CHYP IN
Welcome to CHYP IN Spring 2015
Children and Young People In Newcastle: news for people working in and with the voluntary and community sector in Newcastle
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In this issue: Goodbye CHYP IN newsletter; CHYP IN voluntary sector forum; Voluntary Sector Liaison Group; Newcastle Gateshead CCG; commissioning; safeguarding
Goodbye CHYP IN newsletter
Sadly this is the final issue of the CHYP IN newsletter.
One of the proposals approved in the Fair Choices in Tough Times: Budget 2015 to 2016 was to end the city council support to the voluntary sector children’s services workforce reform. As this is offered through Newcastle CVS, it has been clarified what will still be on offer through Newcastle CVS core work and what has to be withdrawn.
Newcastle CVS will still offer Policy Officer support to
· Hold meetings of the CHYP IN voluntary sector forum three times a year
· Maintain the CHYP IN network mailing list of children and young people’s organisations
· Retain the Children and Young People slot in the fortnightly bulletin ncvs e-inform
· Increase use of Newcastle CVS website, which will be enhanced with the development of a new CVS website later this year
· Support core safeguarding activity including membership of NSCB Business Group and NSCB Learning and Development Committee
What will not be supported
· Publication of a dedicated newsletter, CHYP IN news
· Free training and workshops focused on workforce development
· Newcastle CVS representation on programmes such as Newcastle Families Programme Board
· Additional safeguarding activity including the Policy and Procedures Committee, and multi-agency audit / inspection preparation
· Any other specific initiatives to support VCS children’s workforce development
Originally the Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) supported the involvement of the voluntary sector in children’s workforce reform as part of the Every Child Matters agenda, following the Victoria Climbie inquiry. Information sharing, ContactPoint and the use of the Common Assessment Framework were key. When the CWDC was abolished in 2010 the VCS workforce support was initially continued in the revenue grant to local authorities. When that funding was discontinued by the government, Newcastle City Council continued to support voluntary sector engagement in the children and young people’s workforce reform strategy, until this latest round of cuts.
CHYP IN voluntary sector forum
CHYP IN voluntary sector forum, for organisations working with children and young people in Newcastle, next meets on Tuesday 23 June at 9.45 am to 12.00 pm. The venue has still to be arranged.
The CHYP IN voluntary sector forum held in March
· Melanie Scott, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) for Newcastle spoke about her role and about managing allegations against adults who work with children. To contact Melanie Scott, the Newcastle LADO call 0191 211 6730
· David Large spoke about the forthcoming report, Good Intentions. A draft executive summary was in the participants’ packs
· Issues concerning young people on the agenda of the Voluntary Sector Liaison Group, and the Newcastle VCS Manifesto 2015 were introduced by Martin Gollan
· Activity around the forum: participants spoke about activities and new developments
Summary
· There have been few voluntary sector referrals to the Newcastle LADO
· Some organisations are having difficulty obtaining DBS checks
· Voluntary organisations running registered childcare activities with children aged under eight years need to ensure they implement ‘Disqualification by Association’.
· Organisations working with young people aged 17 to 18 should include the Safeguarding Transitions Protocol in their procedures
· Organisations working with young people aged 18 and over should update their safeguarding adults policy and procedures for the Care Act on 1 April onwards
· Newcastle CVS will publish Good Intentions and make it widely available
· Voluntary organisations are determined to continue and are not planning exit strategies
· The Voluntary Sector Liaison Group will discuss support for young people in March
· The VCS Manifesto includes a call for a mixed economy of funding
· The Alternative Education Provision for Young People Framework will go for tender soon
Good Intentions
The CHYP IN voluntary sector forum heard from David Large about the forthcoming report, ‘Good Intentions, a complexity-informed study of Neighbourhood Based Organisations in Newcastle on Tyne’. The research revisits the organisations who took part in a 2012 study by Newcastle CVS ‘The value of neighbourhoods based organisations working with children and young people in Newcastle’.
Good Intentions will be published by Newcastle CVS in the near future.
Support for young people
The October CHYP IN voluntary sector forum and the CHYP IN meeting in November raised concern amongst voluntary organisations working with young people about diminishing support for young people in Newcastle. Following this support for young people was an agenda item at the Voluntary Sector Liaison Group in March.
