Aberdeenshire

Children’s Services Plan

2018/19 Annual Report Children’s Services Plan Annual Report 1 April 2018 - 31 March 2019

Enquiries to: Bryony Revell, Service Transformation Manager (GIRFEC): bryony.revell@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

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Front/back cover art: Abisola age 6, Reilly age 11

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Contents

Executive Foreword 4 Improving Wellbeing: The Local Context 5 The National Context 13 Children's Services Planning: Who We Are 22 Our Community: Population, Housing, Transport, Employment, Child Poverty 266 A Committed and Confident Workforce 366 The GIRFEC Website 455 Children and Young People’s Rights 51 Health and Wellbeing 70 Learning and Education 88 Social Work Services: Supporting Families 102 Keeping Communities Safe: Working Together 106 Third Sector 113 Child Protection: Keeping Aberdeenshire’s Children Safe 114

Appendix A: Multi-Agency Thematic Action Plan Updates

Strategic Priority Outcome Indicators/Performance Measures Table 2 Early Years 9 Mental Health and Wellbeing 28 Children with a Disability 40 Substance Use 51 Corporate Parenting 68

Improving Life Chances: Preventing Offending 98 Young Carers 109

Executive Foreword

On behalf of Aberdeenshire’s Chief Officers, I’m delighted to share the 2018/19 Children’s Services Plan Annual Report. As Year 2 draws to a close, this provides an opportunity for us to pause and reflect on the steps taken as a Community Planning Partnership, to safeguard, support and promote children and young people’s wellbeing in Aberdeenshire. The report details how we’ve progressed action to address our strategic priorities, and shows how individual and collective provision of services is helping to improve outcomes for children, young people, and families in a number of ways. A challenging financial and political climate has seen a degree of continued uncertainty and flux, both locally and at a national level. Pressure on resources has become the norm rather than the exception, meaning steps have to be taken to ensure support is available equitably, and that it is focussed on those who need it most. The accompanying reality for services means difficult decisions have had to be taken. Despite these challenges, the ongoing commitment of Public Services, Third Sector organisations and Funded Providers has remained unwavering, as reflected in the range of high quality services, and dedicated colleagues focussed on meeting the needs of our children, young people, families, and communities. While there is much for us to be proud of, equally, there no room for complacency. Both as individual organisations and as a collective, we continue to learn from external scrutiny and inspection, and to inwardly reflect through a range of self-evaluation, quality assurance and improvement activity. This makes sure local arrangements continue to adapt and evolve, and support robust approaches which make a real and tangible difference to the lives of children and young people. It’s heartening to see this shared commitment by Chief Officers and Senior Leaders, Service Managers and Frontline Practitioners, Communities, Families, Children and Young People alike; as reflected throughout the annual report. There is a real sense conveyed that everyone is in this together; to Get it Right For Every Child in Aberdeenshire and realise the vision of our Plan: ‘Our commitment to Aberdeenshire’s children and young people, is to provide them with the right support, in the right place, at the right time. In helping them reach individual potential and goals, we will work together to make Aberdeenshire the best place in Scotland to grow up’

Jim Savege, Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Council Chair, Aberdeenshire Executive Group for Public Protection

Amanda Croft, Chief Executive, NHS Grampian Campbell Thomson, Chief Superintendent, North East Division, Police Scotland Dan Shaw, Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action (AVA) Angie Wood, Chief Officer, Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership Ian Findlay, Local Senior Officer for Aberdeenshire and Moray, Scottish Fire & Rescue Service 4

Improving Wellbeing: The Local Context

Aberdeenshire’s 6th annual report on integrated services for children and young people, is our second under requirements set out in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 20141. Outlining the progress made as Community Planning Partnership, it details how local services delivered over 2018/19 have contributed to the overarching aim of a Children’s Services Plan:

‘To safeguard, support and promote the wellbeing of children and young people’

It does this by showing the impact of supports provided by Universal Services to all children and young people, and demonstrates how targeted support is helping to improve outcomes for children, young people and families with particular types of need. The report provides an annual update in two parts. Firstly this considers service delivery within broad wellbeing themes: Health and

Wellbeing, Learning and Education,

Social Work, Keeping our Communities Safe, and contribution of the Third Sector. Secondly, it reviews progress against the priorities endorsed by Chief Officers for our 2017-2020 Children’s Services Plan. These set out a shared strategic direction for organisations and services in Aberdeenshire, and helps focus partnership resource on those areas we believe most difference is made through a collaborative approach.

