Disclosure Log

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Question

Q 1- Central government adoption performance management 1 (a) Has the Welsh Government or any other central department (such as the National Adoption Service or CSSIW) (or anyone on their behalf) set individual targets for your performance (beyond published national adoption scorecards and thresholds)? 1 (b) What substantive, individual responses have you received from the DfE etc. in response to your adoption performance? (Including letters, conversations, meetings, requests, interventions, challenges, improvement notices or ‘support’ to improve adoption performance); and what reports has any part of your authority (social care, adoption, business or strategic sections etc) generated in relation to these? 1 (c) Does your local authority receive (or has your local authority ever received) any financial benefit which arises in whole or in part from the number of children or percentage number of children who are placed for adoption or adopted in any given year? (By this we do not mean by comparison of the relative costs of adoption as opposed to other placement options for a child, we mean a direct financial benefit provided by Central Government that correlates with adoption performance.) Q2 Adoption performance management at local level 2 (a) What statistics, analysis; reports, does any part of your authority, including social care, adoption, business and strategic sections, generate over and above central government returns? (Including but not limited to Performance Analysis Reports of Adoption Scorecards; Strategic or Business Plans; Children and Young People’s Plans; Adoption Action Plans and Reports to and Minutes of the Council’s Scrutiny Committee) Please provide copies for the last 3 statistical years and year to date or links if publicly available online. 2 (b) What performance management tools or systems does your authority operate and in particular what key performance indicators, targets, or similar does your authority apply (or has your authority applied in the last 3 years). Please provide copies for the last three full statistical years and year to date or links if published. 2. (c) How are these implemented within the organisation to assess performance and effect change (generally and specifically in relation to adoption performance?) e.g: i How are any local KPI’s or targets set and who sets them? ii Who reports to whom locally and regionally? iii How is individual performance measured with respect to identified KPI’s, targets or other performance indicators such as through individual appraisals or target setting for individual managers, Agency Decision Makers or frontline social workers? 2 (d) Do any social workers or managers employed by your Local Authority receive any financial benefit over and above their salary, which arises in whole or in part from the number of children or percentage number of children that they obtain a Placement Order or Adoption Order for?

Answer

1. a. Merthyr Tydfil has had no targets set by any organisation in respect of adoption activity. b. All adoption performance is collated by the Welsh Adoption service with the same performance indicators being collated throughout Wales. Merthyr Tydfil has been part of the Vale, Valleys and Cardiff adoption collaboration since it became functional in June 2015 from where adoption returns are collated and forwarded. We have not received any individual responses from DFE or any other organisation in respect of our individual adoption performance and therefore no reports in response have been generated. c. No local authority receives any financial incentive in respect of the number or percentage of children placed for adoption. 2. a. The Statistics including relevant dates to the individual child referred for adoption is maintained on a spreadsheet by the Fostering and Adoption Manager for Merthyr Tydfil, this information then feeds into the returns to the Vale, Valleys and Cardiff adoption collaboration who then forward for our combined area to the Welsh Adoption Service where any reports are then generated for Wales. We do not complete individual reports on our adoption performance. b. All children referred for adoption are tracked through the system by regular meetings being held between a manager from the VVC adoption collaboration, Merthyr childcare manager and Merthyr adoption manager, meetings are held bi-monthly to ensure each and every child is receiving the best service possible with no drift in planning or identifying an alternative permanent family where identified by the court to be in the child’s best interest. Performance management is recorded on our children’s adoption spreadsheet as stated above. Key performance indicators in respect of timescales are set by the Welsh Adoption service, we have no local targets separately. c. i.ii.iii. We are not set targets in respect of the number or percentage of children being adopted, all adoption plans are set by the court in the granting of a Placement Order. Placement Orders are only ever granted as a last resort when all family members are not deemed viable to care for the individual child. d. There is no financial incentive for any employee of the local authority to place a child for adoption or to seek a Placement Order.