Keeping Hertfordshire’s vulnerable children safe

Mark Watkin, Opposition Spokesperson for Children’s Services  met yesterday with Jenny Coles, Director of Children’s Services and Sue Williams, Operations Director of Safeguarding to  establish whether anything like what happened in Rotherham could be happening in Hertfordshire.  In their judgement and also the judgement of the Hertfordshire Police the answer is no.

One of the key factors in Rotherham was  that the Council used a large number of privately run homes as they are a relatively cheap way of housing teenagers  and failed to supervise what was going on in them. HCC uses far more foster carers looking after single  young people so co-ordinated abuse on the Rotherham scale is much more difficult to set up.

Mark comments “While one can never say that organised sexual abuse of children in Hertfordshire could never happen, I can say that the Children’s Services and the Police work extremely closely  to prevent anything like this happening to our children. I will continue to press the service’s leaders to ensure that there is no complacency in Children’s Services and I will challenge the status quo when it is not up to scratch.”

County failing young carers

“County failing its young carers”, admitted a senior Council Officer at Tuesday’s Children’s Services Cabinet Panel.

The County Council has estimated that there could be as many as 9000 young people who have to look after one or more of their parents, and of these 1200 have significant needs.

Of these 9000 young people who look after their parent(s), the County has been in contact with just 8% (727) and less than 2% (159) are being actively supported. Thousands of young Carers in Hertfordshire are being let down by the Conservative run County Council. (more…)

Care leavers in the west of Hertfordshire get short changed

In a report to the Children Services Cabinet Panel today, the Conservative run County Council admitted that it is operating a post code lottery in its allocation of apprenticeships.

Of the 23 care leavers who have been offered apprenticeships by the County Council, none are based in the west of the county.
“This is typical of a County Council based 30 miles away from the largest centre of population in the county” commented County Councillor Mark Watkin.
“They have little appreciation of the needs of young people living in Watford or Dacorum and these statistics just demonstrate it. Its frankly not good enough.”

Bus pass chaos

Liberal Democrat County Councillors have been battling to make sure local people get the bus passes they are entitled to.

Local residents from across the County have faced long delays for bus pass renewals, with some facing lengthy waits and having to resubmit documents.

County Councillor Kareen Hastrick (Meriden Tudor) said, “I have had to intervene where local residents have had to wait so long their old passes have run out.  Fortunately bus companies have granted people a grace period, despite their passes having expired.

“I have raised this problem in County Hall repeatedly and asked why so many people are having to wait so long and not had a proper response.  This is yet another service at County Hall that the conservatives are mismanaging, although if people cannot get on buses at least they won’t be bounced around over the potholed roads that the Conservatives have also failed to deal with.”

“I have raised this with County Council staff several times now and have not had a satisfactory answer about what is going on, which I find all the more strange given how many of my fellow County Councillors have been helping local residents across the County with the same issue!”

No-one is safe from this problem, County Councillor Malcolm Cowan (Handside and Peartree) commented “I recently sent off my renewals for my passport and my bus pass, both on the same day.

“I was absolutely stunned when my passport returned first.  Are Herts County Council carrying out greater security checks on people who just want to get on a bus, than the government do for people flying, as I cannot think of why else it would quicker to renew a passport than a bus pass.  This is sheer madness and shows that the system is failing”

Parenting programme grant

The St Albans West Local Partnership has been allocated a grant of £500 from a local county councillor to help pay for a parenting programme for targeted families.

Councillor Chris White (St Albans Central) has allocated the funding to the partnership from his locality budget. The funding will pay for a series of parenting workshops as well as contributing towards training more facilitators. The workshops cover a number of different subjects such as managing anger and building resilience; parenting teens; positive parenting for young mums; and helping children cope with divorce and separation.

The St Albans West Local Partnership is made up of 27 member schools in the area, supporting children and young people between the ages of five and 19 (or 23 if the child has special needs). The impact of the work of the partnership on children and young people can be enormous, helping them to become productive, happy and engaged members of society.

Cllr White said: “Supporting families which are under pressure pays enormous dividends for society. I am delighted to be able to support the parenting workshops offered by the partnership.”

A total of £10,000 is available to each of the 77 members of Hertfordshire County Council to spend on worthwhile community projects in their area.

Locality budgets were launched in July 2009, with funding to be used for worthy social, economic or environmental causes in Hertfordshire. For information on how to apply for funding under the scheme visitwww.hertsdirect.org/localitybudgets

Blue Badge information

A new centralised scheme was introduced by the government at the start of 2012 to tackle Blue Badge fraud. Badges are now made centrally and incorporate high technology fraud prevention features, with further checks on Blue Badge applicants to help reduce misuse.

A Blue Badge costs £10, is valid for up to three years and gives on-street parking concessions for disabled people, either as a driver or a passenger.

