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Division(s): All

DRAFT
ITEM CH7

CABINET – 7 MARCH 2006

LOCALITY WORKING AND INTEGRATED SUPPORT SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE & FAMILIES

Report by the Director for Children, Young People & Families

 

Introduction

  1. DfES guidance (2004) indicates that "local areas should move towards service delivery by multi disciplinary teams that bring together relevant professionals in places easily accessible to children, young people and families".

  2. In October 2005 the Cabinet received a report outlining proposals for the development of local, multi-disciplinary teams across Oxfordshire building on the learning from pilot programmes and other multi agency work, including the Best Value Review of Services for Vulnerable Children and Young People completed by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee in September 2005. In line with the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendation, the Cabinet approved the proposals for wide consultation, subject to the outcome being reported to the Scrutiny Committee and the Cabinet in the New Year.

  3. Feedback from children, young people and families highlights the need for more direct support from frontline services working together more effectively. They highlight the need to reduce the number of different assessments which they receive and to have a named professional who can get to know them and develop a relationship with them over time. Professionals themselves report that they can feel frustrated that, while services are all working under pressure, there can be duplication of work and difficulties of communication between agencies.

  4. It is proposed that children, young people and families in all areas of the county should have access to a local, multi-disciplinary team which is able to provide more direct and co-ordinated support to meet their needs. Children, young people and families will be involved in the development of the local teams to ensure that they are customer-focussed and responsive to needs.

  5. Officers were asked to consult on the proposed framework for multi-disciplinary teams and this report sets out the outcome of the consultation and next steps.

    6. Summary of the Proposals

  6. It is proposed to develop local, multi-disciplinary teams across Oxfordshire so that staff from different services and agencies can work together more effectively to meet the needs of children, young people and families. Annex 1 contains case examples showing how the proposals could improve support and help meet those needs.

  7. It is envisaged that there will be flexibility in the way these teams develop so that they can respond to local needs. Each local area will have the following:

    8. (a) Steering Group

    A small Steering Group will oversee services, initiatives and resources in each area. It will ensure a coherent approach to the delivery of services within the local area and effective communication between agencies.

    (b) Multi-Disciplinary Team

    Services for children, young people and families will be organised so that there is a multi disciplinary team of staff allocated to work in the local area to support children and young people in a range of settings. This will include Children’s Centres and Extended Schools. These services will provide targeted, preventative support for children, young people and families. Staff will continue to be managed within their own services with coordination across services. Introducing a single, common assessment for children and families, with a lead professional for every child and family who needs one, will reduce duplication of effort and ensure that more resources are available for direct work with children and families.

    It is proposed that, over time, we move to co-located bases for the multi-disciplinary teams.

    (c) Forum

    A forum will be established for all agencies and services to meet 2 or 3 times a year to discuss developments and needs of the area and share issues and good practice. There would also be arrangements to ensure that parents, carers and children and young people participate in the developments.

  8. It is intended that these arrangements will replace and rationalise a number of existing partnerships and groups which meet around the needs of children, young people and families in Oxfordshire.

    9. The Consultation Process

  9. Between October and January the consultation process has involved meetings with staff from a wide range of services including the Council’s support services, police, health, District Councils, Youth Offending Service and Connexions. Annex 2 (download as .doc file) sets out the consultation arrangements. The aim was to enable as much opportunity for discussion as possible. This was achieved through attendance at staff briefings, management meetings and existing partnership groups, steering groups, school partnerships. Communication days and specific briefing sessions in localities were held in localities and over 200 people attended.

  10. In addition the consultation document was distributed to a wide circulation list including schools, GPs, health visitors, District Councils and agencies and it was available on the council’s web site. The consultation closed at the end of January.

    11. Outcome of the Consultation

  11. The comments and feedback from the meetings and consultation events were on the whole very positive and the points that were noted will inform the next phase of development.

  12. Annex 3 (download as .doc file) shows the analysis of the 53 written responses, some of which represented whole service responses and some of which were from individuals. Responses received, by category of respondent, were as follows:

    • 25 Education (Schools, Services, Governors)

    • 24 Health (Health Visitors, GPs, Nurses and a co-ordinated management response from across the PCTs)

    • 4 Partners (Voluntary Sector, Youth Offending Service, CfBT (the Centre for British Teachers), one District Council).