Those priorities were based on joint strategic needs assessment which considered:

 Organisational data and performance indictors which reflect local outcomes/needs of children and young people  Practice knowledge from local services and frontline practitioners  The views of children, young people and families

5 Thematic Subgroups lead multi-agency action plans which address each strategic priority in turn. Progress is reported to the GIRFEC Strategic Group throughout the year, providing an update on actions, and identifying any barriers to progress. The 2018/19 report for each strategic priority can be found in Appendix A.

Thematic Subgroup Lead/Chair Corporate Parenting Education and Children’s Services (Children’s Services Social Work) Substance Misuse Alcohol & Drug Partnership/Child Protection Committee Children with a Disability Education and Children’s Services (Additional Support Needs) Early Years Health and Social Care Partnership (Health and Wellbeing) Mental Health/Wellbeing Education and Children’s Services (Inclusion, Equity & Wellbeing)

These collective supports to children, young people and families, contribute to the overarching aims of Promoting Resilience and Wellbeing and Addressing Inequality and Child Poverty. Our approach places children and young people’s Rights and participation at the core of everything we do; with planning and delivery of services designed to achieve maximum positive impact on wellbeing. This includes: asking children, young people and families about their experiences of support, alongside reflecting on learning from internal and external evaluation and inspection, and analysis of performance indicators and service data.

Key UNCRC Articles

1, 2, 3, 4, 12

Considered together, a number of high-level wellbeing outcomes and performance measures help us review what impact we have each year, on improving outcomes for Aberdeenshire’s children and young people (table overleaf).

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KEY: Requires improvement Satisfactory or in progress Performing well Developing measure WELLBEING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

Rate of Smoking in pregnancy1 11.6% [2014/15-2016/17] (16%) Perinatal Mortality Rate per 1,000 births 10 stillbirths/10 neonatal deaths (stillbirths plus deaths in the first week of life)2 [2017] (3.7/1000 births & stillbirths) % of children exclusively breastfed at 6-8 weeks3 38.9% [2018] (

Number of businesses engaged in the Welcome to Breastfeed scheme 70+ [2019]

4 % of eligible children with no concerns at their 27-30 month health review 87% [2016/17] (66%)

Number of mothers/toddlers supported by Family Nurse Partnership5 71 mothers/toddlers

ELC take-up of eligible 2 year olds 44.8% [2018] (estimated as a % of the Central Health Index (CHI) August intake)6 ELC take-up of 3, 4 and 5 year olds 96% [2018] (estimated as % of the Central Health Index (CHI) August intake)7 WELLBEING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress 28 inspection reports % of local authority ELC Settings achieving good or better at the most recent Quality of care and support: 89.3% -25/28 inspection8 (not all areas inspected at each setting) Quality of environment: 93.3% -14/15 Quality of staffing: 95.2% -20/21

Quality of management and leadership: 58.8% -10/17 [2018/19] 40 inspection reports % of Funded/Private ELC Settings achieving good or better at the most recent Quality of care and support: 82.5% -33/40 inspection (not all areas inspected at each setting) Quality of environment: 81.2% -26/32 Quality of staffing: 76.7% -23/30

Quality of management and leadership: 68.6% - [2018/19]

ChildSmile Daily Supervised Brushing: Number of settings/children engaged9 131 Preschools/5,792 children 36 Primary Schools/ 2,077 [2018/19]

% Primary 1 children receiving a letter 'C' (no obvious dental decay) at basic 77.1% [2017/18] 10 inspection (70.4%) % of Primary school inspections achieving satisfactory or better at the most 66.7% (4 of 6) [2018/19] recent inspection11 Literacy 74% (59% SIMD Q1, 80% Q5) % children achieving Early Level Literacy and Numeracy by end of P112 (75%) [2018] Numeracy 86% (76% SIMD Q1, 88% Q5) (85%) [2018] Literacy 66% (39% SIMD Q1, 73% Q5) % children achieving First Level Literacy and Numeracy by end of P413 (National 69%) [2018] Numeracy 74% (50% SIMD Q1, 81% Q5) (National 76%) [2018]

