Committee details

REDCAR & CLEVELAND

CORPORATE PARENTING BOARD

TERMS OF REFERENCE (JUNE 2021)

1.         PURPOSE & PRINCIPLES OF PRACTICE

 

The overarching purpose of the Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Parenting Board is to ensure that the Council provides the care, education and opportunities for all the Children in its Care and Care Leavers that would be afforded to their own children. 

In order to thrive, children have certain key needs that good parents generally meet. The Children and Social Work Act 2017 introduces Corporate Parenting Principles, which comprise of 7 needs that local authorities in England must have regard to whenever they exercise a function in relation to Children in Care or Care Leavers.

The 7 Principles are:

i.          To act in the best interests, and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing, of those Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

ii.         To encourage those Children in Our Care and Care Leavers to express their views, wishes and feelings.

iii.        To take into account the views, wishes and feelings of those Children In Our Care and Care Leavers.

iv.        To help those Children in Our Care and Care Leavers gain access to, and make the best use of, services provided by the local authority and its relevant partners.

v.         To promote high aspirations, and seek to secure the best outcomes, for those Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

vi.        For those Children in Our Care and Care Leavers to be safe, and for stability in their home lives, relationships and education or work; and vii.        To prepare those Children in Our Care and Care Leavers for adulthood and independent living.

The Corporate Parenting Principles do not exist in a vacuum. They should shape the mindset and culture of every part of a local authority in how it carries out all its functions in relation to Children in Our Care and Care Leavers. They describe the behaviours and attitudes expected of councils when they are acting as any good parent would do by supporting, encouraging and guiding their children to lead healthy, rounded and fulfilled lives. 

The principles intend to ensure that all councils have high ambitions for the children in their care. In doing so, the application of the principles must respond to the individual needs, vulnerabilities or disadvantages of children in care and care leavers. This will assist in securing that such children and young people are not placed at significant disadvantage when compared with the support a non-looked after child may receive from their family. 

 

2. FUNCTION

 

The Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Parenting Board should:

•           Support and make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Children on matters related to Corporate Parenting.

•           Advise, guide and provide leadership to the Borough Council on issues relating to Children in Our Care and Care Leavers, its corporate parenting responsibilities and the associated application of the principles.

To meet its purpose, the Corporate Parenting Board has the following aims and objectives:

i)          To ensure that the profile of the corporate parenting agenda is incorporated into key plans, policies and strategies throughout the Council as appropriate.

ii)         To raise awareness across the Council and the wider community by promoting the role of Members as Corporate Parents and the Council as a large corporate family with key responsibilities.

iii)        To raise the profile of the needs of Children in Our Care and Care Leavers through a range of actions, including through the organising of celebratory events for the recognition of achievement.

iv)        To ensure that leisure, cultural, further education and employment opportunities are offered and taken up by Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

v)         To make sure that the voice of the child and young person in our care influences both policy and the services that they receive, and that young people are engaged with any action intended to develop and improve services or to recruit key staff members.

vi)        To monitor the ongoing commitment to providing support, training and clarity of expectations to foster carers, to achieve excellent, high-quality care.

vii)       To participate and promote participation of Elected Members in a range of Quality Assurance activity, including monitoring visits to teams and provision related to the services for Children in Our Care and Care Leavers, to improve understanding of the functioning of the service and contribute to service development. 

viii)      To oversee and monitor the key performance indicators for the health, well-being and education of Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

ix)        To consider the outcomes of regulatory visits and inspection reports on provision for Children in Our Care.

x)         To ensure that children in the care of the local authority are offered the protection of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 2 September 1990. 

xi)        To establish and maintain specific task groups and receive recommendations, as necessary.

 

3. REMIT

 

The Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Parenting Board will:

•           Provide leadership across the Borough to create more effective and efficient health and wellbeing for Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

•           Take responsibility for the quality of services for Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

•           Work effectively with and through partnership bodies, with clear lines of accountability and communication.

•           Agree the strategic priorities for services for Children in Our Care and Care Leavers.

•           Promote high aspirations for Children in Our Care and Care Leavers to prepare them for adulthood and independent living.

The Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Parenting Board will not:

•           Manage work programmes or oversee specific pieces of work – acknowledging that operational management needs to be given the freedom to manage.

•           Be focused on the delivery of specific services – the Board will concentrate on the “big picture.”

•           Take responsibility for the outputs and outcomes of specific services – these are best monitored at the level of the specific organisations responsible for them.