The notes from the last CHYP IN voluntary sector forum held on 10 March are on Newcastle CVS website. Visit
www.cvsnewcastle.org.uk/networkinginvolving/children-and-young-people/chyp-in-network
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Voluntary Sector Liaison Group (VSLG)
In Newcastle there is a formal liaison structure for the voluntary sector and City Council, the Voluntary Sector Liaison Group (VSLG), which meets quarterly. There are six voluntary sector members and six Councillors, along with officer support through the City Council and Sally Young from Newcastle CVS.
Newcastle CVS had raised recent concerns about support for young people as highlighted by the voluntary sector in several meetings, with the VSLG and as part of its budget response. A focus on the issues facing young people and support for them was a key part of the VSLG meeting held on 12 March.
The City Council covering report ‘Youth engagement and services in Newcastle’ outlines many of the challenges faced by young people, and a comprehensive overview of local authority support and current funding.
Numbers of young people who are NEET reduces in Newcastle
The report also outlined the current work to support young people who are not in education employment or training (NEET). In May 2014 the Department for Education figure was that Newcastle had the highest rate of young people who are NEET in the country. Since then the numbers have fallen by nearly a third to 6.7%. There are also figures for those young people where it is not known what they are doing which were at 4.3% in January 2015, down from 4.4% a year before. These falls means that Newcastle now has the lowest rate of young people who are NEET in Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.
Capital Development in Newcastle
The covering report discussed three potential capital developments being mooted in Newcastle: a Youth Zone supported by Onside, the Vardy Foundation Virgin Money and the Queens Trust; the Prince’s Trust proposal supported by Cheryl Fernandez-Versini (nee Cole); and the asset transfer and development of the Mill Lane building supported by Sport England and UK Active.
Further work will be carried out to discuss the potential developments and to gain the views of young people in Newcastle.
The notes for the October and March CHYP IN voluntary sector forums, the meeting about concerns held in November, the forthcoming report Good Intentions about neighbourhood based organisations and the proposed timetable for the next round of Newcastle Fund were also on the agenda.
For the VSLG papers visit
http://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=933&MId=5708&Ver=4
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Children and Young People’s Plan 2015-2020
Views and comments were invited about the draft Children and Young People’s Plan 2015 to 2020 in January. Phil Hayden, Lead Specialist Standards & Effectiveness in the Wellbeing, Care and Learning Directorate reported on the key observations made in response to the draft plan.
· The majority of respondents agree with the Children and Young People’s Plan
· Newcastle Children’s Rights Charter needs greater publicity – some services do not see a link with their work
· Access and usability of Newcastle Future Needs Assessment (NFNA) needs to be considered
· Do services use collective needs based assessment in their work? – or what just presents to them?
· Greater promotion and engagement of whole family approach and what it means to assess needs and respond...
· Still some lack of understanding about local authority capacity... to measure and prioritise everything
· Children and Young People’s Plan on a page for everyday use
Many people commented that the Draft Plan needs analysis is very good. Newcastle CVS suggests that the needs analysis in the Children and Young People’s Plan 2015 to 2020, along with the needs analysis in Know Your City are useful material to support funding bids. When the final version of the plan has been produced it will be published on the City Council website.
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Newcastle Family Outcome Plan
The Newcastle Family Outcome Plan, alongside the Sure Start inspection framework will be how Newcastle measures the success of the Early Help and Supporting Families Offer and the Newcastle Families Programme, and will be used to claim the reward funds under the government’s Payment by Results mechanism.
The Newcastle Families Programme summit meeting to develop the Family Outcome Plan was held in March, after being re-arranged from January. The voluntary organisations at the event included those directly involved in delivering the Newcastle Families Programme, its Board and Implementation Groups, and those organisations commissioned to deliver services within the Early Help and Supporting Families Offer from April 2015.
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services review
As reported in the last issue of CHYP IN newsletter, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in Newcastle and Gateshead will be completely overhauled and remodelled, with the intention of moving in the next few years to commissioning a whole system whole family response to the psychological and emotional needs of children, adults and families.
