PART 1
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC) / ITEM NO.

REPORT OF THE LEAD MEMBERS FOR

COMMUNITY & SOCIAL SERVICES AND EDUCATION

TO THE HEALTH & SOCIAL ISSUES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

6th NOVEMBER 2003

TITLE: Presentation of the content of the Green Paper “Every Child Matters”

RECOMMENDATIONS: That the report is noted. (Comments of Scrutiny Committee will be available to Cabinet when it considers its response to the Green Paper on 11th November 2003).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:Every child matters is a most significant document. It sets out the Government’s intentions following the Climbié report. It brings together a wide range of initiatives developed during the life of the Government to set a clear direction for the future of children’s services. This is based on integrated accessible services designed with input from children and delivered by a well-trained workforce.

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:Green Paper “Every Child Matters”

(Available for public inspection)“Keeping Children Safe”

Report of Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié

ASSESSMENT OF RISKNot applicable, this report simply sets out the content of a Green Paper.

THE SOURCE OF FUNDING ISNot applicable

LEGAL ADVICE OBTAINED Not applicable

FINANCIAL ADVICE OBTAINED Not applicable

CONTACT OFFICER Paul Woltman 0161 793 2243

Paul Greenway 0161 778 0436

WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATE(S) All

KEY COUNCIL POLICIESThe Green Paper will be translated into legislation which will have significant impact on council policy and organisation.

DETAILS:

The Green Paper “Every child matters” brings together a number of elements of Government policy on children to present them as a cohesive whole. It sets out problems the Government wishes to overcome, progress made to date, and further proposed action. The Green Paper has been influenced by the report of the Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié, the Government’s Children Safeguards Review and the imperatives of reducing criminal activity by young people and improving educational attainment. The intended outcome is to maximise the positive life chances of all children. It is a green paper which considers all children but which has a focus on those who start and finish disadvantaged and how to improve their inclusion.

The green paper has six chapters:

The Challenge / Sets out the challenges which the Government believes must be overcome to maximise the inclusion of children
Strong Foundations / Reviews progress to date
Supporting Parents and Carers / Good parenting is identified as being of key importance and this chapter sets out how the Government intends to support and develop it.
Early Intervention and Effective Protection / Deals with plans to ensure that children at risk are identified early to receive appropriate support to enable them to reach their potential
Accountability and Integration / Sets out plans for structural reform locally and nationally.
Workforce Reform / Puts forward the Government’s intentions for the childcare workforce.

Chapter One

The first chapter outlines issues still to be addressed and considers some powerful evidence. It identifies the factors which it has been shown can disadvantage children:

  • low income and parental unemployment
  • homelessness
  • poor parenting
  • poor schooling
  • post-natal depression among mothers
  • low birth weight
  • substance misuse
  • individual characteristics such as intelligence
  • community factors, such as living in a disadvantaged neighbourhood.

but then goes on to list protective factors:

  • strong relationships with parents, family members and other significant adults
  • parental interest and involvement in education with clear and high expectations
  • positive role models
  • individual characteristics such as an outgoing nature, self-motivation, intelligence
  • active involvement in family, school and community life
  • recognition, praise and feeling valued.

It explains that even before they are two children are being affected by their social and environmental circumstances and these factors have an increasing impact in primary school years.

The Government also spoke to children and young people about what was important to them and gives the result of that work:

  • being healthy:enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle
  • staying safe:being protected from harm and neglect and growing up able to look after themselves
  • enjoying and achieving:getting the most out of life and developing broad skills for adulthood
  • making a positive contribution:to the community and to society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour
  • economic well-being:overcoming socio-economic disadvantages to achieve their full potential in life.

An estimate originally published by the Department of Health that 4 out of every 11 children are vulnerable is included in this chapter. It is likely that the proportion is higher in Salford. For example, Salford’s high level of material deprivation (28th most deprived in the country according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation in 2000) and relatively high number of single parent families (8.6% according to ONS compared to a national figure of 6.5%).

Chapter Two

In reviewing progress to date the Green Paper sets out a range of Government initiatives several of which have been implemented in Salford. In particular the Government identifies progress in:

  • tackling child poverty
  • ensuring children have a Sure Start
  • raising primary and secondary school standards and participation in post 16 learning
  • increasing access to primary health care and specialist health services
  • reducing offending and anti-social behaviour
  • building strong and vibrant communities
  • ensuring children are safe.

