Welcome to the “Aiming High for Disabled Children” Information Day

Aiming High for Disabled Children Commissioning services to achieve better outcomes.

Commissioning… –The cycle of assessing the needs of people in an area, designing and then securing an appropriate service Partnership in Public Services: An action plan for third sector involvement

A commissioning cycle is a ‘planning cycle’

OPPORTUNITIES Shape provision to match needs. Enable participation of parents and young people in the process. Develop the market and encourage new and innovative services. Pool resources with other LA departments e.g. housing, play and leisure services. Develop new partnerships.

CHALLENGES Partnership working, competing priorities etc. Capacity to deliver to meet the demand. Skilling up the children’s workforce. Reducing bureaucracy to encourage new services. Meeting the needs of all disabled children, including those with complex needs, challenging behaviour and the needs of older children too. Successful procurement systems.

Your role – parents or organisations The process & timescales The programme’s needs & how you can fit them The people involved – commissioners, service users Your outcomes & outputs Any required quality standards Unit cost & price What do you need to know?

What will success look like and how will it be measured ? PSA 12 measure - to improve the health and well being of children and young people. NI 54 - an indicator designed to specifically measure services for disabled children. Standard 8 of the National Service Framework -The Disabled Children's Standard

Local Creative Bids 200K allocation (09-11) Minimum award 5K per annum Maximum award 10K per annum Begin to expand the market Begin to increase matched provision to need Begin to build capacity Adoption of quality standards across the sectors

Local Timeline July 2009 grant application invitation End of August 2009 grant decision making panel End of September 2009 grant allocation Quarterly monitoring arrangements

Over the first year in the 21 pathfinder areas:- oAlmost 13,000 more overnight breaks for disabled children and young people have been created. oAround 376,000 more total hours of short break provision. o46% increase in the number of families with disabled children receiving direct payments to cover short breaks. (Source DCSF conference )

Involving parents and carers. o89% of LA say more parents are now involved in parents forums that six months ago. o84% of these LA areas report they are reaching a wider range of parents. o66% report improved engagement is being converted into improved joint working between parents and professionals. (Source: Together for Disabled Children)