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DRAFT
ITEM CH5
CABINET
– 7 MARCH 2006
CHILDREN
& YOUNG PEOPLE’S PLAN
Report by
Director for Children, Young People & Families
Introduction
- On 18 October
2005, the Cabinet approved a draft of the Children and Young People’s
Plan (CYPP) for wide public consultation. The CYPP responds to the new
statutory requirement to produce a single, strategic plan for all services
for children and young people provided by the local authority and all
relevant partners.
- Accompanying this
report are:
- an updated version
of the CYPP, amended in the light of consultation feedback (limited
circulation – see paragraph 3 below);
- a summary of
the CYPP (Annex 1);(download as .doc
file)
- a summary of
feedback received through the consultation process (Annex 2);;(download
as .doc file)
- report of feedback
from children and young people (Annex 3).;(download
as .doc file)
(Annex 4 - download as .doc file)
- The CYPP is one
of those strategic plans which comprise the Council’s Budget & Policy
Framework and therefore must be approved by Council. A draft of this
report is to be considered by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee
on 28 February and their advice will be reported to the Cabinet. The
draft CYPP is circulated only to members of the Scrutiny Committee and
the Cabinet, but copies are in the Members’ Resource Centre and are
on public deposit. A revised version of the Plan taking into account
the Cabinet’s decisions will be circulated to all members for the 4
April Council meeting.
(CH5 - Oxfordshire Children & Young People's Plan - download
as .doc file)
Consultation
Process
- The draft CYPP
has been developed in consultation with a wide range of service users.
Work on the Plan has been led by a Project Board, including the Chief
Executive of the County Council and the Chief Executive of Oxford City
PCT on behalf of all Oxfordshire PCTs. A multi-agency Children and Young
People’s Plan Leads group has been established to oversee the development
of the Plan. There has been good engagement from a wide range of partners.
- There has been
significant engagement of children, young people, parents and carers,
initially in the development of the draft Plan and subsequently through
wide consultation. A Children and Young People’s version of the Plan
has been produced.
- The draft Plan
was circulated to a wide range of statutory and non statutory agencies,
including schools, District Councils, Parish Councils, Diocesan Authorities,
Health Services, Learning and Skills Council, Police, Colleges of Further
Education, voluntary sector providers, Connexions, Children’s Fund,
Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership, Drug and Alcohol
Action Team, Youth Offending Team, the Strategic Health Authority, the
Local Strategic Partnership, the Probation Service, and local Magistrates.
- There have been
a number of consultation meetings to inform the development of the Plan,
including:
- CYPP Leads group
regular meetings and Awayday;
- multi-agency
workshops in relation to each of the five outcomes of the Plan and
in relation to vulnerable groups of children;
- meetings of
County and District Councils and PCT and NHS Trust Executives and
Chairs;
- voluntary sector
workshop;
- meetings of
District Council Lead Members for Children;
- briefings for
Headteachers and Chairs of Governors;
- Oxfordshire
Connexions Partnership;
- District Council
Cabinet /Executive meetings;
- Oxford Safer
Communities Partnership.
- The School Organisation
Committee [considered the draft Plan at its meeting on 17 February
2006 and its comments are included in Annex 2] (download
as .doc file).
Feedback
- A total of 384
responses to the consultation were received. The breakdown of responses
is as follows:
Children
and Young People
|
Private,
Community and Voluntary Sector
|
Public
|
County
Council
|
Health
|
District
and Parish Councils
|
Other
|
309
|
16
|
11
|
15
|
8
|
16
|
9
|
- The majority of
responses indicate support for the proposals in the Plan. A summary
of the feedback is provided at Annex 2 (download
as .doc file). A full transcript of detailed feedback is available
in the Members’ Resource Centre.
- Consultation feedback
highlighted particular support for:
- the engagement
of children and young people in the future development of services;
- proposals to
address the problem of bullying;
- the strong focus
on early intervention and prevention to support children and families
before difficulties become intractable;
- the proposed
arrangements for greater integration and co-ordination of services
from across different services and agencies;
- commitment to
greater engagement of the voluntary, community and private sectors;
- the focus on
increasing access to play and recreation opportunities for children
and young people;
- the development
of local services through Children’s Centres and Extended Schools;
- the development
of more flexible curriculum and vocational options for 14-19 year
olds;
- the strategy
to improve multi-agency support to meet the needs of children and
young people with behavioural difficulties.
- Areas of concern
included:
- the need to
ensure a balance between the needs of all young people and the needs
of those who are vulnerable;
- the need for
a greater focus on engagement of the voluntary sector as equal partners
in the delivery of services;
- the need to
strengthen the engagement of, and support for, families throughout
the Plan;
- the need to
include support for particular groups of children, including asylum
seekers, children in prison;
- the need to
ensure that services are affordable and accessible across a rural
county, including addressing transport issues;
- the importance
of adequate housing in ensuring that children are healthy and achieve
their potential;
- the need to
address environmental issues, including safe streets and neighbourhoods,
and safe places to play.
- the need to
ensure adequate funding is allocated to implement the Plan.
