Agenda item

7.1

The Committee received a report of the Acting Director, Children, Young People and Families Service, which provided an update regarding proposals to develop Children's Centres into Family Centres, which would provide services for families and children from pre-birth to 19 years old (or 0-25 if the young person had a disability).  These proposals had been consulted on between 1^st November 2016 and 31^st January 2017, and the report also provided an update on the outcomes of the consultation process and next steps.  The report was supported by a presentation, given by Nicola Shearstone (Acting Assistant Director for Prevention and Early Intervention), which gave details of the consultation process and its outcomes.

7.2

In attendance for this item were Councillor Jackie Drayton (Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families), Jayne Ludlam (Executive Director, Children, Young People and Families), Nicola Shearstone (Acting Assistant Director for Prevention and Early Intervention) and Jackie Robinson (Service Manager to West MAST (Multi Agency Support Team)).

7.3

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which responses were provided as follows:-

·                In terms of the sufficiency of services, the focus must also be on meeting the needs of the community.

·                There had to be a designated address in each area and consideration was being given to linked sites being in the areas of most deprivation.  This meant that, despite the reduction in the number of centres from 16 to seven, no building would be closed. 

·                The consultation had been promoted in local newsletters such as the Burngreave Messenger and there had been 24 formal meetings, some of which had not been well attended, so officers had gone to places where services were being used as part of the process.

·                The Angram Bank facility would not be closing.  It was presently providing health services and would continue even if used as a link centre.  It was recognised that the Angram Bank School was a little further away from where the children and families lived, so consideration was being given to the operation of a further linked centre if appropriate.

·                The Family Centres would be run by the Council, which had statutory responsibility.

·                Statistics showed that, currently, 72% of families with children under five in the City were being reached by the service.

·                The Council did not provide all services associated with the existing centres, as some were provided by MAST and the NHS.  Pilots were also being undertaken on early years’ health intervention and prevention and work was also being undertaken on young people’s emotional health.  A number of these services would be provided by partners, so it wouldn’t necessarily involve more people.  It should be noted though that all proposals were yet to be agreed.

·                The Building Successful Families Programme had revealed that post-5 intervention was required.

·                Taking services into the localities would enable them to be provided to more families.

·                The services in question were all presently being provided, but these proposals asked the providers to go into the localities rather than be situated in one place.  It was about working with families and co-ordinating services and the intention was to broaden this provision up to the age of 19.

·                It was recognised that the behaviour of older children in the family could affect the behaviour of younger children, so early intervention could have a wider effect than just on the elder child and thus avoid repeated service provision.

·                In terms of governance, all partners would discuss what was happening in any particular locality.

·                It would be possible to produce a schedule of designated locations and services provided in each Councillor’s area, although it should be borne in mind that these areas did not necessarily tie in with Ward boundaries.

·                It may be that one professional could be skilled up to provide a number of services to one family, thus avoiding duplication.  In taking services into the localities, there was also a saving in terms of transport and time. 

·                The availability of emotional health and wellbeing services was being increased. 

·                The plan was to increase the number of buildings available to provide services and to replicate the Building Successful Families model.

·                It would be necessary to convince the NHS and Department of Health that a new way of working was necessary in relation to areas of work such as emotional health and wellbeing.  There was also an opportunity for members of the public to improve their own skills and contribute, whilst still recognising the need for experts who may need to be drawn in.

7.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       thanks Councillor Jackie Drayton, Jayne Ludlam, Nicola Shearstone and Jackie Robinson for their contribution to the meeting;

(b)       notes the contents of the report and presentation and the responses to questions;

(c)        notes the Council’s continued commitment to every child getting a ‘best start in life’ and the importance of Early Years services;

(d)       notes the feedback in the report in relation to the consultation on the proposal to re-design Children’s Centre areas in Sheffield;

(e)       supports the proposals for the re-design of Children’s Centre areas in Sheffield outlined in the report;

(f)        notes that a further report will be considered by Cabinet in March 2017, which will outline the results of the consultation and recommend next steps based on that; and

(g)       requests that details of the number of families accessing the existing Children’s Centres services and how many of these had taken part in this consultation exercise, be sent to the Policy and Improvement Officer for circulation to Committee Members.