Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Strategic Director People on some of the

dimensions of the Think Family agenda and how this agenda might be

taken forward by Cheshire East Council and by the whole system in

Cheshire East.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director People on the Think Family agenda which had been one of the Big Ideas underpinning the proposals for establishing two new Unitary Authorities in Cheshire.  The Big Idea had a number of strands:

      It was felt that the organising principles often used by Councils when setting up departments were artificial and irrelevant;

      There was an ambition to bring services together not on the basis of the ideas of the professionals but on the basis of experiences and perceptions of the people who use those services;

      In particular, it was believed that a fundamental experience of most people is that of being or having been part of a family.

When adopting a Think Family approach it was important to use “family” in an embracing and inclusive way that embraced families of every sort.  Think Family could be seen as an aspiration whereby the Council would not respond to people’s needs in a narrow way but rather would put services together in ways that reflected people’s lives. 

The report outlined that “Think Family” had its origins in the Social Exclusion Task Form and the Department for Children, Schools and Families who had made additional resources available:

      £100,000 was allocated to the Parenting Experts programme and this would continue;

      £237,991 had been allocated as new funding form 1 April 2009 of which £143,000 would go into establishing Parenting Early Intervention Programmes to help mothers and fathers of children aged 8 – 13 at risk of poor outcomes, to improve their parenting skills.  

The Appendix to the report listed a number of other Think Family issues including Obesity whereby good work could be done in school but it was important to also focus upon the family environment. 

RESOLVED:  That the report be received and the Think Family approach be supported.