Return to Agenda

Division(s): N/A

DRAFT
ITEM CH6

CABINET – 7 MARCH 2006

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S BOARD

Report by the Director for Children, Young People & Families

Introduction

  1. By April 2006, most local authorities should have what the government have termed "Children’s Trust" arrangements in place to improve outcomes for all children, young people and families through more integrated services, strategies and processes, including, where appropriate, joint commissioning and pooling of budgets.

  2. The Best Value Review of Services for Vulnerable Children and Young People, 2004/05, initially proposed the establishment of a Children and Young People’s Commissioning Trust by April 2006.

  3. Work to develop detailed proposals over the past year has included a review of national guidance, a review of approaches being developed elsewhere in England, seminars with partner agencies and a series of interviews with senior officers.

  4. In October 2005, the Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee, agreed broad proposals to take forward the principle of the Commissioning Trust in the form of a Children and Young People’s Board, requesting that officers undertake further detailed work in consultation with partner agencies. This paper reports back on the work programme.

    5. Children and Young People’s Board

  5. The proposed Board will fulfil the national requirements for "Children’s Trust" arrangements from April 2006. It will provide a strategic overview and ownership of the joint commissioning agenda for children and young people. The Board will oversee the implementation of key service changes to deliver the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) and the outcomes for children and young people in the Local Area Agreement (LAA). The Board will report to the Public Services Board, as well as the Cabinets/Executives of the County and District Councils and the PCT Boards.

  6. In order to do this the Board will use the CYPP as its principal policy framework and will operate principally through the agreement of jointly owned recommendations. It is proposed that organisations retain their own executive powers with individual members working through the schemes of delegation from their organisations.

  7. Members of the Board would include senior decision-makers with responsibility for children and young people’s services. Proposed membership is listed below:

    1. Lead Member for Children, Young People & Families (Chair)

    2. Lead Member for Schools

    3. Director for Children, Young People & Families

    4. Chief Executive, Oxfordshire County Council

    5. Lead Member from each District Council

    6. Chief Executive, Oxfordshire PCT(s)

    7. Chair/Non Executive Director, Oxfordshire PCT(s)

    8. Director of Commissioning, Oxfordshire PCT(s)

    9. General Practitioner (lead for GP commissioning)

    10. Director of Public Health, Oxfordshire PCT(s)

    11. Chief Constable, Thames Valley Police

    12. Voluntary sector representative

    13. Learning & Skills Council

    14. Parent and carer representative

    15. Children and young people representative.

  8. The expectation is that over time a young person and a parent or carer will join the Board to bring a specific perspective rather than to represent. Work will be undertaken in the next month to agree the best way of identifying individuals. A Sounding Board for Children and Young People and a Sounding Board for Parents and Carers will be established to support the working of the Board.

  9. There has been work to strengthen the capacity of the voluntary sector to work with the statutory sector at a strategic level within the arrangements. Voluntary sector representatives have been elected to develop a "collective voice" for the voluntary sector in relation to improving outcomes for children and young people and it is proposed that the Chair of this group is a member of the Board.

    10. Ways of working

  10. It is recommended that the Board should agree a programme of work that focuses on areas where outcomes for children and young people are of concern. The work programme will be supported by a Joint Commissioning Team of officers involved directly in the delivery of services. Officers will be responsible for reviewing services in collaboration with others and making recommendations for change to the Board. This team will be jointly managed and resourced by the Council and the PCT(s).

  11. In order to provide the Board with progress reports on the Children and Young People’s Plan, in particular where outcomes for children and young people need improving, it is proposed to establish a Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership that will report to the Board. This will be chaired by the Director for Children, Young People & Families and will bring together senior representatives of a wide range of agencies working with children, young people and families across Oxfordshire.

  12. The Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership will oversee the development and implementation of the Children and Young People’s Plan. It will monitor progress in improving outcomes, including the quality and integration of services. In order to do this, it will be responsible for developing an integrated performance management framework. This will be a requirement of future Joint Area Reviews.

  13. As the main inter-agency "Partnership" for children and young people’s services it is expected that the Strategic Partnership will replace a number of existing partnerships and will work to rationalise the number of different groups that meet around the needs of children and young people across the county.

  14. The Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership will also oversee arrangements for effective participation of children and young people and parents and carers through co-ordination of existing mechanisms (e.g. School Councils, Youth Forums) and through development of the Sounding Board approaches to inform decision-making.

  15. In summary, the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership will monitor progress in implementing the outcomes in the CYPP and LAA. 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 Board will be supported by a Joint Commissioning Team which will be accountable to the Board, delivering the work programme and making recommendations for change to the Board. The Board will work through the agreement of jointly owned recommendations and each organisation represented will retain its own executive powers. This is illustrated at Annex 1 (download as .doc file).

    16. Stakeholders’ Views

  16. These proposals have been discussed with a wide range of stakeholders since October and overall there has been support for the approach, in particular:

    • the approach described above rather than a "Trust", which was deemed confusing and contradictory by partner agencies;

    • the proposal to bring together the key decision-makers for services for children and young people in Oxfordshire;

    • proposals to streamline the existing plethora of interagency groups/partnerships;

    • plans to use the approach to performance manage delivery of the CYPP and the LAA and, therefore, lay the foundations for a future Joint Area Review;

    • proposals to ensure the participation of children and young people and parents and carers at every stage of the approach;

    • the way in which a collective voice for the voluntary sector has been developed, providing them with strategic input to the decision-making process.

  1. As part of the consultation process, we discussed directly with children and young people the best way to enable them to participate in this approach. The clear messages they gave us were:

    • participating was really important and could change things for the better;

    • participating means having a two-way conversation, not just one group talking at the other;

    • most young people did not feel they could represent others, but did feel that it was valuable, even if they could only speak for themselves;

    • children and young people of all ages and backgrounds should be able to participate;

    • we won’t get it right first time, so keep trying!

  1. Parents and carers were also asked their views and similar messages were received:

    • it takes time and resources to engage parents and carers, but will add value in terms of the shape of decisions made;

    • we need to make it meaningful by concentrating on concrete questions;

    • need to engage with parents and carers in local settings, as well as countywide.

RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. The Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee are being invited to consider this report in draft at their meeting on 28 February and their advice will be reported to the Cabinet. Subject to consideration of the Scrutiny Committee’s advice the Cabinet is RECOMMENDED:

    2. (a) to endorse the approach set out in the report for securing improvement in outcomes for children, young people and families and in particular the proposals for:

            1. the establishment of a Children and Young People’s Board with effect from April 2006;

            2. the establishment of a Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership that reports to the Board;

            3. the plan to develop a Joint Commissioning Team in line with the Council’s directorate realignment;

            4. the plans to establish a "collective voice" for the children and young people voluntary sector;

     

(b) to authorise the Director for Children, Young People & Families, in consultation with the various partner bodies, to agree the detailed arrangements for the implementation of (a) above including, in consultation also with the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families, formal terms of reference for the Children and Young People’s Board.

KEITH BARTLEY
Director for Children, Young People & Families

Background Papers: Consultations with stakeholders

Contact Officer: Sarah Breton, Children’s Trust Project Manager, Tel: 01865 810560

February 2006

Return to TOP