Agenda item

12.1  Kerry Crichlow, Director Strategy & Commissioning, presented the draft Children and Young People Plan (CYPP). She explained the proposed CYPP builds on previous plans. The service once more collected a1000 journeys to inform the plan’s development, and there were uncomfortable messages heard.  The Director emphasised that the time you can make the most difference continues up to adolescence. She reported that the plan has been subject to extensive consultation and engagement.  A short film was shown.

12.2   She said that the CYPP is not an action plan; rather it is a transformational plan to inform operational plans and holds the system and people to account. The plan is a framework which concentrates on values and principles. She explained that the CYPP is a local choice now rather than a statutory duty - but a plan can motivate and inspire staff. She referred to her area of responsibilities referred to the plan’s family focus, which aims to intervene with families at timely stage to support parents.  She said that we know that transition times are often times of crisis and this is when parents might experience difficult behaviours so the service delivers targeted interventions, such as parent groups, at these times.  A member commented that when he first received the plan he did think it was quite slim, however now he understands the intention better but he still wondered where the operational detail would be found.

12.3  A member asked how families might hold the system and decision makers to account using this plan.  Kerry Crichlow commented that this is a difficult question to answer but the plan can be scrutinised for child outcomes on the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (which measures health & wellbeing outcomes like obesity) and time spent on Child Protection Plans. She said that the plan has reduced the outcomes to be measured, but have taken a basket of indicators, for example child neglect.

12.4  The member asked if there will be a follow on report on indicators. Kerry Crichlow said that there will be a plan and a scorecard which will be reported with a smaller number of the pithiest indicators as we want to hone down on key issues.  She added that the last paragraph said that the CYPP consultation is ongoing, and she assured the member that she will take away the question on how families will know the plan working.

12.5  Rory Patterson said that there is a more transparent system in terms of data for adoption but it is difficult until this is published to benchmark the service. He assured members that the plan is in many ways more transparent with no less data.  Kerry Crichlow commented that in developing plan it became clear that health visitors only see about half of children; however the resources are targeted at the most vulnerable which is reassuring, but this is an area we want to focus on, by increasing visits.

12.6  .A member commented it would be interesting to understand how families would hold the service to account - for example only a small proportion of children with a Special Education Need (SEN) have a statement. Families often say that they have to conduct a battle to get a statement as this gets them access to services. Kerry Crichlow acknowledged that it is an adversarial system and she said that there are moves to make it fairer and more family centred. The last Children’s Trust looked at a pathfinder in Brighten which started to have more honest conversations with parents. For example, there is excellent school provision in Southwark - so that is not a battle.

12.7  Kerry Crichlow was asked who the plan would report to and she responded that said this is a whole system plan and partners include the Health and Wellbeing Board who see this as part of their delivery plan. The plan will also influence Economic Development and the Clinical Commissioning Board. She added that by partnering the plan gains some activity and commitment.

12.8  The member commented that she understands the plan is going to Council Assembly and this hopefully will be an opportunity for the committee’s comments to be considered. The chair reported that he and the chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee had a constructive discussion with the Strategic Director and pointed out that it would have been better to receive an opportunity to input earlier, particularly given some of the discussions on the CYPP in the committee meetings have been very useful and included young people.

12.9  A member commented that the importance of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is not made explicit. Kerry Crichlow commented that this single assessment process for whole system is now embedded and agreed that perhaps the plan needs to make that more explicit . The member commented that in her experience it is more effective to get action if a parent initiates it and she hoped that parents with an SEN Child would have an opportunity to receive support via CAF. Kerry Crichlow thanked the committee for the dialogue and promised to report back on the substantive issues raised.

RESOLVED

Officers will return at a later stage with responses to the following points:

• Indicators that would enable members and families to measure and assess the impact and success of the plan.

• Clarity on the relationship to other parts the system and their delivery plans e.g. Health & Well-being Board and Children’s Trust.

• A selection of the 1000 journeys recorded.

• An explanation of how the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) will fit into this plan.