JAR

The request was successful.

Dear Sir or Madam,

In the past Ofsted did a Joint Area Review (JAR), of your local
authority. Just in connection with it's finding on your services to
Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) and former UASC who
are Care Leavers, can you please provide copies of.

A) Any internal reports, business plans, actions plans, projects or
any other written material you hold that either highlights or
discusses how these JAR findings will responded to, services
improved or give explanations of the context and history to these
findings.

B) Any written strategic plans you have to address the JAR's
concerns in has reported for this vulnerable group of children in
care or care leavers.

OFSTED identified the following concerns about your services.

[ Paragraph 17 - There is a well-developed framework for promoting child health. Health indicators for looked after children are good, but unaccompanied asylum seeking children do not always have timely access to health advice from the looked after children's health service.

Paragraph 19 - Support for looked after children is good overall but more variable for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Paragraph 39 - Some accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seekers leaving care is unsuitable and does not fully meet their needs. There is inadequate access to health advice and support for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Paragraph 57 - Looked after children are generally well supported in making good attachments and in achieving good outcomes. However, support services are less accessible for unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and they are not all allocated to a qualified social worker.

Some accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seekers leaving care is unsatisfactory and does not fully meet their needs.

Area for improvement

Improve review and improve access to all services for children and young people who are unaccompanied asylum seekers;]

Yours faithfully,

Cassidy, J

Katharine Thorn,

5 Attachments

Dear J Cassidy,

Freedom of Information Request

I refer to your request for information which has now been considered and
the information requested is enclosed.

If you have any concerns or queries about the handling of your enquiry
then please contact the Records Manager & Data Protection Officer, Royal
Borough of Kingston upon Thames, High Street, Kingston upon Thames, KT1
1EU, telephone 020 8547 5757, Email: [1][Kingston upon Thames Borough Council request email]

Further information on the Act is available from the Information
Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700 [2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

In the request that you submitted, you asked for the following
information:

In the past Ofsted did a Joint Area Review (JAR), of your local
authority. Just in connection with it's finding on your services to
Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) and former UASC who are
Care Leavers, can you please provide copies of.

A) Any internal reports, business plans, actions plans, projects or
any other written material you hold that either highlights or
discusses how these JAR findings will responded to, services improved
or give explanations of the context and history to these
findings.

B) Any written strategic plans you have to address the JAR's concerns
in has reported for this vulnerable group of children in
care or care leavers.

OFSTED identified the following concerns about your services.

[ Paragraph 17 - There is a well-developed framework for promoting child
health. Health indicators for looked after children are good, but
unaccompanied asylum seeking children do not always have timely access to
health advice from the looked after children's health service.

Paragraph 19 - Support for looked after children is good overall but
more variable for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Paragraph 39 - Some accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seekers
leaving care is unsuitable and does not fully meet their needs.
There is inadequate access to health advice and support for
unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Paragraph 57 - Looked after children are generally well supported in
making good attachments and in achieving good outcomes. However, support
services are less accessible for unaccompanied asylum seeking children,
and they are not all allocated to a qualified social worker.

Some accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seekers leaving care is
unsatisfactory and does not fully meet their needs.

Area for improvement: Improve review and improve access to all
services for children and young people who are unaccompanied asylum
seekers;]

This information is enclosed.

The UASC Team Plan , Children and Young People's Plan and Finance Policy
identifies how these JAR findings were responded to and how the service
has improved. Additionally the information below demonstrates how the UASC
Team has addressed the concerns identified by OFSTED: -

Children and Young People's Plan

The Children and Young People's Plan covers the period 2006-2010 and sets
out our key priorities for improving outcomes for children and young
people. A new Children and Young People's Plan covering the period 2009 -
2013 will be available on our website in the Autumn.

A copy of the current Children and Young People's Plan is available at:
[3]http://www.kingston.gov.uk/children_and_...

The plan addresses the concerns highlighted by OFSTED and provides
objectives to achieve these:

Objective Being Healthy (BH) 2.2: Further develop services which give
priority to the physical and mental health of children in care and
unaccompanied asylum seeking children (Page 22 of the Children and Young
People's Plan, 2006-10).

Objective Staying Safe (SS) 2.1: Reduce the number of children in care who
experience three or more moves (Page 28 of the Children and Young People's
Plan, 2006-10)

Health

All Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) receive an initial health
assessment and are assisted to register with a GP within 5 working days.
Once a young person is registered with a GP they will receive a full LAC
Medical. If there are concerns regarding a young person's emotional well
being they will be referred to Children and Adolescent Mental Health
Services (CAMHS). If there are any immediate health concerns highlighted
in the initial health assessment, they will be assisted to access the
appropriate health service immediately.

All UASC are assisted to access a dentist and optician within 5 days.

The UASC Team and the health service organised a Health Day for UASC on
30^th July 2009 that covered the following areas:-

* Sexual health
* Relationships
* Healthy eating
* Dealing with Stress
* Drugs and alcohol

UASC can access the local YMCA gym for £1.00
UASC aged 16 and under can access free swimming .
UASC aged 17 & 18 can access swimming for £1.00

(Details attached below)

Support for UASC in RBK

* All UASC in RBK who are `Looked After', are placed with a `London
Asylum Seekers Consortium' , approved provider
* All Care Leavers are also in good quality of accommodation, many have
secured their own tenancies
* All Looked After are allocated to a qualified social worker
* The UASC Team provides a range of leisure & cultural activities
* All UASC are assisted to access education
* 100% of `looked after' young people are in education
* RBK has devised a clear financial support policy (see attachment
below)
* UASC has been supported to take part in the recruitment of new staff

If you feel that there is any further information that I can provide,
please let me know.

Yours sincerely,
Katharine

Katharine Thorn
Information Officer, Partnerships and Workforce Development,
Learning and Children's Services, First Floor, Guildhall 2, Kingston upon
Thames, KT1 1EU
Tel: 020 8547 5247
Fax: 020 8547 5235
Email: [email address]

The information contained in this message is confidential. It is intended
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References

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1. mailto:[Kingston upon Thames Borough Council request email]
2. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
3. http://www.kingston.gov.uk/children_and_...