Agenda item

a)    Joint Report of Director of Transformation and Partnerships and the Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services

b)    Presentation by Karen Davison, Strategic Manager One Point and Think Family Services

The Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships and Director Children and Young Peoples Services which presented Members with an update on the performance of the Children’s Centres following the Council’s decision to change the way in which they operated (for copy see file of minutes).

The Strategic Manager of the One Point Service gave a joint presentation with regards to One Point Service Update and Impact of the Children’s Centres Review (for copy see file of minutes).

Councillor Brookes referred to the £1m reduction in the budget and the rise in the number of referrals and assessments.  He queried how the Service had significantly increased the number of assessments when the service had lost staff and funding and  had 300 more Looked After Children (LAC’s).  The Strategic Manager of the One Point Service confirmed that the service was much better at targeting more families in need and had improved the way information was recorded.

The Head of Early Help, Assessment & Safeguarding confirmed that many families which had previously accessed Children Centres in the past had not required intervention.  Work had been targeted to the County’s most deprived areas and to those most vulnerable.  Early Intervetion had enabled the service to reduce the number of Children in Need, however there were more LAC’s and this could be attributed to continuing austerity, which was now in its eighth year.

Councillor Crute suggested that it would be beneficial for a Working Group to consider whether economical factors may have contributed to the increase in LAC’s.

Councillor Charlton queried the impact of having lost 60 members of staff, the impact this had on Social Workers and caseloads.  The Strategic Manager of the One Point Service confirmed that there were approximately 200 staff remaining and most of the staff had left through the ER/VR process, only one who had been made compulsory redundant.  Social Workers had 24 caseload on average, or 10-15 families, which would allow enough time to carry out comprehensive assessments.

Councillor Charlton was concerned that it could be difficult for some families to access Children’s Centres and queried whether funding was available to enable them to travel.  The Strategic Manager of the One Point Service confirmed that the Outreach Programme enabled staff to go out to community buildings to deliver services and should parents agree to attend the Parenting Programme, there was a budget to assist with the cost of attending.

Finally, Councillor Charlton referred to the instability of PCSO’s in her own locality as movement caused some issues with consistency.  The Head of Early Help, Assessment & Safeguarding confirmed that she had written to the Chief Constable and complimented the valuable work that PCSO’s were doing in Durham, however it was a role that was naturally used as a stepping stone to becoming a Police Officer and therefore the turnover was high.

Councillor Jewell queried the referral process of One Point and the Strategic Manger confirmed that as well as self-referral, multiple agencies would monitor patients from the outset of pregnancy.  Midwives would identify vulnerability as early as the first appointment and health visitors completed pre-birth home checks (the Home Environment Assessment Tool) to confirm that a parent had baby essentials and a clean and sleeping area.  The Head of Early Help, Assessment & Safeguarding confirmed that where possible One Point was co-located with Families First Teams and regular meetings ensured that nobody was overlooked.

In response to a question from a Member of the Public, the Strategic Manager confirmed that One Point did offer volunteer opportunities and had a recruitment process for anyone interested.

Resolved:

That the report and presentation be noted.