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ITEM
CA8
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
- 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".
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Summary
of the Proposals
- 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.
- 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:
(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.
- 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.
The Consultation
Process
- 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.
- 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.
Outcome
of the Consultation
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- All of the comments
will be fed into the next steps and implementation planning processes.
Defining
the Localities
- 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.
Progress
on Integrated Systems and Processes
- 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.
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.
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
- 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.
- The proposals
will be implemented within existing resources.
Recommendations
- 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:
- 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;
- ask
the Director for Children, Young People & Families:
- to
work with partners on the detailed arrangements for implementation;
and
- to
report to the Children & Young People’s Board on the proposals
for their advice and endorsement;
- 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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