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WELLBEING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress Literacy 69% (50% SIMD Q1, 75% Q5) % children achieving Second Level Literacy and Numeracy by end of P714 (70%) [2018] Numeracy 76% (69% SIMD Q1, 81% Q5) (75%) [2018] Literacy 83% (17% SIMD Q1, 93% 5) % young people achieving Third Level Literacy and Numeracy by end of S315 (National 87%) Numeracy 91% (73% SIMD Q1, 94% Q5) (National 89%) [2018] % young people achieving 5+ awards at SCQF level 5 by S416 50.1% (14.3% SIMD Q1, 57.4% Q5) (National 46.0%) [2017] All Sectors 94.4% (93.3%)

% school attendance (All Sectors, and Primary/Secondary/Special)17 Primary 95.7% (94.9%) Secondary 92.6% (91.2%) Special 92.4% (90.3%) [2018]

Number of Exclusion Incidents and number of Young People Excluded18 Exclusion Incidents 772 Young People 498 [2018]

% Secondary School inspections achieving satisfactory or better at the most N/A No Inspections [2018/19] recent inspection19

% school leavers in a positive destination from each SIMD quintile20 96.3% [2018] (91.4% SIMD Q1, 97.3% Q5) Number of work placements and extended/flexible work placements 2556 work placements 650 extended/flexible work placements

No of Activity Agreements 45 Activity Agreements (AA) [2018] % Positive Post-Activity Agreement Destination21 80% Post-AA Positive Destination

WELLBEING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

Youth Employment Rate (16-19 and 20-24 year olds)22 16-19 year olds: 53.9% (37.8%) 20-24 year olds: 78.1% (71.6%) [2018] Child Poverty: % children in combined material deprivation and low income 7.69% before housing costs 23 before/after housing costs (below 70% of UK median income) 12.59% after housing costs [2017]

Child Poverty: Number of children in receipt of free school meals24 11,007 children [2018]

Gap in Child Poverty rate between least/most deprived communities 4.71% - 20.89% (decreasing) [2018/19]

Number of Active Schools School Sport Awards achieved25 5 Gold | 3 Silver | 0 bronze [2018/19]

% participation in Active Schools activities by priority group children/young 14% children from low income families people26 16% looked after children 21% children with a disability [2018]

Number of CLD projects delivered/number of young people engaged/Externally 339 projects/2989 young people/189 accredited awards achieved27 externally accredited awards [2018/19]

28 Engagement in youth participation projects (projects delivered/young people) 78 projects/ 1004 young people [2018/19]

29 Number of Police School Liaison Officer Wellbeing inputs to schools 1129 wellbeing inputs [2018/19]

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WELLBEING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

30 Number of young people engaged in Safe Drive Stay Alive SFRS Events 6000 young people [2018]

Number of home fire safety visits undertaken31 1582 [2018]

Number of children on the child protection register32 77 [2018/19]

Number of child protection conferences33 229 [2018/19]

Number of new child protection registrations and de-registrations34 130 new registrations 128 de-registrations [2018] Aberdeenshire Child Protection Training: Number of courses 39 courses 35 delivered/participants 632 participants) [2018]

% Aberdeenshire GIRFEC Modules/Modules delivered36 80% (16% increase)[2018/19]

Multi-agency workforce engagement in Aberdeenshire GIRFEC Modules37 294 (increase from 103) [2018/19]

Module 1: 84% Module 2: 100% % GIRFEC Module Learning Outcomes Achieved (<80% positive feedback)38 Module 3: 100% Module 4: 89% Module 5: 90% Module 6: 100% [2018/19] User Engagement with GIRFEC Website39 User Sessions: 24, 811 Unique Page Views: 50, 527 [2018/19] Number of Schools engaged with UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Awards40 Total Schools Registered: 91 Bronze: 38, Silver: 24, Gold: 14

