ITEM CH11 CHILDREN’S SERVICES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE – 22 MAY 2007 CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S PLAN (CYPP) REVIEW OF YEAR ONE Report by Head of Children & Young People’s Service Introduction 1. Oxfordshire’s first Children and Young People’s Plan was produced in April 2006. There is a new statutory requirement to carry out an annual review of the CYPP and publish the outcome. 2. The aim of the review is to focus on the impact of the plan on outcomes and quality of services for children, young people and families and to inform the development of priorities for Year 2 of the Plan. 3. The review of the CYPP has been led by the Children and Young People’s Partnership with engagement of a wide range of partners including children and young people, parents and carers, county council, district councils, the voluntary sector, health, schools and the police. 4. The review has been an ongoing process over the course of the year involving a wide range of stakeholders and has been informed by: - regular reports on progress in implementing the plan from CYPP leads; - regular reports on progress and feedback from the Children and Young People’s Partnership and Board. 5. The detailed analysis of needs undertaken as part of the development of the CYPP has been updated. 6. The review of the CYPP has been welcomed as an opportunity to secure greater engagement of different agencies, particularly schools, in the development and delivery of the plan. Six workshop sessions have been organized for headteachers and chairs of governors as part of the CYPP review process. 7. There has been ongoing feedback from children, young people and families about their needs and experiences of services throughout the course of the year. This feedback has been collected to inform the review of the Plan and the priorities for Year 2. 8. In addition, there has been an extensive survey of the views and experiences of 5000 children and young people in Oxfordshire. Feedback from this survey has informed the review of the CYPP and will provide powerful feedback to shape the development of services over the coming year. 9. The review has focused on: - strengths and achievements in Year 1 of the plan with a focus on improvements in outcomes and quality of services for children, young people and families; - areas for further development to address needs; - priorities for Year 2 of the plan. 10. The review of the Plan (attached at Annex 1) (download as .doc file) has to be submitted to the DfES in June 2007 and will form the self assessment for the Joint Area Review of Services for Children and Young People in Oxfordshire in December 2007. 11. The Every Child Matters: Change for Children and Youth Matters programmes set out a challenging and ambitious vision for how we provide services for Children and Young People over the next 10 years. In Oxfordshire we have made a positive start to implement these changes in order to improve outcomes and quality of services for children and young people. 12. A number of new joint services for children, young people and families have been developed in response to the needs identified, for example: - a new joint funded primary care child and adolescent mental health service was established in 2006; - a new drug treatment service specifically for young people was developed in 2006; - joint funded residential respite provision for disabled children is now provided through Barnardo’s; - the Connexions Service is now managed as part of the County Council’s integrated youth support service. 13. We are continuing to ensure that children and families are engaged in the development of services. Two Sounding Boards - one for children and young people and one for parents and carers – meet regularly with the Director of Children’s Services, lead member for children and other senior officers to inform decision making about Children’s Services in Oxfordshire. A Children and Young People’s Involvement Network secures wide engagement of children and young people in decision making about particular issues of concern. 14. Our strategies and services are having a demonstrable impact on outcomes for children and young people: - educational achievement at secondary level has improved; - levels of offending and re-offending have reduced; - truancy and exclusions are reducing; - the number of homeless young people has reduced; - the achievement of vulnerable groups has improved; - special needs tribunals have reduced significantly; - the opportunities for young people to have “things to do and places to go” is increasing. 15. However, there is much work still to so. As we move into Year 2 of the CYPP we have identified the need to: - focus on a small number of cross cutting priority areas so we can deliver real improvements in outcomes for children and young people in these areas; - ensure locality teams work well and implement team around the child, lead professional, and common assessment arrangements; - develop a strong commissioning framework; - develop a joint approach to allocation of resources against priorities particularly in the context of efficiency savings and significant grant fall out in April 2008; - ensure secure greater engagement of schools and GPs in delivering the five outcomes with the necessary support from other agencies to do this; - workforce development; This review is intended to complement the three year CYPP 2006-09 which can be found on www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cypp. RECOMMENDATION 16. The Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to: (a) comment on the draft document Oxfordshire’s Children and Young People’s Plan: Review of Year One; and (b) consider setting up a task group to work with officers to review implementation of the Children & Young People’s Plan over the coming year and feed into the review of Year 2 of the Plan in 2008. GILLIAN TEE Background
papers: Contact Officer: Gillian Tee, Head of Children & Young People’s ServiceTel: (01865) 815125 May 2007
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