Joining the Dots… The Children’s Plan: National Strategy – Local Delivery Steve Walker Principal Consultant Children and Young People

The Children’s Plan Building brighter futures

The Children’s Plan: What does it do? Sets out the Government’s ambitions for Children and young people: ‘Our aim is to make this the best place in the world for our children to grow up in’ Brings together for the first time at a national level all policy for children and young people aged 0 – 19 Sets out the work plan for the Department for Children Schools and Families

The Children’s Plan: The Dots Positive view of Young People Positive in tone about the contributions children and young people make to their communities and society as a whole - building on Aiming High; Importance of involving children and young people and developing informed services; Funding to enable children and young people to engage in positive activities;

The Children’s Plan: The Dots Emphasis on Families The Children’s Plan emphasises the role that families have in bringing up children and the need for services to be responsive to their needs ‘More than ever before families will be at the centre of excellent integrated services that put their interests first’ Links to Think Family

The Children’s Plan: The Dots Emphasis on Enjoy (as well as achieve) Providing opportunities for children and young people to engage in positive activities Need to have access to a variety of experiences and managed ‘risk’ Active and healthier childhoods Building resilience

The Children’s Plan: The Dots Narrowing the Gap The plan recognises that some groups are disadvantaged and announces a number of measures intended to address this: Joint CWP and DCSF Child Poverty Unit Housing Action Plan Targeted resources for disadvantaged areas e.g. Sure Start Advisors, Playgrounds, safety equipment,

The Children’s Plan: The Dots The Role of Local Authorities Local authorities need to understand and champion the needs of local communities; Need to provide the strategic overview and direction Need to shape services to meet local needs Builds on The Local Government White Paper: Stronger More Prosperous Communities

The Children’s Plan: The Dots Community Cohesion Emphasis on the importance of citizenship and community empowerment to building cohesion; Understanding of different groups within the community based on reality not perception; Opportunities for children and young people to engage positively with different groups Builds on The Government’s Response to the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, Education and Inspection Act 2006

The Children’s Plan: The Space between the Dots It is not a national equivalent of Local Authority Children and Young People’s Plans It has to be actively interpreted Mixture of key policies, bright ideas and very specific initiatives It is too detailed and too vague Why not use the 5 Outcomes It is a plan from The Department for Children, Schools and Families

The Children’s Plan: The Space between the Dots Emphasises Local authorities’ role as key strategic player in partnerships but does not address: Autonomy of partners – including schools Performance Indicators Inspection regime

The Children’s Plan: The Space between the Dots Requires good quality intelligence about local community on which to plan services; Requires effective systems in place to involve children, young people and families in decision making about service design and delivery – particularly those from disadvantaged communities and hard to reach groups

The Children’s Plan: The Space between the Dots Narrowing the Gap Need to know not only the size of the Gap but why it is there and what is the most effective way of narrowing it (information on what works at national and local levels); Need to understand that some Gaps are small in width but large in depth – there may be no quick wins Need to ensure that services are targeted – this may involve difficult decisions about priorities and resources which may not be popular

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots DON’T PANIC Remember: "A hoopy frood always knows where his towel is" The Children’s Plan is not asking us to do anything differently – it does not establish any new structures – it requires us to use the ones that we have more effectively

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots Joint Strategic Needs Assessment A Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) is the means by which Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and local authorities will describe the future health, care and well-being needs of local populations and the strategic direction of service delivery to meet those needs. JSNAs form the basis of a new duty to co-operate for PCTs and local authorities that is contained in the current Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill. JSNAs will take account of data and information on inequalities between the differing, and overlapping, communities in local areas and support the meeting of statutory requirements in relation to equality audits.

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots

Does your Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Which groups are getting a raw deal? How many children are living in poverty? What issues are affecting the health of children and young people locally? Are you spending our money on the right things? What illnesses are people living with? What illnesses people living with that makes their lives difficult? What help do the groups who are getting a raw deal want and need? Where do the groups getting a raw deal live?

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots Joint Strategic Needs Assessment provide analyses of data to show the health and well-being status of local communities define where inequities exist, and use local community views and evidence of effectiveness of interventions to shape the future investment and disinvestment services.

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots Local Area Agreement Between partners in an area and the Government Three years Commitment to deliver outcomes gives authorities and partners freedom to use money more innovatively (freedoms and flexibilities) 4 blocks Children and young people Healthy communities and older people Economy and enterprise Safer and stronger communities

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots What should your LAA contain? Address needs of disadvantaged areas Dealing with obstacles to better outcomes Involving the Community and Voluntary Sector Outcome framework Stretch targets (LPSA style) and reward grant

The Children’s Plan: Joining the Dots Some questions about your LAA Are your LAAs strengthening governance arrangements at local level. Have new partnership bodies with ‘teeth’ been established for the initiative and its main thematic areas. Is it underpinned by good performance management arrangements and data sharing. Is it supporting partners to take a more strategic and targeted approach to joint working. Is it supporting strategic commissioning and budgetary arrangements ?

Needs that Can be met Single agency Needs that Can be met by agencies for children working together Needs that Can be met by all agencies in the community working together Strategic Needs Assessment Children’s Trust CYPSP CYPP Local Strategic Partnership LAA Achievement of better outcomes

The Joined up Picture All children in young people in our communities are healthy, safe, happy and reach their potential