Agenda item

The Strategic Director of Social Care and Education and the Strategic Director of Childrens Social Work and Early Help have submitted a report and will headline a presentation on ongoing work within Family Hubs and Children’s Centres.

Members to note that this report is for information only.

The Strategic Director of Social Care and Education and the Strategic Director

of Childrens Social Work and Early Help submitted a report on the ongoing work within Family Hubs and Children’s Centres.

The Deputy City Mayor for Social Care, Health and Community Safety introduced the report and noted that:

• As a flagship programme of the previous government the Council had been happy to get the funding to take the work forward, however, it had become clear that the funding had come with caveats.
• The biggest challenge had been the need to develop an offer and expand it over two years, this needed to be sustainable as after two years the funding would be stopped.  The Council had managed to achieve this.
• The Secretary of State had been written to in order to ask for the opportunity for Leicester to pilot early intervention if Children’s Centres did not need to be closed.  This would be going ahead, but it was not known how much the government were going to change it.

The Head of Early Help and the Disabled Children’s Service then presented the report. Key points highlighted included:

• The programme was now in the implementation stage.
• Providers for 0-2 year-olds had been commissioned.
• The workforce and partners were being trained.  This included health workers to ensure that interventions were successful.
• With regard to co-dependencies, there were staff available to provide the core offer as well as other offers.
• Looking at the numbers of staff trained, these matched the needs of the community and could also provide core services.
• The consultation on the Summer Extravaganza would need to be considered in terms of delivery.  This was still at the consideration stage.

The Commission was invited to ask questions and make comments and the officers and the Deputy City Mayor for Social Care, Health and Community Safety to respond. Key points included:

• In terms of outcomes, there had been over 100 requirements from the Department for Education (DfE).  In terms of sustainability, the Council were looking at their own monitoring processes as they were familiar with the city.  The DfE had given boundaries and measures in terms of broad outcomes, but the Council would look more specifically in terms of quality assurance in terms of feedback from families etc.
• It was noted that expectations changed, and other authorities had been told they could have different things.
• The consultation had been completed in terms of Children’s Centres.  In terms of delivering services that were both early help and early years, it was aimed to move that forward to local communities as much as possible, building connections between workers, families, teachers and health workers etc.  Efficiencies and savings could be made through this approach.
• In response to a query on whether a portage service was available, it was noted that there were early years teachers who did Special Educational Needs (SEN) work.  It was uncertain as to whether a portage model was used, but in terms of indicators of early years need, there was a model that was embedded.
• Mapping for Change was a part of the project to support the needs assessment.  Once the final report was reviewed it could come to the Commission.
• In response to queries on the tailoring of services and the provision of resources, it was clarified that the Mapping for Change report helped the Council understand what the needs were so that services could be tailored, and resources provided accordingly.
• Interventions through the DfE would target specific issues.
• Family hubs were not just about a physical presence but were multi-modal with added focus on online and remote delivery, particularly for hard-to-access families.  This gave flexibility.

AGREED:

1)    That the update be noted.

2)    That the commission be kept informed of updates.

3)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account by the lead officers.