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The Corporate Parenting Advisory Committee received updates on the council's second-quarter progress under its Corporate Parenting Annual Plan. It also received updates on housing, safeguarding from exploitation, school exclusions and further education for children looked after and care-experienced young people. The minute records no decisions on these items, and members asked questions and made suggestions.
There were no apologies.
There were none.
The minutes of the 22nd June meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.
The Committee received an update on key areas of progress against the Corporate Parenting Annual Plan made in Quarter 2. Rebecca Brockway, Corporate Parenting Policy and Development Manager began by explaining how the CPAC action tracker had followed up Members’ suggestions, including those on access to dental care, permanent exclusions, recommendations from the National Adoption Service, the speech and language pathway and target setting. With regard to Quarter 2, she explained that of 57 actions in all, 18% had been initiated, 81% were in progress and 2% were complete. Two actions were rated amber due to delays in meeting targets but the other 55 were on target. The amber actions related to developing a briefing for council staff within Internal Audit team, which had been delayed due to capacity and the target updated to December; and the development of a guaranteed interview scheme for care-experienced people when applying for council roles, which had been delayed due to the council moving to the new ERP, and they were awaiting a response from the Change Board and an amended date. She added that the Annual Report had gone to the Children & Young People Scrutiny Committee on 14th July, which had been broadly positive about the progress made but had also sought stronger evidence of impact, outcomes and how improvements were making a difference to the lives of children looked after and care-experienced young people. The Committee had not made any formal recommendations, but had requested information relating to the impact and outcomes from performance data, the age 16 destination gap, and Personal Advisor availability during the transition to adulthood. Members explored the topic of Personal Education Plans (PEPs) and heard that the work done on this had been successful so far, and it would be rolled out again this year. They sought to build capacity for professional learning and ensure it was more than just a statutory exercise by embedding PEPs within Individual Development Plans (IDPs). Members queried what the 42.6% figure for quality assurance meant in practice, and heard that the Virtual School team matched PEPs against a quality assurance framework using a RAG rating and fed this information back to schools. This was intended to create a more robust process that mitigated the need for escalation. The Corporate Parenting Policy and Development Manager added that key areas of progress included stronger strategic partnerships across health, education and community organisations, with health partners regular involved in Corporate Parenting governance. Collaboration with universities, colleges and the Welsh government had been expanded, with a dedicated Corporate Parenting e-learning to be launched in October, as well as a new outcomes-focused Corporate Parenting Dashboard, redesigned to focus on the areas that mattered the most. The framework was structured around three key questions: ‘are we doing what we said we’d do?’, ‘is it making a difference?’, and ‘do young people agree?’, as well as removing any unnecessary or identifiable info from the dashboard. She added that it was a comprehensive report of work done, organised according to priorities: improving emotional health and wellbeing; better connections and improved relationships; a comfortable, safe and stable home whilst in care and after; educational achievement, employment and training; and involving and celebrating our children and young people. She also outlined several case studies of the service supporting young people, and circulated a list of visit opportunities which Members were encouraged to engage with.
The Committee received an update on progress against Priorities 3 and 4: ‘a comfortable, safe and stable home whilst in care and after’ and ‘educational achievement, employment and training’. Stephanie Rogers-Lewis (OM Housing Need and Homelessness) gave a presentation on Improving Housing Pathways Out of Care, focusing on housing-related actions within the Corporate Parenting Annual Plan. In particular, she highlighted the move from crisis-led response towards developing planned and supported housing pathways for children looked after and care leavers, as well as strengthening multi-agency oversight and earlier transition planning. Success was measured not just through the number of placements but through their suitability and sustainability. She explained that there were currently 237 units of accommodation in the Young Persons Gateway, 54% more than in 2019. 154 young people had entered the gateway on average every year since 2019, with 190 new placements made last year, continuing pressure on the service. As new provision opened up, placements became less concentrated with a single provider, which was currently 66% Salvation Army, 25% Llamau C2, 5% C3 and 4% YMCA. Key measures of progress included the youth homelessness prevention rate, which was up 11%, while positive move-on from the gateway had increased and the time taken to place CLA into Young Persons Gateway from residential had reduced. Access to MDT support had increased while evictions had fallen, and more managed accommodation and Housing First homes were available for young people. She highlighted Ty Countisbury as a practical example of this work, made up of 16 self-contained units with communal spaces and additional space for emergency overnight placements. 24/7 support was provided on site, and it was delivered through a multi-agency approach as a joint development through Housing and Children’s Services. Complex needs could not be met in isolation, and partnership working was necessary. She noted that transition planning required improvement to minimise uncertainty for young people and professionals, and to that end the creation of a new Housing Transitions Officer post was proposed. This officer would meet the young person face to face, seeking to understand their needs and assessing their readiness for move-on. This would reduce unplanned or emergency moves and help each young person move to the most suitable accommodation. She added that a review of the Young Persons MDT in 2025 had also identified areas for improvement, for instance better case management through an outcomes-based assessment tool, increased staffing and enhanced partnership working. The number of children looked after receiving MDT support had increased, and they had achieved a 40% reduction in CLA evictions in 2025/26. Partnership engagement was important, and they were working with CLASS Cymru (Care Leavers Activities and Student Support), with workshops and webinars at Cardiff University. She added that the wider prevention agenda was also supported by providing accessible information. The challenges faced included high demand, increased complex needs and inconsistent transition planning, and would be tackled by earlier pathway planning, continued strengthening of multi-agency oversight, and documented, personalised move-on plans. Members welcomed the focus on young people reaching the end of university, and asked how support was provided at the right time. Officers agreed that this was key to providing truly person-centred support, and noted that when someone was about to move out of university without anywhere to go, they could be supported six months before accommodation was required. Members