CYPP 2015-18 Final Draft For Cabinet 08Oct15
Our Vision:To improve life chances for children and young people, particularly those whose circumstances make them vulnerable to poor outcomes.
Stockton-on-Tees Children and Young People’s Partnership
Children and Young People’s Plan 2015 - 2018
“Every individual child deserves the best opportunity to fulfil their physical, emotional, intellectual and social potential. Children need to be safe, and confident that the adult world understands their needs and recognises their vulnerability in early years and their needs for preparation for adolescence and adulthood.”
Section / Page no.1. / FOREWORD / 3
2. / PROFILE OF THE BOROUGH AND ITS POPULATION / 4
3. / VISION / 6
4. / KEY PRIORITIES / 7
5. / NEEDS ASSESSMENT / 8
6. / INVOLVEMENT OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE / 14
7. / MAKING IT HAPPEN / 16
8. / DELIVERY PLAN / 18
9. / GLOSSARY OF TERMS / 27
10. / MEMBERS OF THE CYP PARTNERSHIP / 28
11. / CONTACT DETAILS / 29
FOREWORD
As the Chair of our Children & Young People’s Partnership, I am pleased to welcome you to our new Children and Young People’s Plan which sets out our ambitions to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families in Stockton-on-Tees.
The Partnership brings together people from a number of agencies and organisations, across the statutory and voluntary and community sectors, to ensure that we all work together and focus on the things that will make the most difference, particularly for those children and young people who face some challenges in their lives and may need help and support to make progress and achieve their goals.
Engaging with children and young people will be central to the success of the Partnership. We will make sure that we listen to their views and give them the chance to contribute to and influence the priorities of the Partnership.
This Plan provides information about the population of children and young people in our Borough and what their needs are. It makes clear our key priorities for addressing needs and improving outcomes; explains how we have identified those priorities; and sets out how we will work to check that things are happening and progress is being made. More details of the members of the Partnership are provided at the end of the document.
The Plan covers services for children and young people aged 0-17 years; young people who have left care, up to the age of 21 years (or up to 25 years in certain circumstances); and young people with special educational needs or disability, up to the age of 25 years.
I do hope you will take the opportunity to look at our Plan. If you have any comments to make about the document, or want to know how you can contribute to the work of the Partnership, please see the contact details at the end of this document.
Jane Humphreys
Corporate Director for Children, Education & Social Care, Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council,
and Chair of the Children & Young People’s Partnership
2. PROFILE OF THE BOROUGH AND ITS POPULATIONStockton-on-Tees Borough Council is the largest Unitary Authority in the Tees Valley, with a population of 193,190 living in 83,337 dwellings. The Borough’s population has increased by 7.6% since the 2001 Census (compared to an increase of 3.7% for the North East as a whole).
42,300 children and young people, aged 0-17, live in the Borough (i.e 22.0% of the overall population). Of these, 12,200 are under 5 and 22,600 are aged from 5 to 15 years old. There are 2,800 children (aged 0-15) from a BME background. A larger proportion of children are from a BME background (7.5%) than the proportion of the total population which are from a BME background (5.2%).
Across the Borough there is a unique social and economic mix, with areas of acute disadvantage situated alongside areas of affluence. Based on the national indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) 2010:
Ø The Borough is ranked 100 out of the 326 local authorities districts in England (1 being the most deprived) – i.e it is within the 35% most deprived areas nationally.
Ø One of the indices of multiple deprivation is the ‘Income of Deprivation Affecting Children Index’ (IDACI), based on the percentage of children aged 0-15 living in income-deprived households. Using this measure, the Borough ranks 93 of 326 local authority areas.
Ø 29% of the population live within the top 20% of least deprived areas of England, whilst 27% live in the 20% most deprived areas.
Ø 29 out of the 117 Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs[1]) across the Borough are within the 20% least deprived LSOAs in England, whereas 34 of the LSOAs are within the 20% most deprived LSOAs in England.
Compared with the 2007 IMD, there are fewer LSOAs within the 20% most deprived and a greater number within the 20% least deprived, suggesting a positive direction of travel overall. However, some of our most deprived LSOAs became more deprived over this time, suggesting a slight increase in the relative rate of polarization of need within the Borough.
The Borough’s population is expected to increase at a greater rate than many others. Overall, the population is projected to increase by 4.1% by 2022, and by 10.3% by 2037, equating to an additional 20,193 residents compared with 2015. As for the large majority of areas, the number of older people will increase significantly. However, in our Borough it is projected that the population of children and young people will increase also, by some 5% by 2037, compared to an expected reduction across the North East region as a whole.
The profile on the next page gives a breakdown of the number of children and young people who are receiving services across a range of universal, targeted and specialist provision.
(The data used here is to provide an illustrative snapshot, based on available data at April 2015)
To improve life chances for children and young people, particularly those whose circumstances make them vulnerable to poor outcomes.
Achieving this vision will need all children and young people in Stockton-on-Tees to have:
· the opportunity to grow up in a loving, stable environment;
· real opportunities to achieve their full potential and contribute to a fast moving, changing and interdependent world;
· opportunities to experience the benefits of living in a diverse multi-cultural society, where all experiences are valued and prejudice is not tolerated;
· a safe and secure home and community where they are protected from harm, abuse, harassment, exploitation or neglect and have the opportunity to grow up with their peer groups and friends;
· chances to contribute to their local communities, to be heard and to be valued as responsible citizens shaping their lives and their futures;
· the opportunity to participate in a variety of play, sport, culture, and leisure activities;
· access to excellent public services when they need them, which strive to meet the individual needs of children and young people and their families.
