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Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive Care Inspectorate Wales’ findings following its Improvement Check of Children’s Services acknowledging the areas identified for ongoing improvement within the Service; and (ii) request that a further report be presented to the Committee, approximately six months following the introduction of the new IT system, detailing the system’s impact on the Service’s performance in relation to the quality of case management and the effectiveness of service delivery.
Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive the findings of Care Inspectorate Wales following its Inspection of the Council’s Fostering Services; and (ii) acknowledge the progress made to date by the Service, along with the continuing commitment of staff, towards the provision of quality services for all stakeholders and to deliver the Service’s vision for further service improvements going forward.
Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive Care Inspectorate Wales’ Inspection Report on Cysgod y Gaer Care Home; (ii) support the actions taken in relation to further strengthening leadership and management at the home; and (iii) congratulate all staff at Cysgod y Gaer and in Adults and Homelessness Services on a positive report highlighting the quality of services provided to residents, their families, and the wider community.
Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the Care Inspectorate Wales reports referred to it by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group, along with a report on the ‘Impact of the Introduction of the new IT System on Children’s Services’ in late spring/early summer 2027, to confirm its programme of future work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Pauline Edwards, Merfyn Parry, David Williams and Elfed Williams along with the Corporate Director: Social Services and Education. The Corporate Director: Environment and Economy was in attendance as the Corporate Executive Team (CET) support to the Committee. Prior to the commencement of the Committee’s business the Chair paid tribute to the late Councillor Jeanette Chamberlain-Jones, a long-standing member and past Chair of the Committee, who had sadly passed away at the beginning of March. The Chair reflected on Councillor Chamberlain-Jones’ dedicated contribution to public life, her grit and determination on behalf of her residents and her community, as well as her kind, caring and friendly personality that endeared her to so many regardless of their political persuasion. As a mark of respect all in attendance stood in silence to reflect on Councillor Chamberlain-Jones’ life and contribution. The Chair also conveyed the Committee’s best wishes to Councillor Pauline Edwards for a full and speedy recovery.
No interests of a personal, or a personal and prejudicial nature were declared in any of the business items listed for discussion.
No items of an urgent nature had been drawn to the Chair’s attention prior to the commencement of the meeting.
The minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 5 February 2026 were submitted. The Committee: Resolved: that the minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 5 February 2026 be approved as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. No matters were raised in relation to the contents of the minutes.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive Care Inspectorate Wales’ findings following its Improvement Check of Children’s Services acknowledging the areas identified for ongoing improvement within the Service; and (ii) request that a further report be presented to the Committee, approximately six months following the introduction of the new IT system, detailing the system’s impact on the Service’s performance in relation to the quality of case management and the effectiveness of service delivery.
The Lead Member for Education, Children and Families introduced the report (previously circulated) and outlined the key findings of the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) Improvement Check of Children’s Services, the associated recommendations and areas identified for continued improvement. She explained that the Improvement Check had been undertaken during February 2025 alongside a full inspection of the Council’s Fostering Services. The Inspection Check on Children’s Services focussed on the progress made in the areas identified for improvement during the Joint Inspection of Child Protection Arrangements (JICPA) that took place two years’ earlier. The key outcomes of the Improvement Check were that: • Children’s Services were experiencing ongoing pressures in terms of increase in demand and complexities of need of children and families, against a backdrop of challenging financial times. • the Service had progressed from its position in 2023, supported by consistent and supportive leaders working with practitioners and managers. Managers were visible and approachable, which in turn instilled a trusting, non-judgemental and learning culture. • practitioners felt well supported by both leaders and colleagues. Whilst leaders were conscious that progress had been made, they were also aware of the fact that further improvements were required. • there was clear evidence that there was both corporate and political support for Children’s Services. It was imperative that this support was maintained, to ensure the local authority continued to drive improvements and met its statutory responsibilities. The Lead Member for Education, Children and Families gave thanks to the Head of Children’s Services and the team for their dedication and hard work in what remained to be a highly challenging service area. The Head of Children’s Services (HoCS) provided some context and background to the JICPA inspection of 2023. The JICPA inspection was a multi regulatory agency inspection, which included CIW, Estyn and Health Inspectorate Wales (HIW), of child protection arrangements. A particularly difficult inspection due to the number of regulators involved with the process. The HoCS explained that the