asked how planning pathways could be improved, and heard that young people often had misconceptions about what their options were, and the new Housing Transitions Officer would seek to break down barriers and make changes feel less overwhelming. Members advocated ensuring continuity of care and maintaining relationships with trusted individuals. Members noted figures relating to evictions and asked about the council’s legal duty to rehouse. Officers explained that the council’s homelessness duty would not end due to an eviction, and they would have to reflect upon whether it had been the right placement with the right support, and consider how to get it right next time. Expanding their accommodation options helped with this. Members queried the sustainment rate of Housing First and heard that this was 99%, with the one exception not being behaviour-related, but rather an individual who was better off in a more supported setting. Jade Harrison (OM Service Improvement and Strategy) and Suki Bahara-Garrens (Director of Children’s Services) gave a presentation on safeguarding Children Looked After from exploitation, noting that there were three key actions behind their work. The first was to ensure all multi-agency professionals working with CLA received training on recognising and responding to exploitation and cuckooing, while the second was to collaborate with the Regional Safeguarding Board’s Transitional Safeguarding Group to strengthen transition arrangements that prevented and disrupted exploitation. The third was to raise awareness among care-experienced young people moving into independent living, to help them recognise and report exploitation and cuckooing. Officers also outlined the strategic and corporate response via the Harm Outside the Home delivery group, and the different workstreams in Children’s Services within Safeguarding Children from Exploitation (SAFE). The Risk Outside the Home (ROTH) pathway sought to take a different approach to contextual risk, and a pilot was underway. A SAFE Hub Coordinator had been appointed to co-ordinate the SAFE Virtual Hub and connect it to front door services as well as the police. Members asked whether cuckooing was an issue for young people in Cardiff, and heard that it tended to be targeted at vulnerable adults rather than children, but they wanted to be as prepared as possible, and healthy relationships were key. Parental awareness was a challenge, and parents and carers had to be equipped and empowered to help. Officers also noted that events could be held in particular areas or targeted towards particular cohort where they were aware of issues. Moving onto Priority 4, David Williams (Inclusion Services) and Rhian Davies (Emotional Health & Wellbeing Team Leader) gave a presentation on the Permanent Exclusion Triage Panel and how it related specifically to children looked after. Officers explained that children looked after were a vulnerable group, and schools should make every practical effort to maintain educational placement, with permanent exclusion only as a last resort. Schools were also required to consider the impact of exclusion on learners’ wellbeing, relationships and progress, which involved consultation with social workers, the CLA team, the Ensuring Access officer, Emotional Health & Wellbeing (EHW) and other specialist teams. A Person-Centred Meeting (PCM) took place, which included a social worker, the OM Childrens Services, CLA rep, school representatives and the parents, carers or learners where appropriate. Officers added that, following exclusion, there was a right to appeal. The local authority attended these meetings as well as monitoring exclusion data, providing challenge and support to schools, and helping to identify suitable future provision when required. The CLA Virtual School was the first point of contact for schools, and supported social workers and foster carers. Before excluding a CLA learner, schools had to demonstrate consideration of alternatives and a wide range of consultation. Exclusions should be rare, and schools should work collaboratively with families, Children’s Services, the CLA team and the local authority to ensure every possible alternative was explored first. Members asked what kind of alternatives were explored, and heard that some specific alternatives were listed in the Welsh government guidance: restorative intervention; a fresh start in another school through a managed move outside of the admissions process; and modifications to timetables via pastoral support plans. Different types of provision were available to them as a local authority, and they could also support the school to apply internal measures. Officers added that a Permanently Excluded Triage Panel had been created to improve the efficiency of panels and enhance their monitoring. It sought to determine the most appropriate educational pathway for learners who had been permanently excluded from schools in Cardiff, and assessed whether it was appropriate for them to be reintegrated into mainstream provision, or if specialist provision would better suit their needs. Its members included senior education officers, inclusion officers, representatives from mainstream and alternative provision, educational psychologists, Social Services and the Admissions manager, and it met every Friday to discuss any learners who had been permanently excluded. The panel’s referral form collected the key details and allowed for supporting documentation to be submitted through a portal within two days of the decision. If it was decided that the school had not adequately explored barriers to learning through the Person-Centred Meeting, the panel could request that this be done before a decision could be made, and could result in referral to a placement panel for consideration of specialist placement and interim tuition. Members noted that the exclusion process had changed significantly in recent years, and welcomed the work done to ensure that all other options were explored before exclusion was sought. They noted long waiting lists for some diagnoses, and heard that the process took into account the description of the needs of the child rather than requiring a formal diagnosis. Members asked about the police’s role in assessing such cases, and heard that officers had put together updated, accessible exclusion guidance for schools based on Welsh government guidance. This included guidance on circumstances where referral to the police would be necessary, which was generally when there was serious risk. Otherwise it was schools’ understanding that they might need to inform the police about some actions and behaviours. Michell Hiller-Forster (Vice Principal Quality & Learner Journey at Cardiff and Vale College) gave a presentation on the Better Care Learner Journey, explaining that it was a bespoke learner journey for care-experienced young people. Cardiff and Vale College supported 150 care-experienced young people each year as well as around 50 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC), seeking to provide every learner with a trusted network of support. Their approach was based on personalised support, goal-focused interventions and ensuring that the learner’s voice mattered, with a named key contact to support them throughout. Priorities were co-created with learners, and this year they had highlighted transparency around information sharing, strengthening trauma-informed practice, transition support both in and out, and work experience opportunities. Bespoke UASC support was also provided, although most ESOL provision was currently part-time. The Corporate Parenting Policy and Development Manager added that this was an example of developing partnerships with wider organisations, and looked forward to continuing that work in the future.
There were none.
11th January 2027 at 3pm.
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