For the youngest children the development of walk in primary care centres and the establishment of children’s centres to be available for all children in the 20% poorest wards by 2006 are cited. Other aims are better support for children with disabilities and improving educational attainment (with particular reference children from ethnic minorities) and school attendance and behaviour, better responses to children with special educational needs. The Government also sees the proposals in the Green Paper contributing to strong and vibrant communities with investment in youth services, comprehensive holiday activity programmes.

This chapter contains many examples of proposals to improve the lot of children and young people but there are some key themes:

Services should be integrated and accessible (delivered from extended schools and children’s centres for example).

Young people should have a distinct voice in how services are developed and delivered.

On top of good universal services there should be good specialist services to meet the needs of vulnerable children.

Chapter Three

Supporting parents and carers is seen to be of key importance given their role especially in relation to younger children. The Government’s strategy identifies three levels of support:

  • universal services such as schools, health services and childcare providing information and advice and engaging parents in supporting their child’s development, where such support is needed or wanted
  • targeted and specialist support to parents of children requiring additional support
  • compulsory action through Parenting Orders as a last resort where parents are condoning a child’s anti-social behaviour such as truancy or offending.

This chapter identifies many examples of supportive services but the key message is that all parents should be able to access support through initiatives such as help lines, good information, and support programmes. Then there should be specialist services for parents with greater or particular needs. Examples here are family group conferencing, parent education, and home visiting services. Measures such as parenting orders will be developed further to target parents who do not respond to positive measures and condone offending or truancy. The chapter also identifies the need to further develop foster care, adoption and residential care for children looked after.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 deals with early intervention and effective prevention. It is essential to have strong arrangements and services to identify children who are vulnerable and to help them and their families to reduce the risk of their needing to be looked after, failing at school, or becoming involved in crime. The green paper deals with:

  • improving information sharing between agencies, ensuring all local authorities have a list of children in their area, a list of the services they have had contact with, and the contact details of relevant professionals
  • establishing a common assessment framework. The Government will move towards a common assessment framework across services for all children. The aim is for core information to follow the child between services to reduce duplication
  • identifying lead professionals to take the lead on each case where children are known to more than one specialist agency
  • integrating professionals through multi-disciplinary teams responsible for identifying children at risk, and working with the child and family to ensure services are tailored to their needs
  • co-locating services in and around schools, Sure Start Children’s Centres, and primary care settings
  • ensuring effective child protection procedures are in place across all organisations.

The themes of co-location of accessible services and integration of services through multi-disciplinary teams are again of core importance here. The information sharing strategy on which councils and partners are already working is outlined with the concept of the information hub and a concern to ensure that vulnerable children do not get missed or lost because of system and organisational limitations. The chapter also outlines the common assessment framework which would mean all services contributing to a single process of assessment of children. It proposes the lead professional, to coordinate services when a child is known to more than one service.

There are two models of co-location set out. The first proposes services being organised around a cluster of schools, perhaps with an extended school at the centre. The second has the cluster of schools taking responsibility for a full range of services in their area. The second is proposed as a possible development of the first.

Finally in this chapter, reference is made to safeguarding children, picking up the messages from the Victoria Climbié Inquiry and the Government Safeguards Review to ensure children are effectively protected.

Chapter five

Chapter five deals with the structural changes proposed by the Government:

  • legislate to create the post of Director of Children’s Services, accountable for local authority education and children’s social services
  • legislate to create a lead council member for children
  • in the long term, integrate key services for children and young people under the Director of Children’s Services as part of Children’s Trusts. These bring together local authority education and children’s social services, some children’s health services, Connexions, and can include other services such as Youth Offending Teams. Children’s Trusts will normally be part of the local authority and will report to local elected members
  • require local authorities to work closely with public, private and voluntary organisations to improve outcomes for children. Local authorities will be given flexibility over how this partnership working is undertaken
  • in relation to child protection, require the creation of Local Safeguarding Children Boards as the statutory successors to Area Child Protection Committees.

The Government has already created a Minister for Children in the Department of Education and Skills and further intends:

  • ensuring children are a priority across services. Local bodies such as the police and health organisations will, subject to consultation, have a new duty to safeguard children, promote their well-being and work together through these partnership arrangements. We also intend to give local authorities a duty to promote the educational achievement of children in care
  • setting out clear practice standards expected of each agency in relation to children
  • rationalising performance targets, plans, funding streams, financial accountability and indicators
  • creating an integrated inspection framework for children’s services. Ofsted will take the lead in bringing together joint inspection teams. This will ensure services are judged on how well they work together
  • creating an improvement and intervention function to drive up performance by sharing effective practice, and intervening where services are failing.