Service at that time had been very open with the Regulators because at the point of the JICPA 34% of social worker posts were vacant. Although there were a range of support staff in post it was only qualified social workers who were permitted to undertake certain specific statutory duties, including child protection investigations, statutory visits to looked after children, child protection visits to children on the register. Consequently, this had resulted in some considerable pressure on those staff members. It was expected that CIW would see some improvements with recording, management oversight and clear decision making upon their return for the Improvement Check visit, which they did see. However, there were still gaps in recording and analysis. A year on from CIW’s Improvement Check visit further improvements had been achieved, in particular with recruitment although some key posts were still vacant. Work was currently underway with HR on pay and grading for certain posts and on capacity issues. In addition, consideration was being given on how the Service could ‘grow its own staff’ and supporting them progress their careers by gaining the required qualifications. The Service was now focusing more on recording and would later on this year be using a new system for recording, analysing and monitoring cases, as the current PARIS system was no longer fit for purpose. The Service was also working on creating a team around data recording and analysing which could work across both Children’s and Adults Social Care Services. CIW had been particularly impressed with the Service’s Therapeutic Team and the breadth of interventions they could offer, which was unique across the region. Responding to members’ questions the HoCS explained: • November will be the ‘go live’ date for the new case management system. It was currently at the testing stage. Workshops had already been held to help the developers understand the needs of the service with respect of data recording, management and reporting. Testing of the system was currently underway to ensure that its functionality met the Service’s needs. • spend on placements was high. It was therefore a corporate priority to recruit more in-house foster carers. Any above budget allocation spent on placement costs would have a negative impact on the budget available to spend on commissioning additional support services such as bespoke parenting groups. Consequently, these types of services had to be delivered in house, which added to pressures on staff. The service was exploring ways of reducing placement spend in order to reinvest in statutory services. • Recruitment was a problem in certain areas. The Service had changed the recruitment information and how they advertised posts. There were still gaps within the core, child protection and management teams, this was due to a lack of qualified staff nationally. The HoCS was currently undertaking a piece of work relating to staff remuneration as Denbighshire was one of the lowest paying authorities in the region. Work was also underway on reviewing case load capacity. • For Out of Hours (OOH) the Service had an emergency duty team which provided cover for both adult and children’s services each evening and over weekends. This team covered Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham. In addition, Children’s Services operated a ‘waking hours team’ made up of family support workers who were available every day of the year from 7am to 10pm. Social workers frequently worked beyond their scheduled hours and did not always finish on time, they tended to continue work until their task was completed. Although they could claim time off in lieu (TOIL) for excess hours worked, staffing shortages made this difficult. There was a clear need for more staff within child protection services. While North Wales Police (NWP) may assist in some situations during out of hours incidents, responsibility often fell on social workers as the Police did not possess the required skills to fulfil the statutory requirements. • There were no issues with accessing records, as all data was stored on a single system. Referrals were received through the gateway, allowing staff to review all relevant information within that system. GDPR did not present a barrier in child protection work and did not restrict appropriate information sharing in that context. Managers were responsible for approving assessments and reviews on the system. The data was analysed to identify any gaps or emerging themes. A new system would further improve the Service by providing better tracking of timescales and reporting through a live dashboard. • A report on the effectiveness of the new system could be provided to the Committee six months following implementation. • Foster carers were very good in meeting parents and establishing a good relationship with them. Foster carers were supported by their own supervising social workers. Generally, if there was animosity displayed by parents it tended to be towards Children’s Services staff rather than towards the foster carers. Additional measures could be put in place in instances where parents proved to be problematic. • Contracts with third sector organisations were funded through grants from the Welsh Government, with services commissioned via an active open and competitive process. Some tailored third sector bespoke intervention services were commissioned for early preventative work, but they did not form part of statutory services. Currently there were no third sector involvement in statutory provision. Private providers delivered fostering services, creating competition for foster carers. The qualified social work course had changed over the years and social workers working for the Health Service tended to be paid better than their counterparts in local authorities. Work was currently underway under the auspices of Social Care Wales in relation to workforce development and how this could be made more accessible for people wanting to work in the sector and wanting to progress their careers. The objective of this work was to ease workforce pressures and facilitate the employment of fully