We aim to achieve this vision by:
· delivering accessible services through excellent partnership working between all agencies and organisations involved in commissioning and providing services for children, young people and their families;
· working with families to identify needs and provide support at as early a stage as is possible and appropriate;
· targeting resources to tackle inequalities and gaps in services;
· encouraging innovative approaches based on evidence of what works well;
· ensuring robust arrangements to safeguard the health and well-being of all children and young people.
4. KEY PRIORITIESThere is much we want to do to in the coming years to provide help and support for those who need it most. At a time when many services are facing high levels of demand, and operating in a challenging economic climate with financial constraints, it is more important than ever that we focus on the things that will have the greatest impact.
The following key priorities have been drawn up after taking account of a wide range of information and feedback (you can read more about this in the following section of this document).
The Delivery Plan set out later in this document gives more detail about how these priorities will be put in to practice, and who will be responsible for the actions required to achieve them.
5. NEEDS ASSESSMENTThere are many sources of information available that help us to understand the needs of children and young people in our Borough, and the quality of the services they receive. This section summarises the key sources of information that have shaped the priorities we are focusing on through this plan.
Strategic Assessments and PlansØ Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) - this gives an overview of the needs of our population, across a number of themes and topic areas. The JSNA can be found at:
http://www.teesjsna.org.uk/stockton/
Ø Joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy- this has a strong focus on tackling health inequalities whilst considering the wider determinants of health such as housing, education and the environment. A top priority of the Strategy is to ‘Give every child the best start in life’.
Ø A Brighter Borough for All - Tackling Family Poverty across Stockton on Tees – this document is the key strategic plan of the Stockton Local Strategic Partnership which is focused on tackling disadvantage and protecting the vulnerable. The document sets out the framework for actions to break the cycle of poverty by focussing on two key aspects:
· Ensuring every child receives the best start in life
· Maximising family income.
Ø Early Help Strategy- this gives analysis of strengths and weaknesses in early help arrangements (this could be help in the early years of a child or young person’s life, including ante-natal interventions, or early in the emergence of a problem at any stage in their lives). It highlights elements of good practice whilst indicating the need for early help to be more effectively targeted and coordinated.
Ø Childcare Sufficiency Assessment- provides an understanding of how and where we support the development of good quality childcare provision, targeted at areas of need and taking account in particular of the needs of disabled children.
Ø Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy: Stockton-on-Tees Action Plan - sets out the local actions needed to deliver on the Tees Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy.
Ø Joint Strategy for Carer Support Services for Adults, Children and Young People - ensures that Stockton residents have access to appropriate advice, support and guidance in their caring role; and provides the framework for commissioning services to support to carers of all ages in their caring role, including Young Carers, whilst at the same time enhancing the opportunity for greater choice and control over their lives.
Ø Looked after Children and Care Leavers Strategy 2014-2017 - provides analysis of the needs of our looked after children and young people, highlighting achievements and areas for development.
Ø Stockton-on-Tees Local Safeguarding Children Board Business Plan 2014-2017 – this plan sets out how the Safeguarding Board will work to support and challenge partner agencies so that more children are safeguarded, by focusing on six key objectives which it is considered will have the greatest impact on outcomes for children:
· Ensure effective implementation of the revised Early Help Strategy
· Improve the response to children at risk of harm as a result of domestic abuse
· Ensure proactive responses to children identified as being at risk of child sexual exploitation
· Improve early identification of, and response to, neglect
· Improve the engagement of children and young people so that their voice is heard more routinely in the review and development of safeguarding practice
· Strengthen the Board’s Quality Assurance and Performance Management framework
Ø Youth Justice Plan 2015-2016 – this sets out how the Youth Offending Team aims to progress in delivering against its four key outcomes: Early Intervention & Prevention; Reduce Reoffending; Safe and effective use of custody; Education, Training and Employment. The plan highlights recent positive performance in reducing the rate of young people entering the criminal justice system for the first time and rates of reoffending, whilst acknowledging the need for further reduction in the rate of young people being sentenced to custody. Strategic priorities for this multi-agency service are:
· Reducing the likelihood of further offending
· Protecting the public
· Safeguarding the children and young people they work with
· Ensuring that sentences are served
Inspection and ReviewLearning from inspection has helped to inform our development of services for children and young people, especially those who are in need of help and protection. To enhance our learning through external challenge, services have also participated in peer review activity, some of which has been linked to regional sector led improvement programmes.
Ø Ofsted inspection of local authority arrangements for the protection of children, January 2013 – this resulted in a judgement of ‘adequate’ for the overall effectiveness of arrangements to protect children. Key issues for improvement related to:
· management oversight of referral and assessment arrangements
· quality of case recording
· taking account of the views of children and young people
· management of domestic abuse referrals
· early help and prevention work
· a more outcome focused approach to child protection plans
· challenge and oversight by the SLSCB
Ø Critical Friend Review, January 2014 (by Northumberland County Council) – this review provided a number of recommendations focused on decision making and processes in relation to the child protection system.
Ø Safeguarding Practice Diagnostic - this LGA led peer review focused on social work practice and decision making at Referral and Assessment, longer term intervention in cases involving domestic violence and neglect, early help arrangements, and child protection processes - to test out the impact and progress of actions implemented in response to the Ofsted inspection of child protection in January 2013.