Agenda item

Purpose of the report:

To review the Family Centre model of providing support to families, including usage, outcomes for service users and impact data of the new provision.

Witnesses:

Sinead Mooney, Cabinet Member for Children and Families

Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Education and Learning

Matt Ansell, Director – Safeguarding and Family Resilience

Hayley Connor, Director – Commissioning

Jackie Clementson, Assistant Director – Children’s Single Point of Access (C-SPA), Early Help & Youth Justice

Key points raised in the discussion:

1. A Member asked how the service was targeting families of greatest need and asked whether there was a reduction in child protection plans because of the work of family centres. The Director explained that the Council’s figures per 10,000 for child protection plans and children looked after were in line with the national figures. There had not been a reduction yet, but they were hoping to see one over time. The Member also asked about the types of families who were self-referring for services. The Assistant Director responded that they were not able to get that data currently, however, noted that early help needed to be accessible to all families.

2. A Member noted the lack of information included in the report regarding the work happening on the ground and raised concern over a family centre in Upper Hale that had significant issues. The Director for Safeguarding and Family Resilience explained that he was doing direct work with that family centre, however, they had experienced positive and engaging practices at other family centres he had visited. The service had commissioned a specialist research team to ensure that the right offer was being provided, as they wanted to reduce the support on statutory services.

3. In response to a question on the family support programmes, the Assistant Director explained that the programmes were delivered through five district and borough councils but the services were delivered countywide. The programmes supported families with complex needs that did not reach the threshold to receive statutory services.

4. The Chairman asked whether family centres were located in areas of greatest need. The Cabinet Member for Education and Learning explained that the locations were chosen using the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI), to ensure that they would have the easiest outreach to areas of high deprivation. A Member asked how often the areas were reviewed. The Director for Commissioning explained that the IDACI was a national piece of work, however, the Health and Wellbeing Board were reviewing areas of deprivation.

5. In response to a question on the comparison of the new provision to the previous Children’s Centres, the Director for Commissioning explained that talking to families about their experiences was part of this work and this could be brought back to the Committee. In terms of the data, the model was significantly different to the previous model, therefore, it was difficult to obtain comparative data. There was data from the consultation prior to the decision on the new model. Family centres were one important element of the overall early help offer. The Director offered to work with the Member to find a way to produce comparative data, whilst recognising the difficulties.

6. A Member asked about the reasons why Surrey’s referral rates to children’s social care increased, whereas the national trend was continued decreasing rates. The Director for Safeguarding and Family Resilience explained that there was history of encouraging partners to refer to children’s social care. There was ongoing work to build resilience within the system so that there was not a need to refer. The Children’s Single Point of Access had been reviewed and the service was becoming more outward looking.

Mrs Tanya Quddus joined the meeting remotely at 12:25pm.

Actions/requests for further information:

1. The Director for Commissioning to provide data and explain how the Council keeps track of families in need and their geographical distribution in relation to family centres and early help provision by the end of November 2022.

2. The Cabinet Member for Children and Families to provide further information regarding the work on the ground of the family support programmes in the next report on Family Centres in March 2023.

3. The Cabinet Member for Children and Families to provide a written answer to whether Sure Start closures played a part in the rising demand for EHCPs, with reference to the Bercow Report by the end of November 2022.

RESOLVED:

1. The Select Committee reviewed and noted the updates outlined in the report and the progress made to deliver these important changes aligned to the Early Help Continuous Improvement programme.
2. The Committee agreed to receivein 2023 a further update on the Family Centres programme, including a comparison of data with the previous regime, and the development and implementation of the Early Help Continuous Improvement programme.