qualified social workers who could undertake Child Protection work and represent the Service at court hearings. • A priority for improvement going forward would be ensuring timely recording of conversations and actions within the system. An emphasis had been placed on practice quality, with actions and improvement plans implemented for both teams and individuals. Due to staffing shortages managers were carrying casework, this had now ceased and therefore managers had time to check the quality and timeliness of work. Work had also been carried out to enhance daily strategy discussions by gathering a broader range of perspectives and data. These multi-agency discussions included Children’s Services, Education, Police and Probation Services, with the Health Board due to become part of the discussions in the near future. • Regular quality assurance feedback was given via questionnaires, all of which were monitored on a quarterly basis. In addition, there was a regular programme of thematic reviews. • Focus groups involved the Lead Member for Education, Children and Families and for the Fostering Service Inspection Councillor Tomlin, elected member representative on the Fostering Panel, was invited to be part of the focus group. • Focussing on the analysis of risk, the Service had launched an effective child protection programme involving data protection conferences and plans, enabling the Service to be clearer in relation to risk, in particular risks to the child(ren). • Best practice included effective use of a strong working relationship with the Therapeutic Team, which had continued to develop. They provided a wide range of interventions, including cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), and the use of Virtual Reality (VR) headsets for parents and foster parents to help them understand the child’s lived experience of their trauma or situation. Family group conferencing had been especially positive, supported by in-house training. CIW had been particularly impressed by the way the Therapeutic Team had been integrated into child protection work and supported families to eventually leave the child protection arena. • The Therapeutic Team was predominantly grant funded and was nearly at a full complement of staff. The grant funding would be available for another couple of years, and the Council would be demonstrating the benefits of the Edge of Care work undertaken by the Team in delivering cost avoidance in the long term for the local authority. • Inspectors had identified two issues relating to advocacy. All children who were accommodated were offered advocacy through the commissioned service. Nevertheless, advocacy meant different things to different individuals. Some organisations for example only classed advocacy as a service that was provided independently of the local authority. However, some children may choose to be supported by their foster carer or their teaching assistant. In those cases, the system did not make this easy to record as advocacy. A request for additional parental advocacy where required could been submitted early on to the Intensive Intervention Panel. There were two types of advocacy services, advocacy and independent visiting — which involved a referral to the advocacy advisor, with an expectation that they were appropriately trained. • Inspectors would see a marked improvement in visit and assessment timescales now. Performance indicator percentage rates could not be provided at present due to proximity to year end, but this would definitely be measurable by the next inspection. Backdating of the recording of information was not permitted, as accuracy and transparency were key. • Majority of pregnant women and their families were dealt with by universal services or early intervention/prevention services. In the more deprived areas Flying Start and Families First services supported individuals and families. Families had a pre-birth liaison meeting which was attended by the midwives, health visitors etc. for those families. Usually only a small percentage of families supported by early intervention and prevention services ended up accessing statutory services. This early intervention work improved communication around supporting high risk individuals and saved a considerable percentage of families escalating to requiring statutory services. This approach had been highlighted as best practice and had now been shared with other authorities across the region. The Head of Children’s Services (HoCS) confirmed that CIW in addition to operating within a rolling inspection programme also adopted a risk-based approach towards Service inspections and may return for further visits if deemed necessary, although no specific timescale had been set. A thematic inspection focusing on Section 5 processes (referral in relation to people in positions of trust) was scheduled following the publication of the revised guidance in April 2026. However, the Council had not received any notification to date on whether it had been chosen to undergo this thematic inspection which was expected to take place after October 2026. Members requested access to any subsequent reports when they became available. At the conclusion of an in-depth discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive Care Inspectorate Wales’ findings following its Improvement Check of Children’s Services acknowledging the areas identified for ongoing improvement within the Service; and (ii) request that a further report be presented to the Committee, approximately six months following the introduction of the new IT system, detailing the system’s impact on the Service’s performance in relation to the quality of case management and the effectiveness of service delivery.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive the findings of Care Inspectorate Wales following its Inspection of the Council’s Fostering Services; and (ii) acknowledge the progress made to date by the Service, along with the continuing commitment of staff, towards the provision of quality services for all stakeholders and to deliver the Service’s vision for further service improvements going forward.
