Case Ref: 23 020 396 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• The Council will remind fostering staff of the importance of liaising with the Local Authority Designated Officer when there are concerns about standards of care relating to foster carers.

Case Ref: 23 018 361 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council agreed to review its ‘Tees Safeguarding Children Partnership procedures’ to ensure it clearly defines roles and responsibilities towards the person who works with or cares for children who is subject to an investigation about an allegation made against them. It should outline who is responsible for engaging the person during the process and for providing updates, copies of documents, outcomes and for monitoring compliance with any recommendations and sanctions.

Case Ref: 23 012 894 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind all staff in the special educational needs team about its complaints procedure, specifically highlighting what constitutes a complaint and what to do when staff receive a complaint.

Case Ref: 22 009 914 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Other

• The Counci lhas agreed to remind all staff who communicate with Mrs B in the children’s services, SEN and complaints teams of her reasonable adjustments, make a note on all her relevant files of the adjustments and ensure they are met as far as possible when communicating with her by email and sending hard copy documents by post.

Case Ref: 21 019 061 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will provide its staff dealing with the Children's Services complaints with the training on the criteria for applying children's statutory complaint procedure.

Case Ref: 21 010 516 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Other

• Within four weeks of my final decision, the Council has also agreed to make the following service improvements: • send a reminder to relevant staff about the importance of responding fully to a complaint; • send a reminder to relevant staff about the Council’s powers, under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, to require landowners or occupiers to keep their land free from mice and rats; and, • share this decision with relevant members of staff.

Case Ref: 21 005 776 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to ensure partnership agreements and contracts with third parties contain details about how relevant data will be stored or returned to the Council when they end.
• The Council has agreed to review existing agreements with other partners to the housing allocations scheme and consider amending them if needed to ensure accurate records are preserved in line with the Council’s records retention policy.

Case Ref: 21 002 324 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council agreed to remind relevant staff of the requirements of the Children Act and Children’s Statutory Complaints Procedures when considering if someone is a suitable representative.

Case Ref: 20 010 600 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council has agreed to update its online Council Tax application form process to ensure that applications for unlisted properties, or properties not currently on the valuation list, are raised with the relevant department to ensure the Council registers these properties with the Valuation Office and sets up Council Tax accounts for these properties.

Case Ref: 20 010 518 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• review how it shares information internally, so its Environment Contract Centre staff are aware of potential waiting times or delays in supply of bins.