  1. A substantial majority of responses received either fully supported or broadly supported the framework that has been proposed. Many commented on the significant benefits that they felt working in this way will bring to children, young people and families. Of those who were not in support of the proposal most acknowledged that more information and discussion on the detail would be needed. Follow up meetings are being arranged in these cases.

  2. Many helpful comments were received about the detail of the implementation including ideas about web based conferences and greater flexibility at local level. There were strong messages about building on existing good inter agency work to ensure that work is undertaken to reduce bureaucracy and time spent in meetings and to create greater consistency and high quality. Attention needs to be given to cross border/team issues to ensure continuity and access to support for children and families with good ICT to ensure that no children fall through the net. Specialist services were positive about ways in which they could offer support, training and consultation to the teams and saw benefits that could lead to fewer and more appropriate referrals with more children receiving support at earlier stages of need through making better use of the skills of the integrated team.

  3. Some felt that over time the Steering Groups could go further and undertake joint local commissioning and greater joint planning and pooling of resources. Respondents support the principle of making more effective use of existing resources and skills. Suggestions were also made about membership of the Steering Groups and the team arrangements. It is important to ensure that the number of staff spending time in meetings is carefully monitored and duplication of meetings reduced.

  4. All of the comments will be fed into the next steps and implementation planning processes.

    5. Defining the Localities

  5. 22 locality areas were proposed as a starting point for discussion (see Annex 4) (download as .doc file). Further discussion continues with partners to ensure that there will be future compatibility with other locality developments including neighbourhood police, PCT arrangements and practice based commissioning. There was support to phase the arrangements to tie in closely with the plans for the establishment of Children’s Centres and Extended Schools and other initiatives that will impact on local services. Further planning with partners will now be undertaken to agree an implementation plan that will address issues of phasing, infrastructure, resourcing and communication.

    6. Progress on Integrated Systems and Processes

  6. The report in October also asked officers to take forward the underpinning systems and processes to enable locality working to be effective. Significant progress has been made and includes:

    • Common Assessment Framework

This is a national requirement and Oxfordshire is in a strong position to implement this by 2008. The work so far has included:-

- piloting a practitioner’s toolkit in the 4 pilot areas;

- briefings for managers in staff in all agencies;

- 24 staff across agencies identified as trainers and undertaking DfES training;

- an interagency training group is overseeing developments to ensure links to the Workforce Development requirement;

- links to the ICT work to generate electronic records and case work management systems;

- information sharing protocols have been agreed and are in operation. Amended guidance is expected from the government this year.

    • Service Directory

By April 2006 an on line service directory will be launched and will be for use by practitioners, children, young people and their families. It will support the locality teams in networking as well as with considering access and signposting to services.

    • ICT

The government has now issued guidance on the requirement for a national child index and indicated resources to implement this in every local authority. The index will link with the Common Assessment processes, help speed up communication, and facilitate contact between practitioners. Work is also underway to look at case work management systems. Coordination of the plans is through an ICT steering group.

Conclusion and Next Steps

  1. The outcome of the consultation has been very positive and there is strong support from a wide range of agencies and partners to take forward the proposed framework for locality working. Further work will be taken forward with the full engagement of partners on the details of the implementation plan (see Annex 5) (download as .doc file) and to ensure that it will tie in closely with neighbourhood policing, PCT developments and the plans for Children’s Centres and Extended Schools. It will continue to build on the learning from the pilot initiatives and national developments and establish clear operating protocols that aim to reduce duplication and unnecessary bureaucracy whilst maximising practical support for families and children and young people. This work will be underpinned by integrated systems, processes, workforce development and the implementation of the Common Assessment Framework and Child Index arrangements.

  2. The proposals will be implemented within existing resources.

    3. Recommendations

  3. 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 to:

          1. agree the development of local, multi-disciplinary teams across Oxfordshire to meet the needs of children, young people and families on the basis described in the report;

          2. ask the Director for Children, Young People & Families:

            1. to work with partners on the detailed arrangements for implementation; and

            2. to report to the Children & Young People’s Board on the proposals for their advice and endorsement;

          3. subject to (b) above, authorise the Director for Children, Young People & Families, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Families, to agree the detailed arrangements for the implementation of the proposals.

KEITH BARTLEY
Director for Children, Young People & Families

Background Papers:

Contact Officer:
Sandra Bingham – Assistant Head of Service (Children & Young People) Tel (01865) 816217

February 2006

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