The Lead Member for Education, Children and Families introduced the report (previously circulated) and outlined the key inspection outcomes, recommendations and areas for continued improvement. It was explained that the inspection had been undertaken in parallel with the Improvement Check of Children’s Services in February 2025. The key outcomes were as follows: • Inspectors found that the fostering service provided safe, stable and nurturing placements for children. • Inspectors highlighted the strong relationships between carers and supervising social workers, effective matching processes and clear commitment to meeting children’s needs and well-being goals. • Further development was also identified, these included ongoing recruitment and retention of foster carers, strengthening placement efficiency and ensuring assessments were completed in a timely manner. • Overall, CIW concluded that the service operated effectively, supported by dedicated staff and foster carers that demonstrated a strong commitment to improve outcomes for children. The Lead Member expressed her gratitude to the Head of Children’s Services and the team, acknowledging the significant amount of work undertaken within Fostering Services. The Head of Children’s Services explained that she welcomed the Inspection as the Service had not been inspected since before the Covid pandemic, therefore she felt it was long overdue. The Inspection’s conclusions had been well received and a source of pride and satisfaction for her and the entire Service, which benefitted from the support of excellent foster carers. Responding to members’ questions the HoCS explained: • The inspection referenced a concern regarding Welsh language provision, as there was at the time of the inspection only one Welsh-speaking social worker on the team. While the Service aimed to match Welsh-speaking children with Welsh-speaking families wherever possible, there was a shortage of Welsh-speaking foster carers. This was now a recruitment target which the Service was focussing on. • The Service had strengthened the Fostering Team through grant funding and introduced social care practitioners as support staff. The Therapeutic Team delivered both individual and group sessions for foster carers ensuring that additional support was in place to meet the identified needs of children. The Service had a responsibility to match children displaying specific behaviours with suitable foster carers, ensuring placements aligned with the children’s needs. The Looked-After Children’s (LAC) Nurse assisted with medical requirements and ensured that children were fast-tracked through the system. The Education Liaison Officer also supported schools in meeting the needs of the children. Medical and educational assessments were completed as part of the additional support. However, children with physical health conditions remained an area of concern, as some foster carers did not have the necessary accessible provision, such as wheelchair access. This was identified as a gap that the Service needed to resolve, particularly in relation to the availability of suitable provision for children with disabilities. • A daily record was completed by foster carers for all children under their care. These records were an important mechanism for maintaining a detailed account of the child and the foster carer’s experiences. If a child made a disclosure, foster carers had received training on how to respond appropriately and how to record and report this to the service. If necessary, foster carets could contact the Emergency Duty Team (EDT), which operated out of hours, or reach out to their supervising social worker during office hours. • Every individual was required to complete a mandatory training course called ‘Skills to Foster’ before commencing work as a foster carer. In-house staff had been trained to deliver this course and there was a regional agreement in place which enabled each local authority to provide this training to prospective foster carers. There was a set of mandatory training that foster carers were expected to complete, which was structured using a tiered approach. E-learning and other online training options were available, including the use of virtual reality headsets to simulate traumatic experiences which a looked after child may have witnessed. Appropriate training was also provided to support carers in meeting children’s medical needs, and no child was placed with a foster carer until the required training had been completed. Foster carers were encouraged to take-up all training provided. Following a comprehensive discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive the findings of Care Inspectorate Wales following its Inspection of the Council’s Fostering Services; and (ii) acknowledge the progress made to date by the Service, along with the continuing commitment of staff, towards the provision of quality services for all stakeholders and to deliver the Service’s vision for further service improvements going forward.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive Care Inspectorate Wales’ Inspection Report on Cysgod y Gaer Care Home; (ii) support the actions taken in relation to further strengthening leadership and management at the home; and (iii) congratulate all staff at Cysgod y Gaer and in Adults and Homelessness Services on a positive report highlighting the quality of services provided to residents, their families, and the wider community.
