Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Childrens Services and Education.

The Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) received a briefing note and presentation of the Director of Children’s Services and Education that provided an update on Coventry’s progress in design and implementation for the Families First Partnership Programme.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People attended the meeting for this item of business.

The briefing note and presentation highlighted:

·  Publication of the Department for Education new guidance on the Families First Partnership Programme (FFPP) to transform the whole system of help, support and protection for children and families

·  The Council’s work supported the implementation of the Programme which aligned with delivering the One Coventry approach and strengthening the system around families

·  Coventry brought together partners from across the local system, including Council services, health, policing, education, and the voluntary and community sector, to develop an initial response to the national programme

·  Work was built on Coventry’s well-established strengths, including its Family Hub offer and mature, targeted Early Help system, which already provided coordinated accessible support to children, young people and families in the city

·  The establishment of a multi-agency transformation team bringing together officers from education, health, policing, and the Local Authority

·  A focus on shaping the Family Help Service Model, ensuring that future developments aligned with national reform requirements and enhanced Coventry’s existing integrated approach

·  Establishing a robust foundation for the next stage of development, including further design, testing, and phased implementation through 2026.

·  Preparation for a wider set of developments required through Families First

·  The integration of Family Help and Child Protection, the strengthening of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and the delivery of more consistent, relationship-based practice for children and families

·  The design of the Multi-Agency Child Protection Team model to sit alongside Family Help as a core component of the future integrated system of support, safeguarding, and protection

·  The Multi-Agency Child Protection Team model which built on and evolved the current Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub arrangements supporting more consistent thresholds, improved information-sharing, and stronger collective ownership of risk

·  The integration of the Child Protection Conference Chair function into the Lead Child Protection Practitioner role

·  Next steps: continue with local planning and development of enhanced partner-involved multi-agency arrangements; development of a test-and-learn pilot focused on end-to-end pathway from Family Help through to Multi-Agency Child Protection; ensuring that the Family Help element of the model was fully embedded, robust and delivering impact; and the continuation of testing and refining key components of the Multi-Agency Child Protection model

·  Coventry’s funding position – the Department for Education’s commitment to four years of funding to support Coventry in delivering the full scope of the Families First Programme from 2025/26 to 2028/29

·  Governance Arrangements – the Families First Partnership Board, the Coventry Children’s Safeguarding Partnership; and the Children and Education Steering Group, would provide a coherent structure that supported both strategic leadership and operational delivery in line with national expectations and local priorities

In considering the briefing note and the presentation by officers, the Board discussed issues, asked questions and received responses from officers and the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People and the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills on matters including:

·  The Outcomes Framework provided an indication of the Council’s successes which included: how many families were reached; reducing the number of children from early help going forward; children thriving, doing well and being safe; and families retaining one lead practitioner

·  The dedicated multi-agency Transformation Team brought together education, health, and policing, alongside the local authority ensuring that the programme was co-owned across the partnership, with expertise, influence, and leadership to drive system-wide change

·  A dedicated post in Coventry, who ran a Health Oversight Group, would look at what health services needed to do to change and adapt

·  Regular meetings with Public Health looked at what services they commissioned

·  Work was built on strong relationships to ensure that SILO working was not undertaken

·  Digital technology (AI) was being utilised to assist where possible and appropriate

·  CoventryFamilies.co.uk – learning from access to the site, the system could send relevant information to users. This targeted individuals with trusted information without the need for them to search

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People thanked officers for their continued hard work, dedication and commitment to the children and families in the city.

The Board requested that the relevant Director be requested to address digitally secure network provision for the Police to enable them to be situated with the MASH Team in an appropriate location.

RESOLVED that the Children’s Services and Education Scrutiny Board (2) notes progress to date on the design and implementation planning of the Families First Partnership Programme and endorses the delivery approach and the governance and monitoring arrangements.