•           Be the main vehicle for the voice of Children in Our Care or Care Leavers – this will be the responsibility of the Children in Care Council. The Board will however regularly listen to and respect the views of individuals and the wider Children in Our Care community.

 

 

4.         GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY

 

The Corporate Parenting Board will report to the South Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership and the Children and Families Scrutiny and Improvement Committee as required, in order to demonstrate progress against its strategic priorities.

 

5.         MEMBERSHIP

 

There will be standing membership of the Corporate Parenting Board, including the Lead Member for Children, to provide continuity and consistency. Standing membership will consist of up to 12 Elected Members from across all political parties and will be reviewed on an annual basis. 

Membership will also include the Corporate Director for Children's Services; representatives from the Children in Care Council; and a Redcar and Cleveland foster carer.

All the above members of the Board will be entitled to vote and the Chair will have a casting vote.

Co-opted membership:

The Board may co-opt representatives, without voting rights, from significant services involved in corporate parenting, including:

•           Health provision – including CAMHS

•           Family Hubs

•           Schools

•           Colleges

•           Police

•           Youth Justice

•           Private sector provision

•           Voluntary sector provision

•           South Tees Safeguarding Partnership

•           Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Executive 

•           Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council Children and Families Directorate 

The Board can make changes to the co-opted representation at any time.

 

6.         CHAIR

 

The Chair and Vice Chair of the Board shall be elected from the membership of the Board and agreed by full Council annually.

The Chair has been named as Councillor Karen King. 

The Vice-Chair, who shall act as the Chair in their absence, has been named as Councillor Alison Barnes, Lead Member for Children.

 

7.         QUORUM

 

It is an essential requirement that for each Corporate Parenting Board there are sufficient Elected Members to contribute to fulfilling the role of the Board. Therefore, quoracy will only be met if there is a minimum of 3 Elected Members in attendance. 

If the meeting is not quorate then there is nothing to stop those in attendance discussing Corporate Parenting matters, but it cannot be classed as a Board meeting and formal minutes will not be taken. As a consequence, non-quorate decisions cannot be ratified.

 

8.         CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

 

Where there is a potential conflict of interest for individual members about any specific item under consideration by the Board, mechanisms are in place for these to be openly and explicitly declared. At the discretion of the Chair, the level of interest expressed could result in the exclusion of the Board Member or partner from either the discussion or decision-making element of the meeting for that particular agenda item. The conflict of interest must be declared before the topic is discussed in the meeting.

 

 

9.         DIVERSITY AND EQUALITY

 

The Corporate Parenting Board recognises that everyone has their own unique needs, skills, qualities and abilities and the Board believes that this diversity must be valued in accordance with the protected characteristics. 

In order to meet everyone’s needs, the partnership will treat everyone as an individual and it will not unfairly discriminate on any grounds, such as: ability and disability, age, appearance, background, caring responsibilities, criminal convictions, cultural behaviour, religious belief, gender, geographic location, health status, marital status, personality, political affiliation, sexual orientation or socio-economic status.

To take account of members’ diverse backgrounds and expertise, the use of jargon and abbreviations should be minimised as much as possible.

 

10.      FREQUENCY OF MEETINGS

 

The Redcar and Cleveland Corporate Parenting Board shall meet no less often than 4 times a year at a venue to be agreed.

In addition, child-led sessions shall be scheduled in between formal meetings (no less than 4 times a year) to provide further opportunities for challenge, discussion, creativity and innovation. These additional sessions should contribute to the strategic direction for services and help fulfil the functions of the Board.

The Chair will agree the frequency and duration of any supplementary Task and Finish Groups, introduced to undertake a specific piece of work.  

 

11.      SUPPORT

 

Administrative and governance support to the Corporate Parenting Board will be provided by Democratic Services. A Democracy Officer will be responsible for organising meetings, publishing agenda papers, attending meetings and publishing minutes of each meeting. This officer will also advise the Board on constitutional procedures where necessary.

 

Technical support in preparing reports for the Board and giving advice to the Board in relation to Children in Our Care and Care Leavers will be provided by the Children and Families Directorate.

 

All stakeholders are responsible for proposing agenda items and ensuring relevant papers are considered by the Corporate Parenting Board. Where possible, agenda items and papers should be sent through to the appointed officer, no less than ten days prior to the meeting. 

To allow creativity, innovation and up to date/timely information, there will be a degree of flexibility and papers can follow or be tabled at the meeting where required, though this should be kept to a minimum. The lead officer for the agenda item should take responsibility for late papers.