Feedback
from Children and Young People
- 309 children and
young people fed back their views as part of the consultation process.
They were aged between 5 and 20, came from all parts of the county and
were consulted through school councils, youth centres and clubs, youth
forums, respite centres, District Council forums, PCTs, children’s panels
and voluntary organisations. See Annex 3 (download
as .doc file) for a detailed report of the feedback from children
and young people.
- Some of the main
themes which have emerged are:
- the paramount
value of involving children and young people in decision-making and
finding solutions to difficulties and the need to maintain and strengthen
this in the future development of our services;
- the need for
better support to tackle the problem of bullying, including everyone
taking it seriously and young people having somewhere safe to go and
someone to talk to;
- the importance
of safe, well-lit neighbourhoods streets, parks, playgrounds and transport;
- the importance
to children and young people of relationships with adults based on
mutual respect and with sufficient time to listen to and understand
each other;
- the need to
increase access to play, leisure and youth services, including youth
clubs opening longer and with better facilities;
- the need for
early practical support for children and young people when things
start to go wrong, e.g. young people to talk to with similar experiences,
practical support for parents;
- the need for
better information in many of different forms about support that is
available;
- the need to
make lessons in schools more relevant, practical and fun and to give
young people more positive encouragement and recognition for their
achievements.
Feedback
from Parents and Carers
- Over 270 parents
provided feedback through questionnaires and face to face meetings as
part of the Best Value Review of Children’s Services. A detailed report
has been produced of the feedback. More recently the Parents and Carers
Sounding Board met to feedback further views. Some of the main themes
which have emerged are:
- health visitors,
schools, GPs and family centres are key points of contact for parents;
- listen to parents’
expertise and stop blaming parents;
- provide multi-skilled
parent supporters who can work with parents short or long term;
- look at what’s
best for the whole family;
- provide information
about sources of help as a right whenever a parent or professional
is concerned about a child;
- develop more
family friendliness in services
- provide one
person who understand the child’s need and stays involved
- a significant
number of parents said they had to get to a crisis before they received
help;
- the vast majority
of parents said things had got better as a result of the help they
received;
- parents particularly
valued the support of the voluntary sector;
- parents of disabled
children highlight the need for more respite support;
- parents who
had experienced parenting programmes valued them and recommended them
to others.
- The Plan has been
amended to take account of the feedback received throughout the consultation
process, including that from children, young people, families and the
wide range of agencies and partners consulted.
Implementation
and Performance Management Arrangements
- The Plan has a
clear focus on the outcomes to be achieved for children and young people
in Oxfordshire and the actions to achieve these. The Plan includes:
- an analysis
of current performance in relation to the five outcomes for children
and young people and also in relation to three particular vulnerable
groups of young people;
- the priorities
for improvement in each area;
- the performance
targets to be achieved to address these priorities.
- Local Area Agreement
targets for children and young people are incorporated in the Plan.
- Two officers (one
from within the Council as Children’s Services Authority and one from
a partner agency) have been identified for each of the five outcomes
for children and young people in the Plan. These lead officers are responsible,
on behalf of all agencies, for monitoring the implementation of the
Plan and securing the necessary improvements in outcomes for children
and young people. The CYPP leads are supported by a wider group of lead
professionals who have been identified, again on behalf of all agencies,
to monitor the implementation of each of the sub-sections of the Plan.
It is proposed that a Member Champion is nominated for each of the CYPP
outcomes.
- The CYPP leads
will provide regular reports to the Children and Young People’s Partnership
on progress in implementing the Plan and the impact on outcomes. Where
there are barriers to progress, and outcomes are not improving, this
will be reported to the Children and Young People’s Board for resolution
by the key decision-makers for services for children and young people
in Oxfordshire. The Children and Young People’s Board will report directly
to the Public Services Board, as well as to the Cabinets/Executives
of the County and District Councils and PCT Boards.
Resource
Implications
- The Plan describes
in detail the resources which will be allocated to implement the proposals
in the Plan. There is much which can be achieved by realigning services
and working together more effectively. There are other areas where the
County has already been allocated additional grant or other funding
and there are opportunities for aligning or pooling funding between
agencies.
- The Council has
allocated significant additional resources to implement the Plan from
April 2006, including funding in relation to:
- the development
of an integrated ICT system for children;
- establishing
local multi-disciplinary teams throughout Oxfordshire;
- maintaining
and strengthening the work undertaken to date on engaging children
and young people;
- increasing resources
for the youth service and for youth activities;
- addressing pressures
in children’s social care budgets.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Subject to
consideration of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee’s
advice, the Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
- RECOMMEND
the Council to approve the Children and Young People’s Plan,
subject to any final editorial adjustments by the Director for
Children, Young People & Families in consultation with the
Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families;
- request
officers to inform the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee
periodically on progress in implementing the Plan to enable
the Committee to review and advise on elements of the implementation
programme as they see relevant.
KEITH
BARTLEY
Director
for Children, Young People & Families
Background
Papers: Consultation Replies
Contact
Officer: Gillian Tee, Head of Service for Children & Young
People Tel. 01865 815125
February
2006
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