Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Children and Education

The Board considered a Briefing Note and a presentation of the Early Help Operational Lead on the overview of the Early Help Services, detailing progress to date and any likely changes in relation to the One Coventry Services programme.

Officers summarised that Early Help in Coventry is delivered through a partnership approach, with a wide range services, agencies and teams working to provide an early help system of support to deliver the right help at the right time to children, young people and their families. Furthermore, it is an approach that services adopt to intervene at the earliest opportunity to reduce the impact of adverse childhood experiences and help families achieve positive outcomes and reduce the likelihood of needing statutory services intervention. This is described in Coventry’s Early Help Strategy, and is governed by the Early Help Strategic Partnership, a subgroup of Coventry’s Safeguarding Children Partnership.

All services who provide an early help offer to children, young people and their families have a responsibility to identify and assess needs, through effective conversations with children, young people and their families and plan with them how to address these needs. It was noted that, the importance of children and their families influencing the design and delivery of the future early help offer is a key principle in the Strategy, ensuring that the voices of children are at the heart of everything the service does.

In addition, officers described that the strategy focused on the implementation of the national programmes that are the key drivers in the delivery of Early Help: The Family Hub and Start for Life Programme and the Supporting Families Programme alongside the use of the shared recording platforms (Early Help Module, EHM) so that families do not have to repeat their story and intervention can be provided using a joined-up approach.

In summary, the Strategy defined the outcomes for children that the partnership will focus on, working together to improve children’s lives and intervene at the earliest opportunity. There is a clear focus on improving outcomes for children through the mobilisation of the 10 Early Help “Doing it Together” outcome groups.

In considering the Briefing Note and presentation, the Board questioned officers, received responses, and discussed matters as summarised below:

·  A definition of VCS (Voluntary and Community Sector).

·  Why the parent/carer feedback score for question 6 - Services are working/worked together to support me and my family – were slightly lower than others – potential challenges over partnership working in some areas.

·  The role of health colleagues in taking lead practitioner roles – working to the service’s guidance principles, capacity issues, the economic challenges imposed on health service providers, reforms to reintroduce health colleagues as lead practitioners and mitigation strategies to provide support for families.

·  The role of the VCS organisations (such as Southwarks Trust and MNMTA) in delivering health services for Early Help.

·  Sufficient staffing to meet the demands of families in the city.

·  Difficult funding arrangements with schools but providing support due to their essential role in the strategy.

·  The impact family hubs are having on rising permanent exclusions and falling attendance figures – attendance being the leading factor in early help requests.

o  The role of CAP (Coventry Alternative Provision) to embed early help into the framework to return a child to school.

o  Specifically targeting children who’s attendance has dipped under 10%.

·  The ‘Memo of Understanding’ being informal instead of a formal s.75 agreement.

·  Reforms to create unique data identifiers between local and NHS data.

·  How the program uses its 4 school sites, especially during school terms and holidays, to deliver its provision.

·  The individualised offer of language services, translations of council resources, and the bespoke offer for families as a result.

·  Work with the Council’s migrant and refuge centre – 10 week induction program for newly arrived communities and the offer of ESOL classes in family hubs as well.

·  Contact with around 70% of families in Coventry and barriers to the families not contacted – data analysis and mapping, establishing a digital offer to enable families to access information 24/7, and outreach events in Broadgate and MacDonalds.

·  Exploring the role of Early Help in faith groups – bringing the program to the interfaith partnership.

·  Engaging Early Help in Wrap Around Centres.

·  The associated risks of year-on-year funding and the challenges with sustainability planning as a result.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Councillor P Seaman, thanked officers for their comprehensive briefing note, presentation, and response to questions. She summarised that although funding is a continuing worry, the partnership approach to help in-need families at an early stage is making an impact and the service is being commended for that.

RESOLVED that the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2):

1)  Recommend to the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and the Cabinet Member for Public Health, Sport, and Wellbeing that health commissioners and providers ensure capacity within the service for more lead practitioner roles.

2)  Enhance the reach of Early Help through:

a.  Engagement with wrap around.

b.  Contact with faith groups and the inter-faith partnership.