63 Redesign of Children's Services PDF 85 KB
To consider a report of the Strategic Director People.
Minutes:
The Committee considered a report on the current position with the redesign of Children’s Services. A Programme Manager had been appointed for a 12 month period to lead the introduction of a new model for Children’s Services. The new model would be based on multi-agency working targeted at addressing needs earlier in children’s lives as this was the most effective way by which the risks of poor outcomes to children and young people could be reduced.
The main features of the new ways of working were:
Multi-agency teams co-ordinated around the needs of the child,
family and community;
Services that were well-co-ordinated and reduced need for
parents/carers to complete a number of assessments required by a
number of separate agencies and processes;
Effective signposting to the most appropriate services sooner;
Good information sharing between services and agencies to prevent
service duplication and the poor use of resources.
Locality Teams comprising partners from the Children’s Trust would be formed to provide access to targeted support appropriate to the local needs presented. Services would be commissioned on a multi-agency basis appropriate to the needs of the locality and informed by a good needs assessment/evidence base. Services would be co-located where appropriate and possible.
Members discussed the report and the following points were raised:
It was important to ensure there was capacity within Cheshire East
to manage all Cheshire East children and reduce the need for any
child/young person to be cared for out of the area; the Locality Teams would be established based on
the specific needs of the area;
How good was data and information sharing between partners?
In response, the Committee was advised
that data sharing was improving and a protocol was being developed
around this issue. The provision of an observatory system, along
similar lines to the Police and Fire services, was being addressed
through the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Steering Group,
chaired by the Strategic Director People. The Contact Point system was also in place and
awaiting training and licensing approvals; this would be monitored
through the Children’s Services Business Plan;
Monitoring of out of area/specialist placements, which were
expensive, was done by statutory review and if needs were not being
met this would be addressed;
It was important to focus on training and vocational needs not just
academic achievement. The Committee was
advised that from 1 April 2010, the Council would be responsible
for post 16 funding and must engage with the business community as
part of this new responsibility;
In relation to the timescale for the redesign, Members were advised
that budget efficiencies had been identified over a 3 year
period;
This Committee would receive regular progress updates and the
possibility of receiving the minutes of the Children’s Trust
would be investigated.
RESOLVED: that the progress report on the redesign be noted.