months.
• Neglect has increased to replace emotional abuse as the main reason for a child being put on a protection plan in the past six months.
• 117 children started to be looked after in 2024/25, a similar number to the previous year, with the largest proportion aged over 16.
• Family in acute stress and absent parenting have fallen as a reason for children starting to be looked after, while abuse or neglect continue to be the largest single reason.
• As of May 2025, there were 312 children looked after, including 41 aged three or under.
• The number of changes of social worker for children looked after decreased last year, giving a very stable position, both when compared with statistical neighbours and nationally.
• Health assessments were at 93%, down but still comparing favourably to statistical neighbours and England rates.
• Children with up-to-date immunisation reduced further from 51% to 43%, which is below both statistical neighbours and England.
• At the end of March 2025, dental checks were at 87%, higher than before the pandemic.
• As of the end of May 2025 there were 65 active young people on the Youth Justice Service caseload, compared to 77 at the end of March 2023.
• In 2024, the service received 590 requests for new Education Health Care Plans[^4] (EHCPs), and in the first five months of 2025 they received 263 requests. [^4]: An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support.

Private Fostering Annual Report

The Panel was scheduled to consider the Private Fostering Annual Report 2024-25. The report provided an overview of activity relating to private fostering.

The report stated that following the Laming Report (2003), regulations relating to Private Fostering were amended and strengthened by Section (44) of the Children Act (2004). The following year two further documents were published: The National Minimum Standards (NMS) (2005) and the (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulation (2005), which clearly set out the role of the Local Authority, the Parent and the Private Foster carer and related professionals.

The report included statistics on private fostering arrangements, such as the reasons for the arrangement, the nationalities and ethnicities of the children involved, and the length of the arrangements.

Work Programme Update

The Panel was scheduled to discuss and agree its work programme for 2025-26. The work programme identifies topics for scrutiny and sets out how the panel will address them.

The draft work plan included:

Scrutiny review projects:

• Housing and children, to look at how housing impacts on children and young people and, in particular those who may be vulnerable or where there might be safeguarding concerns.

One-off items:

• Q1 Budget & Performance Monitoring report (Finance).
• Youth Justice Annual Plan - Progress report
• Haringey Youth Strategy – Action Plan
• Children's Social Care; Annual Performance 2024/25
• Q2 Budget & Performance Monitoring report (Finance)
• Haringey Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report 2024-2025
• Exam and Test Results
• An update on the implementation of the Council's Autism Strategy.
• Children's Mental Health Outcomes.

Membership and Terms of Reference

The Panel was scheduled to note the terms of reference and membership for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and its panels for 2025/26.

The membership of the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel was scheduled to be:

• Councillor Anna Lawton (Chair)
• Councillor Anna Abela
• Councillor Kaushika Amin
• Councillor George Dunstall
• Councillor Mark Grosskopf
• Councillor Marsha Isilar-Gosling
• Councillor Ruairidh Paton

The policy areas to be covered by the Panel were:

• Adoption and fostering
• Early help
• Early years and childcare
• Looked after children and care leavers
• Unaccompanied minors
• Safeguarding children
• Schools and education
• Services for children with disabilities and additional needs
• 16-19 education
• Youth services
• Transitions
• Youth justice (Joint with Cabinet Member for Communities)
• Breakfast clubs
• Free School Meals

Appointment of Co-opted Members

The Panel was scheduled to note the appointment of co-opted members. Amanda Bernard was appointed as a non-voting co-opted member, and Camilla Borwick-Fox and Christine Cordon were appointed as voting co-opted members when educational matters are being considered.