The Scrutiny Performance Panel – Child & Family Services are scheduled to meet to discuss the target operating model for Child and Family Services, and to receive an update from the West Glamorgan Safeguarding Board. The meeting will also cover the minutes from the previous meeting, any letters, and the panel's work plan for 2025-26. Public questions relating to the agenda may be asked.

Update from Regional Safeguarding Board

The Scrutiny Performance Panel are scheduled to receive an update from the West Glamorgan Safeguarding Board. The report pack includes the West Glamorgan Safeguarding Boards' annual report for 2024-2025¹, which outlines strategic progress in safeguarding children and adults across Neath Port Talbot and Swansea.

The report reflects on the work of the board over the past year, with a focus on:

• Learning from experience through practice reviews.
• Raising awareness via National Safeguarding Week and community engagement.
• Promoting citizen-led safeguarding with advocacy networks such as the Parent Advocacy Network (PAN) and Parent Peer Advocacy Support Service (PPASS).
• Delivering regional consistency in Mental Capacity Act (MCA), Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).

The annual report highlights a shift from data collection to data intelligence, from isolated interventions to integrated systems, and from reactive safeguarding to proactive, citizen-led protection. According to the report pack:

The board is on a journey of building a system that listens not just to data, but to people. A system that learns, not just from reviews, but from lived experience. A system that leads, not just with policy, but with purpose.

The report also calls for a national conversation on embedding data-driven decision-making at the heart of safeguarding.

Briefing on Target Operating Model

The Scrutiny Performance Panel are scheduled to receive a briefing on the target operating model for Child and Family Services. According to the report pack, the target operating model describes how Child and Family Services will operate in the future to achieve its strategic objectives, by having the right people, processes, systems, technology, and structures.

The vision for Child and Family Services is:

'doing what matters to make things better for children, young people and families.'

The transformation plan is crafted around people, permanence and prevention, with the following ambitions:

• More families are supported earlier
• Children and families can live their best lives together
• Less children needing statutory intervention
• Less children in care
• Child in care for shorter periods of time
• Staff feel valued and have manageable caseloads
• Greater resilience to respond to changes in grant funding
• Minimal staff vacancy levels

The report pack notes that the total operating budget for Child and Family Services in 2025/26 is £77,232,200, with just over £20 million (26%) of this being external grant funding, which largely funds prevention and early intervention services.

The target operating model has been constructed across three levels of need: support, care and support, and accommodation, care and support. The aim is to provide more support, or care and support, so that fewer children need higher levels of statutory intervention.

The report pack identifies a number of risks and issues that could potentially jeopardise the implementation of the target operating model, including:

• Welsh Government's intention to allow a longer transition period for registered private providers to convert until 2030 (originally this was 2027), which could mean the cost of externally commissioned care will continue to significantly rise.
• Uncertainty about the future shape of the external market for commissioned care.
• Timeliness of delivery, which will require significant input from corporate services to deliver capital projects at pace.
• The changeover to a new client information system (Mosaic) may cause a level of disruption to services and impact delivery of transformation plans.
• Securing a building for the proposed city centre hub for young people.
• Attracting and retaining a regulated workforce (social workers, residential, youth workers).

Work Plan 2025-26

The Scrutiny Performance Panel are scheduled to discuss their work plan for 2025-26. According to the report pack, the panel will receive performance monitoring reports, annual wellbeing/performance reports, and updates on various services and programs. They will also discuss the draft budget proposals for Child and Family Services / Adult Services.