Meeting: Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Sub-Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 2 - 26/03/2007 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A5 Children's Trust- Structure and Governance Arrangements.
| Report of David Williams, Corporate Director, Children and Young People’s Services [Cabinet Portfolio Member for Children’s Services, Councillor C Vasey] |
Purpose of the Report 1. To seek agreement on partnership proposals for the structure and governance arrangements for a Children’s Trust for County Durham to be established on 1 April 2007.
Background
2. a. The Children Act 2004 introduced the term “Children’s Services Authority (CSA)”. Durham County Council and all upper tier local authorities were given the functions and statutory responsibilities of a CSA. The legislation required the CSA to appoint a Director of Children’s Services and transferred all the responsibilities of the former statutory posts of Director of Education and Director of Social Services, insofar as they related to children, to the new post. The Act also required the appointment of a lead member for Children’s Services.
b. Section 10 of the Act places a duty on the CSA and its “relevant partners” to co-operate to improve children’s wellbeing. The CSA was given the responsibility of taking the lead in making arrangements to promote co-operation between local agencies whose work impacts on children. Statutory and other guidance makes it clear that this duty should be delivered through the establishment of a Children’s Trust or equivalent arrangements. Consultation on the format of the arrangements was undertaken in 2005 and it was agreed that Children’s Trust arrangements (known as the Children’s Trust) were a suitable basis for partnership working in County Durham.
c. The Trust is to be the vehicle for inter-agency co-operation to improve children’s wellbeing. The statutory guidance, in practice, requires the Trust to work to improve outcomes for children and young people through the integration of the work of partners to establish:
·
Inter-Agency Governance (ie the subject of this report)
·
Integrated Strategy (eg the Children and Young People’s Plan)
·
Integrated Processes (eg through agencies sharing data and information to protect children and to enhance their well being;
or through having common assessment frameworks for children;
and through common performance management systems to ensure the delivery of the Children and Young People’s Plan.)
·
Integrated Front-Line Delivery (eg through the establishment of multi-agency teams to support children and their families).
d. The Trust will have very significant responsibilities. It will, in accordance with its governance arrangements, bring partners together to provide strategic leadership to determine our collective priorities for children and young people, it will prepare and implement the Children and Young People’s Plan and it will ensure the development and delivery of services for children and young people and their families in the County in line with the Plan.
e. Since the Act was passed in 2004 officers and lead members have worked with partner agencies to develop the concept of a Children’s Trust for the County. It is intended that the Trust will be overseen by an Executive Board comprising some of the most senior representatives from the partner agencies; it will be supported by officer working groups. It is envisaged that the priorities and strategy established by the Executive Board will be delivered locally through five Local Children’s Boards. These will evolve from the 5 existing Local Children’s Planning Groups that support the LSP arrangements. They will become the local thematic groups that link to the LSP in their work across the field of Children’s Services.
f. A partnership body such as the Trust requires clear arrangements for governance. This is necessary to ensure clarity on issues such as membership, decision making, and how the Trust will relate to the agencies and organisations represented on the Trust.
g. A Shadow Children’s Executive Board was established with partners in April 2006 to draw up and propose these governance arrangements for approval by parent bodies with an intention to move to a formally constituted Executive Board in April 2007. The Board is chaired by the Corporate Director, Children and Young People’s Services. Its membership is broad, with the County Council also being represented by the lead Member for Children.
h. The outline structure for the Trust, is set out in Appendix 2. Proposed governance arrangements, strongly supported by members of the Shadow Board, are attached at Appendix 3.
i. Members are asked to note that the principles supporting the governance arrangements are largely modelled on those that have been established for the Local Area Agreement (LAA). They have been the subject of significant cross-agency discussion and consultation. The outcomes of this consultation are summarised at Appendices 4.
j. In addition to the proposed governance arrangements a draft Memorandum of Understanding has been drawn up (Appendix 5). This sets out a series of more detailed arrangements for the Trust and would be the basis for its constitution.
k. The effectiveness of partnership working, the arrangements for the Trust and how well partners are improving outcomes for children and young people will be inspected through the new national system of Joint Area Reviews (JARs) led by Ofsted. County Durham will experience a JAR in spring 2007.
Statutory Position
3. The governance model proposed is underpinned by the Children Act 2004 and the associated “Statutory guidance on inter-agency co-operation to improve the wellbeing of children: children’s trusts”, (Department for Education and Skills, 2005). Statute provides for a direct link between the Children’s Executive Board and the lead Member for Children. In addition, the arrangements in County Durham provide for the involvement of Members through an active role in the scrutiny arrangements for the Trust and in the ordinary workings of the CSA.
Revenue Budget
4. There are no direct budgetary implications arising from this report. There is an expectation in the statutory guidance that partner organisations will move towards some pooling of budgets which will then be used by the Trust directly to commission services for the benefit of children and young people. No County Council decision on this is sought at this time.
Recommendations
5. Members are asked to:
(a) note and agree the proposals for the structure, governance and constitutional arrangements for the Children’s Trust as set out in Appendices 2, 3 and 5;
(b note that officers are working with partner agencies to secure general agreement on these; and
(c) require the Corporate Director, Children and Young People’s Services to negotiate with partners to secure County Councillor membership on the Local Children’s Boards.
| Contact: David Williams Tel: 0191 3833319 |
Finance None
Staffing The establishment of Children’s Trusts and the associated new ways of working impact on staff workloads. Whilst some associated initiatives have benefited from specific government grants the strategic management required for the development of partnership working and the Children’s Trust is largely unfunded and so means additional work for staff or the realignment of management priorities.
Equality and Diversity The development of the Trust is aimed at improving the wellbeing of all children and young people. It will, in particular, have a role to play in improving outcomes and “narrowing gaps” for those children and young people who currently suffer from lower achievement, who have poorer health, are less safe and less able to make a positive contribution and so less likely to achieve economic wellbeing.
Accommodation None
Crime and disorder Improving outcomes for children and young people will almost certainly have a direct and positive long term impact on crime and disorder. A number of agencies involved in youth justice will be represented on the Trust including Police, Probation, and the Youth Engagement Service. The work of the trust and the Children and Young People’s Plan should be complementary to that set out in the Youth Justice Plan.
Sustainability N/A
Human rights Improving the wellbeing of children and young people will make it more likely that their human rights will be promoted and protected.
Localities and Rurality All areas affected. The establishment of Local Children’s Boards will enable the framework set by the county wide strategy and priorities to be interpreted and delivered locally.
Young people Children and Young People are at the heart of this initiative.
Consultation All partner agencies have worked extensively on these proposals and all have been consulted. There is a very broad level of support.
Health The PCTs have been actively involved. The Trust will be charged with furthering the Every Child Matters aim to ensure that children and young people are healthy.
TO VIEW REPORT IN FULL PLEASE CLICK ON PDF ATTACHMENT OR REFER TO HARD COPIES LOCATED IN CORPORATE SERVICES AND THE COUNTY RECORD OFFICE Attachments
Structure and Governance Arrangements report 260307.pdf