Agenda item

a)    Report of Director of Transformation and Partnerships

The Committee considered a joint report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships which presented Members with progress against the Council’s Corporate Performance Framework for Altogether Better for Children and Young People for the third quarter of the 2017/18 Financial Year (for copy see file of minutes).

The Head of Early Help, Assessment & Safeguarding made reference to the Stronger Families Programme.  Funding had previously been payment by results, however the financial framework had been updated to include an alternative funding model, Earned Autonomy.  40 Local Authorities had been given the opportunity to apply for up front funding and Durham was one of 11 successful applicants.  Earned Autonomy status would permit Durham to move away from the current payment by results arrangements, allowing the Council to make more flexible use of the funding.

In relation to Teenage Pregnancy, Councillor McKeon confirmed that there were areas in the County with limited access to GP’s and unable to access information regarding preventative measures.  She queried whether there was a further breakdown which could be provided.  The Head of Early Help, Assessment & Safeguarding confirmed that there was a data lag and the data reported was 30 months out of date.  Figures for local areas were not published as there was a chance that individuals could be identified in certain age brackets, however the outcome for children with teenage parents were much worse and so it was important to try and identify contributing factors.

Councillor McKeon stated that in relation to educational attainment the whole North East region had endured a drop in attainment and asked how closely Durham County Council worked with other North Eastern local authorities to address this.  The figures tell us that the North East region is the worst in England for educational attainment and DCC sits within the middle within the North East for secondary attainment.

Councillor Crute confirmed that The North East Regional Employers’ Organisation were in the midst of developing their Work Programme and he would put forward the comments regarding the need for more current information on educational attainment.

Councillor Bainbridge referred to the increase in the number of LAC’s compared to previous years but pointed out that it was stable and significantly lower than other regions.  She praised the success of the Council’s social media campaign which had generated a lot of interest from potential foster carers and adopters.  The Head of Early Help, Assessment and Safeguarding advised that the recent campaign to recruit foster carers and adopters had generated a lot of interest but checks would be needed to carried out before this would impact on the number of foster carers in place.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.