The Lead Member for Health and Social Care introduced the report (previously circulated) and outlined the key inspection outcomes, recommendations and areas for continued improvement. She emphasised that it was overall a positive report despite the challenges and pressures faced across the service. The key outcomes were as follows: • Overall, the report was positive, the residents had received good care across the areas of wellbeing, caring support and their environment. • Areas for improvements were identified in relation to staff training and development, as well as the consistency of record keeping. Actions had been implemented to address these issues. • CIW were satisfied that improvements to staffing levels had been made. The Head of Adult Social Care and Homelessness Service reiterated that it had been disappointing to see leadership and management identified as an area requiring improvement. However, the report had been positive overall. Staffing levels were always a challenge throughout Adult Social Care due to staff sickness, staff promotion and people retiring or leaving. Nevertheless, recruitment was not a problem at Cysgod y Gaer, local people wanted to work there which was particularly pleasing as this resulted in a high proportion of staff being Welsh speaking which was in-keeping with the home’s ethos and met residents’ linguistic needs. Responding to members’ questions the Head of Adult Social Care and Homelessness Service along with the Service Manager for Care and Support explained that: • Best practice was continually explored and shared across the Service and with other local authorities. The Council actively considered both its in-house care establishments, Cysgod y Gaer and Dolwen, as suitable places to trial new initiatives with a view to improving and enhancing service-delivery. Work was currently underway with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) in relation to dementia care. Another piece of work had been undertaken with a local university around alcohol misuse in care homes. Meetings also took place with private sector providers to both gain and share best practice. • The CIW inspection raised concerns about the lack of recording and reporting of training. Training in areas such as fall prevention, diabetes awareness, palliative care, Huntington’s disease, infection prevention, and dementia awareness had been accessible to staff and provided by the Health Board. Whilst a wide range of training was available, sometimes due to work pressures it was difficult to release staff to attend courses for a half or full day. Consequently, an online learning portal had been established which all care staff could access as and when they had time to do so. They could undertake the training in bite-size pieces and complete each module when it best suited them. They could also revisit the modules as often as they needed. Reactive or specific/specialist training was also provided when a resident had a particular health condition. • Residents who were now entering residential care tended to present more complex needs than when the care homes were originally built, therefore more specialist equipment was required to deliver the care. Whilst the homes had not been designed or built to accommodate these types of modern equipment, modifications were made to enable their use. • Falls were managed through quality of care. If this were not effectively managed the Ambulance Service or the Health Board would raise concerns with the local authority if their staff were called to attend a higher-than-normal number of fall-related callouts. • Contrary to Children’s Social Care Services a national standard for staffing level ratios did not exist for adult social care services. Therefore, the Service focused on maintaining safe staffing levels, all of which were regularly reviewed. Agency staff were brought in to cover high levels of absence. Several joint posts existed within the administrative support staff which covered both Adult and Children’s Services, helping to ensure the Services operated effectively and efficiently and were able to maximise any opportunities which became available. • Cysgod y Gaer had recently benefitted from the installation of solar panels and battery storage facilities to cut energy costs. Access to a dashboard had been provided to monitor the energy consumption levels and the panels’ impact on energy costs for the facility. As the installation had been undertaken as a corporate project aimed at reducing the Council’s energy consumption and carbon footprint the corporate Energy Team managed the dashboard and its monitoring. • The Service continually reviewed training records and assessed the needs of its staff. It also regularly reviewed and adapted its training programmes to meet changing needs. At the conclusion of a comprehensive discussion the Committee: Resolved: subject to the above observations to – (i) receive Care Inspectorate Wales’ Inspection Report on Cysgod y Gaer Care Home; (ii) support the actions taken in relation to further strengthening leadership and management at the home; and (iii) congratulate all staff at Cysgod y Gaer and in Adults and Homelessness Services on a positive report highlighting the quality of services provided to residents, their families, and the wider community.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the Care Inspectorate Wales reports referred to it by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group, along with a report on the ‘Impact of the Introduction of the new IT System on Children’s Services’ in late spring/early summer 2027, to confirm its programme of future work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
The Scrutiny Coordinator introduced the report and its appendices (previously circulated), which sought the Committee to review its programme of future work. The next meeting of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee would be held on 21st May 2026. Since the report’s publication the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group (SCVCG) had met and referred a further two Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW): • CIW Inspection of Denbighshire’s Domiciliary Support Service • CIW Inspection of Dolwen Care Home for inclusion on the Committee’s forward work programme for May 2026. The Scrutiny Coordinator reminded members to complete the Scrutiny Proposal Form attached at Appendix 2 to the report if there were any topics which they felt merited being scrutinised. Any requests received would be considered by the SCVCG at their next meeting in May 2026. The Cabinet forward work programme was also attached to the report as Appendix 3 for information, and Appendix 4 to the report contained an update on the Committee’s recommendations from its last meeting. The Committee: Resolved: subject to the inclusion of the Care Inspectorate Wales reports referred to it by the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group, along with a report on the ‘Impact of the Introduction of the new IT System on Children’s Services’ in late spring/early summer 2027, to confirm its programme of future work as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
None. Meeting concluded at 12.05pm.
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