Issue - meetings

1.            That the strategy and implementation of the Surrey Family Support Programme, by local teams in Elmbridge, Guildford, Spelthorne, Reigate and Banstead, Waverley, and Woking Borough Councils be approved.

2.         That a local discretionary criteria of families of concern be added to the Government’s criteria for families to join the programme.

Reasons for Decisions

In order to achieve the best outcomes for local families with multiple needs, the national programme has been adapted to better suit Surrey communities.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children and Families Select Committee]

The Chairman of the Children and Families Select Committee was invited to present the report of her committee’s task group. She highlighted the key points from their report and the five recommendations made and in particular, drew attention to the task group’s recommendation (4): namely, that the Cabinet received an analysis of the costs of families included within the Surrey Family Support Programme and projected savings to the public pursue. She requested that this recommendation was pursued rigorously.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Families thanked the Supporting Families task group for its exceptional report and said that her response to it had been tabled (attached as Appendix 4 to the minutes). She acknowledged the Task Group’s thorough understanding of the issues.

She also provided Members with the background to the Government’s Troubled Families Programme and the objectives of the Surrey Family Support Programme and said that the Government has been supportive of the work underway in Surrey and was using Surrey as an exemplar. She referred to the diagrams attached to the report which clearly indicated the complexity of the support programme and the number of people working with the families.

Finally, she thanked the Head of Family Services and his staff for their outstanding work to date.

Other Cabinet Members made the following points:

·        That the implementation was in two phases, with phase 1 including the six largest boroughs, starting in April 2013 and phase 2 coming on stream from October 2013.

·        Acknowledgement of the work undertaken to support these families.

·        That the Children and Families Select Committee continued to monitor this programme.

·        That any savings would be hard to quantify.

  The Leader of the Council expressed his thanks to the task group for their report and also to officers involved in this area of work. He stressed the importance of this work which he hoped would break the cycle and give these children a real chance in life.

RESOLVED:

1.               That the strategy and implementation of the Surrey Family Support Programme, by local teams in Elmbridge, Guildford, Spelthorne, Reigate and Banstead, Waverley, and Woking Borough Councils be approved.

2.         That a local discretionary criteria of families of concern be added to the Government’s criteria for families to join the programme.

Reasons for Decisions

In order to achieve the best outcomes for local families with multiple needs, the national programme has been adapted to better suit Surrey communities.