1 Smoking in Pregnancy: ScotPHO Profiles, 3 year average 2 National Records of Scotland https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-publications/vital-events-reference-tables/2017/section-1-summary 3 Breastfeeding rate: ISD dashboard https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Infant-Feeding/ 4 27-30 month review ISD 2017 https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/data-tables2017.asp?id=2136#2136 5 NHS Grampian: Family Nurse Partnership 6 ECS ELC PI’s ECS (from CHI data 2018) 7 ECS ELC PI’s ECS (from CHI data 2018) 8 Education Scotland school inspections https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/what-we-do/inspection-and-review/recent-reports 9 Childsmile, NHS Grampian 10 ScotPHO Profiles 11 Education Scotland school inspections https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/what-we-do/inspection-and-review/recent-reports 12 ECS NIF report 2017/18 https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/ACEL 13 ECS NIF report 2017/18 https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/ACEL 14 ECS NIF report 2017/18 https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/ACEL 15 ECS NIF report 2017/18 https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/ACEL 16 Insight, Committee Report Analysis of Attainment 10/10/19 http://committeesinternal.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=494&meetid=19404 17 Scottish Government publication https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/AttendanceAbsenceDatasets and ECS AAE return data 18 ECS data AAE return 2016/17, 2017/18 19 Education Scotland school inspections https://education.gov.scot/education-scotland/what-we-do/inspection-and-review/recent-reports 20 Insight 2018 21 Opportunities for All/CLD Service 22 (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/) and Annual Population Survey 23 Tackling Poverty & Inequality Group lead provide Child Poverty statistics as part of LOIP 24 https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/SchoolMealsDatasets 25 Live Life Aberdeenshire (Active Schools) 26 Live Life Aberdeenshire (Active Schools) 27 ECS CLD data 28 ECS CLD data 29 Police Scotland NE Division 30 Aberdeenshire Fire and Rescue Service 31 Aberdeenshire Fire and Rescue Service 32 Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committees 33 Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committees 34 Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee 35 Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee 36 GIRFEC L&D Group 37 GIRFEC L&D Group 38 GIRFEC L&D Group 39 GIRFEC Website analytics 40 ECS Aberdeenshire Council

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The National Context

A number of national policy and legislative initiatives have influenced the context within in which support for children, young people, and families is delivered this year; both locally and on a Scotland-wide basis. These have relevance for early intervention and preventative approaches, and for targeted services which protect our most vulnerable children and young people from harm.

Children’s Services Planning: The first Children Service's Plans under Part 3 of the Act, were submitted to the Scottish Government in March 2017; and set out how services have been planned, and delivered to improve outcomes for children and young people in an authority area. CELCIS and The Scottish Government undertook a formal review of all Plans and Year 1 Annual Reports was undertaken in 2019. This aimed to share learning from the benefits and challenges experienced by partnerships, and will inform an ongoing national strategic engagement programme. Aberdeenshire anticipates receiving this feedback in June 2019. A consultation on Children's Services Planning Statutory Guidance (Pt 3) took place in March 2019. The results of this will inform the future content, scope and format of guidance to Community Planning Partnerships, with analysis and findings of the consultation expected in September 2019.

Joint Inspection of Children’s Services

In August 2018, The Care Inspectorate published a new quality framework and revised joint inspection model for children’s services. This focusses on the quality and effectiveness of community planning partnerships in protecting and meeting the needs of particular groups of children and young people.

The revised model gives particular consideration to care experienced children and young people, and those who have experienced or are at risk of, abuse and neglect. The new inspection cycle began in 2018, with a number of authorities already inspected. An Aberdeenshire inspection is anticipated shortly.

Children’s Rights:

Building on an existing commitment to embed the principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scotland’s policy, a revised template for Children's rights and wellbeing impact assessments was published in March 2019.

This has informed a revised approach under development for Aberdeenshire Council’s corporate reporting. Further consultation is scheduled for summer 2019, to explore how best the UNCRC can be incorporated into Scottish domestic law.