The easiest way for people to apply for a Blue Badge is through the county council’s website www.hertsdirect.org/bluebadge where there is also other information including details on who is eligible. No payment is taken from applicants until their application has been approved.

People without access to the internet can visit any Hertfordshire library where staff will be able to assist with online renewals and applications. Internet access and help with getting online can also be booked through local libraries. To get support at Hertfordshire libraries, phone 0300 123 4049 to book to use a computer with a scanner to scan passport compliant photo into the online application form. Library staff can also help with photocopying and certifying document needed to confirm applicants’ identity and address.

People can also call the county council on 0300 123 4042 to ask for a paper application form.

Blue badge crisis hits Herts

Statement by Ron Tindall, Lib Dem spokesperson on Adult Care Services

After being alerted to poor customer service by the team in charge of blue badge applications, I have been asking questions at Council meetings and found some even more shocking news.

Last Tuesday I was told that the average delay in issuing a replacement or new blue badge so disabled people can park in more accessible locations is now up to two months! Initially the delay was due to a backlog of applications being dealt with by the County Council. The new excuse is that the Department of Transport are slow at issuing the new badges.

The expectation is that there will continue to be a four to six weeks delay even when the current high volume decreases. Therefore, when renewing blue badges, it is advisable to submit applications at least eight weeks before the old badge runs out of date.

I have contacted the Director of Adult Care Services the County Council to ask her to speak to other Councils and ask them to not penalise disabled people who get a parking ticket because of the unacceptable delay in issuing them with a new blue badge

INADEQUATE HOME CARE PROVIDER SUSPENDED

Missed visits and insensitive responses to complaints are not what you would expect from the providers of social care. And yet, this is what has happened with one provider, who has been suspended from receiving new cases while there is an investigation into what went wrong with the care provision for a resident of St. Albans.

Chris White, Leader of the opposition Lib Dem Group on Herts County Council, said: ‘This is not the first time that there have been serious issues with care providers in this county. Yet again, the Conservative-controlled County Council has failed to provide an adequate service.

‘When looking after vulnerable people in the community, commissioning reliable providers of social care from the private sector must be a top priority for Hertfordshire County Council,’ said Chris.

‘While there is an investigation into this provider, what action is being taken within the Council to ensure that this is an isolated example of inadequate service from the Council’s many providers? This is an especially relevant issue, given the present search for new ways of working within Adult Care Services.’

Note to members from Herts County Council: Blue badge applications (extract)

Currently we have an 8 week lead-in time for issuing blue badges.  This is due to a number of factors – the introduction of the new ACS computer system, one staff member (out of 6) being on long-term sick leave and most importantly an unprecedented increase in the number of applications. In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions are being more stringent in awarding Disability Living Allowance, by refusing more claims or awarding for shorter periods.  This means more of the Blue Badge applicants have to be assessed, and re-assessed at shorter intervals.   With an aging population, and possibly because of the introduction of the congestion charge in London and more stringent parking regulations in local towns, this trend is unlikely to be reversed.  There is also a seasonal surge in applications every summer, as people are, quite rightly, keener to use their vehicles when the weather is better.  In addition, the Department for Transport is considering the introduction of 1-year badges for people with temporary conditions such as recuperation from hip replacements.  This will increase the pressure on all Blue Badge teams.

We do advise people to apply 6-8 weeks before their renewal date because we may have to obtain medical evidence to confirm that the person’s condition has not improved.  Being in receipt of a badge in previous years does not confer automatic re-entitlement, according to Department for Transport guidelines.  Only being in receipt of higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance gives automatic entitlement.

One of the difficulties we have encountered is that a large number of Blue Badge applicants make contact with the Customer Services Centre to enquire regarding progress of their application.  In order to avoid over-burdening the Blue Badge Team, the CSC try to handle these calls but obviously don’t have access to the full information, which frustrates the caller.  We are looking at ways of improving the service that can be delivered at that point, so that callers can be given better and more accurate information.

Measures that we have put in place will, we hope, produce results in the near future in getting that transaction time down to more acceptable levels.  We are very conscious of both the customer service and public relations issues – the queries we receive, which are often justified, are nevertheless very time-consuming in their own right and contribute to the delays – an inevitable but frustrating turn of events.  This downward spiral is hard to break but I can assure you that we are doing all we can to rectify the situation.

We have 72,000 badge-holders and around 700 new applications and renewals per week (each badge is valid for a maximum of 3 years).  Two years ago, we received around 400 new applications and renewals per week.  Many renewals are received near to or even after the badge expiry date, which adds to the pressure to turn-round applications quickly.

In addition, a growing number of applications have to be returned, or the applicant contacted by phone, because the form has been incorrectly completed or information has not been supplied.  The Blue Badge Team are also vigilant over potentially fraudulent applications and re-applications, of which there are a number (we recently cancelled an application made by the applicants daughter, as a check on ACS records showed that the applicant had died some months previously).