Agenda item

The Cabinet Members with Responsibility (CMR) for Children and Families and Health and Well-being and the Director of Children, Families and Communities and Interim Director of Public Health were invited to the meeting to discuss the Provision of Effective Prevention Services for Children and Young People Including Optimising the Use of Children's Centre Buildings.

The Panel had previously met to discuss the issue on 17 March and 15 July 2016 and the Overview and Scrutiny Performance Board (OSPB) had considered a call-in of the Cabinet decision of 16 June 2016 on 1 July 2016. (Agenda and Minutes of these meetings were available on the Council's website at:

http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/cms/democratic-services/minutes-and-agendas.aspx

The Chairman of the Panel had subsequently requested further information (detailed in the Agenda report) to enable the Panel to discuss the detail further.

The CMR for Children and Families opened the discussion by explaining that the Consultation had finished but that no decisions had been made whilst consideration was being given to the emerging themes from the Consultation. He believed that the process had been as open and transparent as was possible, there had been considerable discussion and media briefings and that this would continue.

440 responses to the Consultation had been received, the emerging themes were:

·         The universal provision eg Stay and Play

·         Capability of the new leaseholders

·         Specific site concerns

·         Budget reductions

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·         The purpose of children's centres was to improve outcomes for young children and their families and reduce inequalities, particularly for those families in greatest need of support.

·         Up to 50% of families with small children may use the Children's Centres at any one time.

·         There was and would continue to be a variety of support for breast feeding mothers available in Worcestershire.

·         The number of looked after children (LAC) in Worcestershire had increased over recent years and was currently at approximately 700. Although this figure changed on a daily basis, if the number of LAC continued to increase at its current rate and reached 900, it would be considered a failure for Worcestershire County Council. It was well known that the outcomes for LAC were significantly worse than for those children not in care, it was therefore important to target those most in need to give appropriate support to help reduce the numbers of LAC and prevent children from entering care.

·         At a time of austerity, it was very important to have a joined up approach to delivering services and be clear about what services the County Council and its partners were able to provide.

·         Volunteers working with commissioned providers would continue to be important to service delivery.

·         In terms of addressing concerns about specific Children's Centres, the CMR reassured the Panel that the Council would continue to work with providers.

·         Although the Panel were advised that the Children's Centres hadn't made the impact on reducing the numbers of LAC originally envisaged, it was suggested that evidence to substantiate this had not been provided either. In response, the Panel was advised that there had been a national evaluation of Children's Centres and the original vision which was to target those most in need hadn’t been met.  When evaluated many LAC hadn't accessed early help services and given that the County Council had less money to spend, it needed to target help where it was most needed.  It may not necessarily be valued in the same way but that was the reality of the situation.

·         There was a concern that as the County Council made further reductions to its budget; its capacity for delivery would also reduce with demand outstripping supply. Feedback from Action for Children suggested that budgetary cuts would result in staff reductions of 70 to 17.

·         Unfortunately, Children's Centres hadn't generally reached the children who were or about to become LAC. A national evaluation had confirmed that the original vision to target those most in need had not been met and LAC hadn't accessed Children's Centres.  Unfortunately at a time when the Authority had less money, it was necessary to target help where it was most needed.

·         The universal services provided by midwifery and health visiting would screen and identify those most in need of help.

·         It was difficult for the Panel to give a considered opinion without access to the Consultation responses.

·         The Panel were disappointed that the list provided at Appendix A of the Children's Centres showing proposed future use had vague descriptions of the services that were being proposed to be continued to be delivered and those no longer being delivered. The description quite often said 'these services may continue to be offered at alternative location' but didn’t specify which services or where.

·         The CMR advised that Panel that he thought that the Panel's requests for information and questions had been answered in the most transparent way possible with as much information as possible but that it was impossible to provide absolute information at this stage.

·         Cllr Richard Udall, Chairman of OSPB attended the meeting and referred to the call-in considered by the OSPB on 1 July 2016 and the letter sent to the Cabinet following this. He pointed out that he was disappointed that a reply to this letter had not been received. The CMR confirmed that the Leader had advised that the final decision on the use of Children's Centres buildings would remain as a Cabinet Member delegated decision and that this process was as clear and transparent as the issue being considered in a public meeting of Cabinet.

·         The two children centres not owned by the County Council were not under direct control of the County Council.

·         In response to the suggestion that delivering services in a targeted way would result in a postcode lottery, it was confirmed that geographical clustering, the index of social deprivation and individual family needs identified through needs assessment would help to decide where help was required.

·         There was a concern that there would be more reliance on volunteers going forward, but the Panel were advised that the early help providers would be expected to recruit, train and look after volunteers.

·         It was questioned whether all avenues had been explored in terms of options for future service delivery.  It was confirmed that there had been some market testing and that the Authority were open to any ideas in order to deliver the service in the best way possible.

·         In terms of the universal support required for mental health conditions such as post-natal depression, it was confirmed that Worcestershire had a mother and baby unit and community facilities. The Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG's) were also working with Herefordshire to bid for some additional funding in this area.

·         The Marmot Review, which identified an evidence based strategy to address the social determinants of health, the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age and which could lead to health inequalities was being taken into account in determining how services should be delivered.

The Chairman thanked the CMR and Officers for attending the meeting and it was agreed that:

·         A list of the services being provided in all of the Children's Centres when final decisions had been made would be circulated to all Members of the Council.

·         During the transition period, details of the early help providers would be given to the Panel.

·         When the Cabinet Member decision was published the Panel  would be asked to provide comments to the Chairman

·         Scrutiny would receive an update on progress spring 2017.