Information Sharing: In January 2019, the national GIRFEC Practice Development Panel provided an update on development of a legal Code of Practice on Information-Sharing. The Panel were asked to produce this to provide greater clarity when information is being shared about children and young people’s wellbeing (which may include sharing information about parents/carers). The Panel concluded that, “It is difficult to produce a statutory and user-friendly Code of Practice that is both concise and does not make information-sharing more complex,” and made recommendations this was best achieved through refreshed GIRFEC policy, legislation, and revised national GIRFEC guidance. A decision on the Information-Sharing Bill and implementation of Parts 4 (Named Person Service) and 5 (Child’s Plan) of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act (2014) will be made by Scottish Government Ministers in September 2019. These elements of the GIRFEC approach continue to be delivered on a national policy basis and a relaunch of revised Aberdeenshire GIRFEC Guidance in 2018/19 was paused in order to ensure these significant national updates were reflected. This will be progressed as a priority in 2019/20.

Child Protection: The Child Protection Systems Review (2017) made a series of national improvement recommendations within themes of: leadership, governance and accountability; developing a learning culture; and supporting shared values. The Child Protection Improvement Programme has highlighted child neglect as a high priority for the Scottish Government, and pilot programmes are currently underway to support national improvements in how education, health and children’s services work together to tackle neglect. In February 2019, Protecting children and young people: Child Protection Committee and Chief Officer responsibilities updated guidance and expectations for the pivotal role of Chief Officers as this relates to the work of Child Protection Committees, and their leadership, direction and scrutiny of child protection services. This outlines the need for co-ordinated and unambiguous commitment and support from Chief Officer to develop and deliver processes, common standards, and continuous improvement in all child protection services in an area. Recommendations from the Child Protection Review have informed the work of Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee over 2018/19, with new guidance providing a further basis for self- evaluation.

Independent Care Review: The Scottish Government’s Independent Care Review began in 2017 with a vision of Scotland having the ‘best care system in the world’. The Review Team listened to children, young people and care experienced adults across Scotland, and heard from the organisations and practioners who support them. Described as a root-and-branch review, this considered all elements of the care system, to make sure the experiences and needs of people at each stage of that journey are better understood. This includes families on the edge of care, children’s journeys into and through care, young people leaving care, and adults with care experience. In June 2018, the Care Review’s Journey stage began, which will conclude with final recommendations in Autumn 2020. The Stop:Go Working Group has already highlighted practices which should stop, alongside those seen as beneficial. Emerging themes include:  The need for a better joined up care ‘system’  Promoting love and Rights in care, and reducing stigma for care experienced children  Ensure siblings remain together in care, when this is in their best interests.

Youth Justice: Tackling the cause and impact of offending behavior through addressing the wider needs of a young person (and keeping young people out of the formal criminal justice system wherever

14 possible) is a key objective of the Scottish Government's Youth Justice Strategy. This focusses on providing early intervention which responds to the first signs of harmful behaviour. The Kilbrandon Again report (November 2018), recommended a major systems overhaul of Scotland’s youth justice system, with consideration as to whether the Children’s Hearing System remains the most appropriate forum in which to deal with young people involved in offending behaviour.

The report reflected on current systemic approaches to youth offending and acknowledged the very complex range of needs which arise from involvement in youth offending. It highlights that these differ greatly now, from the societal context in which Kilbrandon’s original (1964) report was published.

Kilbrandon Again recommendations include:  Development of a new Youth Justice System for 16 to 21 year olds  Raising the age of criminal responsibility (currently 8) to age 16  Limiting the negative impact of a criminal record on children’s future life opportunities  Better recording of children’s presence and views within Hearing proceedings  Increased diversity amongst sitting Children’s Panel members  Improved Hearings data, including information on the consequences of Panel decision- making

Early Years: The Scottish Government and COSLA reached agreement in May 2018, for full funding of the Early Learning and Childcare entitlement expansion to 1140 hours per child (from August 2020).

Increased uptake of eligible two-year old places has been encouraged as part of promoting a range of support available to vulnerable families in the all-important early years. Social Security support was extended in 2018/19 through the Pregnancy and Baby Payment, Early Learning Payment, and Best Start Foods Grant. These provide financial support to lower income families, pregnant women and young children, to promote nutritious and healthy diet and engagement in early learning.

