Agenda item

Tina Russell gave an update on the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership, a Sub-group of the Health and Wellbeing Board . The Membership and terms of reference of the group had been reviewed over the past 12 months and honest conversations had been had about what the group had been achieving. The Children and Young People’s Plan was being renewed, and contained overarching key measures for both the Children and Young People’s Partnership and its sub-groups. The sub-groups were involved in shaping it, as well as discussing how the details of the plan were to be actioned, and it also recognised the priorities of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy.

As a public document, every effort had been made to keep it simple. Further, a young people’s version would be developed to be more accessible.

It was explained how important it was to balance the needs of all children in Worcestershire and its vulnerable children, with both groups having clear outcomes. The universal offer was being assessed, as well as the need for a more targeted offer, to prevent the numbers of vulnerable children, from increasing.

Hayley Durnall and Emma Brittain, as Co-Chairs of the Early Help Partnership, explained that there was an Early Help Strategy which included commissioning the 0-19 Starting Well Services (parenting, school nursing and health visiting) working to reduce health disparities. Key Performance Indicators were being closely monitored with forums supporting the Early Help Partnership, to enable an assessment to be made against outcomes. Progress would be reported back to the Strategic Partnership. Next steps included solidifying the ‘best start for life’ offer across Worcestershire and developing Family Hubs, with a partnership approach.

Reference was also made to the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Transformation Plan and the further development of the 0-25 Strategy and service, which importantly incorporated SEND.

Tina Russell was confident that the Children and Young People’s Partnership received a high volume of up to date and consistent information, including the Healthwatch Children and Young People report, the Early Help survey, Supporting Families First data, as well as information from social work assessments. However, there was less confidence about whether the information was being successfully responded to; for example, ensuring commissioning timescales were correct and money being invested in the right way, supporting hard to reach families, specifically those impacted by substance misuse.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, whilst supportive of the analytical approach, commented that he felt that data was not a replacement for hearing directly from young people. Councillors were supportive of listening, identifying local issues within the County and working to break cycles of problems within families.

In response to a comment that there was confusion about what services were available and how they could be accessed, even by GPs, it was explained that although some families were confident and preferred to access information online, hard copies of directories had been produced a year ago and an updated version would be considered. There was a virtual Family Hub, and various Early Help support events had also been organised. With changes in the workforce, messages about how to access services needed to be repeated frequently.

RESOLVED that the Health and Well-being Board:

a)     noted for information the summary of the work of the Children & Young People’s Strategic Partnership; and

b)     approved the content of the refreshed Children & Young People’s Plan 2022-23.