It has been confirmed that the governance of the work will be through the Mental Health Programme Board. The Mental Health Programme Board initial remit was adult mental health and so the Board will discuss how to address the gap in representation from children and young people’s voluntary organisations. As reported before, the CCGs with Public Health in City Council, will develop the involvement of children, young people and parents in the commissioning process.
Goodbye Alliance, hello NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG
The two Newcastle CCGs and Gateshead CCG have been working together in a partnership known as the Newcastle Gateshead Alliance, with the three CCG Governing Bodies meeting together in joint meetings. There has been space with each substantive agenda item for questions from the public about that item.
The final meeting of the Newcastle Gateshead Alliance will be on 31 March. From 1 April the three CCGs will merge to become a single statutory body with a single Governing Body, NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG.
The papers for 31 March will be on
www.newcastlenorthandeastccg.nhs.uk/about-us/governing-body/
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Newcastle City Council commissioning updates
Newcastle City Council commissioning plans and the procurement decisions to be taken at the end of a tendering process can be found in the Forward Plan. The Plan lists the key decisions due to be made by the Council in the papers for each Cabinet meeting. For example, the March paper states that the Alternative Education Framework will go out to tender. Approval for the Newcastle Fund round 6 criteria and allocation will be sought in April.
Visit www.newcastle.gov.uk/your-council-and-democracy/councillors-and-democracy/councillors/forward-plan
Newcastle Wellbeing Fund
A recent report to the Newcastle Health Scrutiny Committee outlined the progress of the two-year Wellbeing Fund at the end of the first year. The Wellbeing Fund was an allocation of £400,000 from public health monies to support the work of local voluntary and community groups to make a healthy difference. The Wellbeing Fund was divided between wards using the ward grant aid allocation process, and the application process is the same as the Ward Committee Grant Aid process. The criteria to award the funding is based on five Ways to Wellbeing: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Give, and the activities can be run in up to four wards.
At the end of the first year just over £72,000 has been given out in grant aid. As the Wellbeing Fund can be spend by the local authority at any time in the two years, there is nearly £330,000 available in year two.
For the report to the Health Scrutiny Committee visit
http://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/documents/s79473/ITEM%207c%20-%20Overview%20of%20Wellbeing%20Fund%20Spend.pdf
To find out more about applying for the Wellbeing Fund visit
http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/communities-and-neighbourhoods/grants-and-funding/wellbeing-fund
Each Ward Committee meeting has a Finance Report on how the Ward Grant Aid and the Wellbeing Fund have been used in its ward, and how much of its allocation is left.
For Ward Committee papers, visit http://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/ieDocHome.aspx
The Alternative Education Framework suppliers’ event
Wednesday 1 April at 9.30 am to 11.30 am at Westgate City Learning Centre
The Alternative Education Framework is in the City Council Forward Plan to go out to tender soon, and the City Council has arranged a suppliers’ event. The Alternative Education Framework tender opportunity is likely to be advertised two weeks after the suppliers’ event. Following the procurement exercise the Framework Agreement will be in place for two years which is a bit like a standing list of approved providers. It means organisations that may wish to provide Alternative Education Provision during the two years will need to submit a tender now to go onto the Framework Agreement.
A report about Alternative Provision for Young People went to the March Cabinet meeting, visit http://democracy.newcastle.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=857&MId=5586&Ver=4
North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO)
To submit a tender (and probably to book for the event) you and your organisation will need to be registered as a supplier on the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO) website. There is a good help guide to using the site and registering. Visit
https://www.qtegov.com/systems/nepocms.nsf/vLiveDocs/DBCF745E7781430480257DCF00405F93?OpenDocument
Developing a Children’s Community for the West End
A feasibility study about developing a Children’s Community for the West End of Newcastle has been carried out by Liz Todd and Karen Laing from the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching at Newcastle University. A series of meeting is being arranged to ensure thatthose who would like to become involved have an opportunity to do so.The initial meetings are to allow a shared vision to grow. Following the session on 25 March there will be a meeting with the West Schools’ Trust and after that a meeting with Alan Strachan from the Wallsend Children’s Community.