Through these measures the Government intends to avoid fragmentation of services at local level through integration and establish clear lines of local accountability. It also intends to appoint a National Children’s Commissioner, establish a single system of inspection coordinated by OFSTED, and set out powers to intervene in what are deemed to be failing authorities.

In this chapter the Government sets out its intentions to integrate local authority children’s and children’s health services in Children’s Trusts by 2006. The Trusts will be the responsibility of the Director of Children’s Services and will be expected to include:

  • local education authority – potentially all education functions, including the education welfare service, youth service, special educational needs and educational psychology, childcare and early years education, and school improvement
  • children’s social services – including assessment and services for children in need such as family support, foster and residential care, adoption services, childcare, advocacy services and child protection, and services for care leavers
  • Community and acute health services – such as community paediatrics, services commissioned by Drug Action Teams, teenage pregnancy co-ordinators, and locally commissioned and provided Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. They could also include speech and language therapy, health visiting and occupational therapy services concerned with children and families. Primary Care Trusts will be able to delegate functions into the Children’s Trust, and will be able to pool funds with the local authority.

In addition it is indicated that Trusts might include:

  • Youth Offending Teams – multidisciplinary teams working with young people and their families to prevent offending
  • Connexions Service – multi-agency information, advice and guidance for 13-19’s.

The Government also proposes to replace Area Child protection Committees with statutory Local Safeguarding Children Boards.

Chapter Six

The final chapter considers workforce issues:

  • a workforce reform strategy to improve the skills and effectiveness of the children’s workforce and make working with children a more attractive career option. This will review rewards, incentives and relativities across children’s practice
  • a high profile recruitment campaign
  • a comprehensive workload survey
  • more flexible and attractive training routes into social work, including expanding work based training routes for graduates
  • common occupational standards across children’s practice linked to modular qualifications which allow workers to move between jobs more easily
  • a common core of training for those who work solely with children and families and those who have wider roles (such as GPs and the police)
  • a review undertaken by the Chief Nursing Officer of the contribution that health visitors and other nurses and midwives can make for children at risk
  • a leadership development programme to foster high calibre leadership.

Recruitment problems are analysed to show difficulties for several key groups. The problem is shown as being least for teachers, more severe for police and nurses, and most severe for social workers and staff to work in children’s homes. Although Salford fares better than many authorities, recruitment for social workers and social care workers for children is a problem. The Green paper also estimates that nationally there is an 8,000 shortfall of foster carers and Salford certainly has a shortage of foster carers.

New training initiatives with greater flexibility around career entry and a review of pay and conditions are indicated. To contribute to the integration agenda the Government is keen to establish common core training and to review roles.

The Green Paper identifies several new funding initiatives:

  • £513 millions to improve Youth Services
  • Positive Action for Young People (holiday activities) £25 millions
  • Young Peoples’ Fund £200 millions
  • PE and Sport in schools £1,145 millions
  • Choice Protects to improve foster care (£19.75 in 2003-04)
  • Social Care Workforce Grant (£72 millions in 2002-03 to £226 millions in 2005-06).

Several other funding arrangements are continuing to help improve mental health services for children and young people, early years services and Surestart and Teenage Pregnancy for example.

The City Council’s response

The Government has asked for comments on the Green Paper by 1st December 2003. Scrutiny Committee may wish to offer comments to Cabinet to form part of a response. It is possible to respond to anything in the green paper but the Government has identified the following issues on which it is particularly seeking views.

Chapter 2

•How can we improve support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, building on the work of the Children's Panel?

•How can we ensure that serious welfare concerns are appropriately dealt with alongside criminal proceedings?

•How can we encourage clusters of schools to work together around extended schools?

Chapter 3

•How can good quality decision-making by social services in relation to achieving permanence for the children for whom they are responsible best be achieved?

•Building on Choice Protects, what more can we do to recruit and retain more foster carers who are able to meet the needs of looked after children?

•How can local authorities, working with the voluntary, community and private sectors, develop a range of specialist parenting support services?

•Working with local authorities and other existing providers what steps should the Government take to make home visiting services more widely available?