Case Ref: 21 015 447 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• At a senior level, the Council will undertake a detailed review intothe failings identified in this statement. This will focus on the reasons whyinformation relating to allegations about the complainant was not verified before beingpresented as factual to the ICPC. The Council will implement clear guidance forcaseworkers relating to the verification of information from parties to a childprotection assessment and how such information is presented in formalreporting. The review will also inform service improvements and policy changes,as well as specific feedback and areas of needed training to those involved inthe case.
• The Council’s case file (electronically or paper based) must makeclear that the Ombudsman has found numerous failings in the preparation andcontent of an child protection assessment report and how the complainant has been portrayed. The case fileshould include a copy of the Ombudsman’s final decision statement and refer thereader of the case file to this.

Case Ref: 21 006 432 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to provide us with evidence of how it has changed its procedures to ensure children transferring with Education, Health and Care Plans from a different council area are placed into suitable placements in line with relevant law and statutory guidance.

Case Ref: 20 012 439 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Noise

• produce clear guidance to staff on how and when to consider whether they need to make any reasonable adjustments for service users. This should include, for example, asking the service user if the Council needs to make any adjustments in the way it communicates with them to ensure the complainant can fully access its service. It should include the process for considering when BSL interpretation and translation may be considered reasonable. This guidance should be clearly embedded in the Council’s guidance on handling complaints and its procedure on investigating noise nuisances; and
• share this decision with relevant staff members.

Case Ref: 21 003 327 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• the Council has agreed it will: amend its materials on elective home education to make clear that the Council has an obligation to educate children who cannot attend school for health reasons, due to exclusion or otherwise.

Case Ref: 21 003 294 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• The Council has agreed to: •by training or other means remind staff of the importance of following the Council’s complaint procedure
• •provide evidence the Council reminded all staff of the importance of responding to emails in a timely manner as stated in its stage 2 response to Mr X’s complaint.
• •review the existing communication system between the Council and its waste collection service. This is to ensure there are clear mechanisms in place for prompt and effective provision of service / resolution of issues such as missed bin collections
• •provide an effective communication training to the Council’s waste collection crews and its wider service.

Case Ref: 20 007 819 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Looked after children

• the Council has also agreed to make the following services improvements: review its guidance to staff on what to do when the working relationship with the parents of a Looked after Child and their point of contact at the Council has deteriorated;
• produce guidance to staff and residential care settings on handling reports of lost belongings of Looked after Children;
• consider whether a specific process is necessary to ensure that the belongings of Looked after Children are properly tracked and audited. The Council should consider whether part of this would be creating a list of items collected at the end of a placement and confirmation that they were handed on to the child; and,
• share this decision with relevant members of staff.