Agenda item

Further to Minute 37 of the Cabinet, the City Council considered a report of the Director of Children’s Services which set out proposals for the Family Hub and Start for Life Programmes and the Trailblazer programmes and sought approval to accept grant funding.

The Council currently operated 8 Family Hubs to deliver place-based integrated offer to families across the city.  They bring together services to improve access, build connections between families, practitioners, services and providers and put relationships at the heart of family support. Family hubs offer universal and targeted support to families with children of all ages up to 19 years and should provide support to families with young people with SEND up to 25 years. A comprehensive and effective Start for Life offer (0-2 years) should be at the core of the offer.

Coventry City Council has been selected to apply to join the national Family Hub and Start for Life Programme (first 1001 days), with financial investment to strengthen its offer to babies, children and families building on the achievements to date.  This programme would attract between £4.06m - £4.25m grant funding across the 3 years 2022/23 to 2024/25 to deliver the programme objectives.

In addition to this the Council could bid for additional trailblazer funding of £183k during 2022/23 allowing Coventry to be one of the first 15 Local Authorities to lead the way in delivering the programme.  Trailblazers would be expected to make the quickest, most ambitious and innovative progress in delivering the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme. This would include going faster and harder in delivering new or improved services for at least one of the following areas funded: perinatal mental health and parent-infant relationships; infant feeding; and parenting support.  Whilst trailblazers may be selected if applying for just one or two programmes, priority will be given to trailblazers that are ambitious and innovative across all three areas.  It was therefore proposed that Coventry apply for all three aspects of the funding.

The report included an overview of the Family Hub and Start for Life Programme and the funding that the Council would be eligible for. It also included a description of key service priorities, including a focus on community outreach and engagement with communities to ensure the coproduction of the maturity and expansion of family support services.

RESOLVED that the City Council:

1.  Accepts the grant funding for the purposes outlined in the report in respect of the Family Hub and Start for Life programme and the Trailblazer programme, in the event that that the City Council is successful in its grant bid the City Council.

2.  Delegates authority to Director of Children’s Services, following consultation with the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer, to agree and sign any grant agreement.

3.  Agrees that the Director of Children’s Services is named as the Single Accountable leader for the Start for Life Offer.

4.  Agrees that future reports on this grant and the Family Hub and Start for Life programme are received by the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Children Services