Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

(a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2021

(b)   Matters Arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2021 were agreed as a true record.

Matter Arising

In respect of Minute 10/20 (The House Project), it was reported that the launch for the House Project would be taking place the next day, 16 July 2021, and the Cabinet Member, Councillor Seaman would be attending.

Report of the Director of Children’s Services

The Cabinet Member considered the Early Help Annual Report for 2020/2021.

The report provided an overview of the Family Hub service in Coventry from 1April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and detailed how Coventry Children’s Services had delivered the Early Help offer through the Family Hub Model, including information on key achievements and milestones in the development of the Family Hub service, as well as challenges and next steps which will informed priorities for the forthcoming 12 months.

Details of how the Family Hubs responded to the COVID19 pandemic, how services were delivered and what help and support children, young people and their families were offered including the Family Hub core offer.  The report also set out data on the number of families who had been supported.

The Cabinet Member noted that work to develop and implement the Early Help Strategy 2020-2022 for Coventry continued to be a priority and remained the focus of the Early Help Strategic Partnership.

The Early Help Offer delivered to children, young people and their families was continually being refined and developed as a result of feedback from children and their families and partner agencies. The annual plan provided an opportunity to consider those representations from individuals and informed the future development of services delivered as well as the Hub environment and accessibility.

The report outlined the progress made in the Troubled Families Programme (now known as Supporting Families) and detailed work to develop practice as identifying next steps and priorities for the forthcoming year.

Family Hubs had continued to work collaboratively with key partners to support children and families most in need of help.  The impact of the pandemic had increased food poverty and the report covered the ongoing work to respond to the need in the City.  A partnership between the Family Hubs and the Coventry food network was formed and an emergency food hub had been established to further support the local community.

Other achievements discussed at the meeting included a programme developed to deliver early intervention to reduce first time entrants into the criminal justice system, which was a collaboration of Family Hub Youth Workers and Police Community Support Officers delivering a short programme of intervention to young people identified as low risk of criminal exploitation.

Following consideration of the report and presentation at the meeting, the Cabinet Member thanked officers for their excellent work in the particularly difficult circumstances of the pandemic, for adapting in a positive way and for ensuring  that everyone got the right support when they needed it.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People endorse the progress of Early Help work across Coventry for 2020/21, including partnering arrangements with the wider partnership.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

There were no other items of public business.