Agenda item

The Assistant Director of Early Intervention Prevention and SEND, Tom Murphy presented the update report on The Effectiveness Of Early Help To Promote Positive Outcomes For Families in 2015/16. A number of recommendations were made to Cabinet in 2016 and Mr Murphy outlined how these recommendations had been implemented.

Overall, there had been positive progress since the review which could be seen by the outcome of the Ofsted inspection for childrens services. Early help services were judged as good.

It was highlighted that there had been significant development in partnership working which involved a focus on sharing data and intelligences to support effective collaborative working so that those in need of early help could be identified and supported. This was demonstrated through the Troubled Families initiative and the Axis project.  Troubled Families was a multi-agency initiative   was established to support families experiencing different challenges. Under this scheme 2000 families had identified as being in need of support and 736 had achieved significant and sustained changes in their circumstances.

The Axis project was also highlighted as being a project which recognised the importance of using and sharing data and intelligence. This project specifically supported children and young people at risk. It was highlighted that out of the 61 young people working with the Axis project, none were referred to the youth offending service and childrens social care.

It was noted that early help was being promoted through the Council’s Connect to Support website. It was acknowledged that although it was a difficult task to encompass all information, the service was still in good shape. Further, services and advice was communicated through apps developed and social media.

Members considered the report to be comprehensive and were pleased to see the progress made through the recommendations.

During Member discussions, it was noted that internal audit made a number of high risk recommendations in relation to an audit of early year’s centres. It was confirmed that there were challenges in relation to business management of centres. Business process needed to be looked into, the issues had not been resolved but were being looked into by staff.

Members questioned why one of the recommendations made during the review had not yet been undertaken. The recommendation is stated below:

That a review be undertaken of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) at the earliest possible opportunity during 2016/17. It is further proposed that this be a joint review to involve the Children, Young People and Learning Policy Overview Committee, the External Services Scrutiny Committee and other bodies, if appropriate.

Members were informed that a review had not yet been undertaken, this was still on the agenda and would happen. Although better position as there were reports provided to Committees, it was acknowledged that this still needed to be actioned.

Overall, Members were pleased with the review updates, however requested further information on the types of families being helped. It was acknowledged that this data was not easy to ascertain as there were a breath of services under early services, however further information would be useful. Further information would be circulated to Members.

RESOLVED: That officers be thanked for the report and progress in implementing recommendations