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Fair Opportunities for All: Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee - Tuesday, 16th September, 2025 6.30 pm
September 16, 2025 View on council websiteSummary
The Fair Opportunities for All: Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee convened to discuss several key reports, including the Participation Annual Report, the Family First Partnership Reforms, an update on the Achieving Excellence Plan, and the Wigan Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report. The committee endorsed the Participation Annual Report and the Wigan Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report, and supported the Children's Social Care Achieving Excellence Plan. They also endorsed the information outlined within the report on the Family First Partnership Reforms.
Participation Annual Report
The committee reviewed the Participation Annual Report, which detailed how young people in Wigan are given opportunities to influence the services they use. The report highlighted the Youth Inspectors Programme, which launched in May 2024, and the continued use of the Lundy Model1 of participation.
The committee resolved to:
- Thank the officers and young people for their report
- Endorse the Participation Annual Report 2024/25
- Support the plan to continue embedding effective participation activities and opportunities across service areas working with children and young people.
The report noted that the Connected Family, a care leavers group, had written the foreword for this year's participation report.
The report also detailed the next steps and priorities for the next 6 months, including:
- Sustaining and expanding the Community of Practice
- Developing a post-2025 Participation Strategy
- Investing in digital participation tools
- Celebrating and sharing success
Family First Partnership Reforms and Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
The committee considered a report providing an overview of the Families First Partnership reforms, which are linked to the Child Wellbeing and Schools Bill.
The report noted that the reforms aim to keep families together, improve family help, and provide further protection to children missing education and those who are electively home educated.
The committee resolved to:
- Thank the officer for her report
- Endorse the information outlined within the report, underpinning national reforms in Children's Social Care.
The Director of Children's Services, Colette Dutton, informed the committee that cross-organisational collaboration had been achievable in certain instances, but a number of challenges had arisen, including issues related to governance, confidentiality, and incompatible systems.
She also advised that the decision for home-educated children to sit exams rested with the family, and unless there was a safeguarding concern, the council had no authority in this area.
2024/25 Data Report and Achieving Excellence Update
The committee received an update on the progress of the Children's Social Care Achieving Excellence Plan, which was developed in response to the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children's Services in May 2022, with follow up focussed visits in 2023 and 2024.
The committee resolved to:
- Thank the officer for her report and presentation
- Endorse the Children's Social Care Achieving Excellent Plan.
The Practice Director - Children's Social Care, Sandie Hayes, informed the committee that the council's agency/permanent staff ratio represented a positive position and there had been a significant reduction in use of agency Social Workers.
She also advised that the level of Section 47 investigations2 had been reviewed on multiple occasions and the data had supported the appropriateness of the decisions made.
Wigan Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report
The committee considered a report outlining the activities of the Wigan Safeguarding Children's Partnership (WSCP) for 2024/25.
The committee resolved to:
- Thank the officer for her report
- Endorse the Wigan Safeguarding Children's Partnership Annual Report.
The annual report brought together the work of the WSCP and its subgroups and had been refined to align with the Association of Safeguarding Partners Checklist for judging a good yearly report, ensuring clarity, accessibility and accountability throughout.
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The Lundy Model of participation ensures that the four key concepts of space, voice, audience, and influence are embedded across all work with children and young people. ↩
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Section 47 of the Children Act 1989 places a duty on local authorities to make enquiries to decide whether they should take action to protect a child who is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm. ↩
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