Education and Learning: The Schools Empowerment agenda has continued to implement a system-wide focus on improvement to support effective learning and teaching. In response to consultation feedback, the Depute First Minister decided that new legislation was not necessary to achieve this aim, and withdrew the Education (Scotland) Bill in June 2018. This acknowledged progress was made by the Scottish Education Council’s collaborative approach to achieve key actions, which involved young people, parents, teaching professionals, education leaders, local authority representatives and COSLA partners:  Development of a Headteachers Charter  Increased curriculum, improvement, staffing and budget decision-making by school leaders  Devolved School Management Schemes  A joint action plan on parental engagement and enhancing pupil voice  Increased funding via Regional Improvement Collaboratives to deliver regional interventions and increase schools capacity in closing the attainment gap and tackling rural deprivation.  £30 million funding over 2018-20 to supplement Pupil Equity Funding and Challenge Authorities, with further promotion of opportunities for Looked After Children.

Education guidance of significance published in 2018/19 included the development of a consistent local authority approach for recording and monitoring bullying incidents (Recording and monitoring of bullying incidents in schools (May 2018)).

Guidance on the Presumption to provide education in a mainstream setting (March 2019) outlined the duty on education authorities to provide education for children in a mainstream setting, unless certain exceptions apply. This supports and encourages development work by partnerships to meet children’s needs within their local communities and mainstream schools.

National funding was announced in November 2018 to support best practice and promote greater education opportunities for Gypsy/Traveller families. The new national Young Gypsy Traveller Assembly has ensured children and young people’s views are central to the development and delivery of education for all ages and stages, through the Scottish Traveller Education Project ( STEP)

Health and Wellbeing The Public Health agenda has increasingly emphasised the need for promotion of better diet, accessible information and education on lifestyle choices, and engagement in exercise. Improvements in public health extend beyond the support provided by the NHS and recognise collaboration as an essential feature of this, with provision of quality housing, the natural environment, availability of job prospects, and positive childhood experiences all contributing to improved health and wellbeing.

Acknowledgement of the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (known as ACES) has been increasingly prominent in Scotland over recent years, with the Health Scotland ACEs Hub key to awareness-raising activity and progressing cross-sector collaborative action. The national ACES conversation has also widened in scope over 2018/19.

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This recognises a range of other childhood adversities have similarly negative long-term effects on children, and includes bereavement, bullying, poverty, community-based adversities such as living in a deprived area, and neighborhood violence. This highlights the need for a strengths- based and nurturing model, which promotes recovery and enhances resilience. The Scottish Government’s investment programme, Delivering for Today, Investing for Tomorrow (September 2018) outlined a number of health priorities: Closing the physical and mental health gap between Scotland’s wealthiest and poorest communities will be achieved through supporting the NHS workforce, and ensuring an NHS service which is future-fit and able to meet current need. This has included regional funding for a new trauma centre in Aberdeen, which opened in October 2018.

Supporting Good Mental Health remains a key policy focus for the Scottish Government.

This will focus on increased provision of counselling services, rapid access to psychological assessment and treatment, and more development of community-based specialist services for severe mental illness. In March 2019, Perinatal Mental Health Services: Needs Assessment and Recommendations outlined its aim of ensuring Scotland has the best services for women with (or at risk of) mental ill health in pregnancy or the postnatal period, and for their infants, partners, and families.

This places a particular emphasis on the development of expertise by all professionals involved in maternal and infant mental health care, and highlights the importance of close working links between different agencies and services that women encounter.

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Improvement Taskforce concluded with recommendations drawn from their large-scale engagement with children, young people, parents/carers and support services. The Taskforces aims to inform redesign of mental health support in a way which makes a range of services available at the earliest possible stage. This includes revised guidelines for referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), alongside locally-based networks of support which are easily accessible from schools, communities and workplaces to support good mental health and wellbeing.

Increased investment has also been made in school- based counselling services, alongside a commitment to increase the number of school nurses by 250, by 2020.

Development of national professional learning materials for teaching staff will include mental health first aid, and there will be a focus on increasing community-based wellbeing services for 5-24 year olds.

This aims to provide easier access to counselling sessions, self-care advice, family support, peer-to-peer support, and group work. Credit: The Scottish Government

Transforming Nursing, Midwifery and Health Professions Roles: The School Nursing Role in Integrated Community Nursing Teams (April 2018) has defined a refocused school nursing role as part of a Scotland-wide transformational change agenda for Health and Social Care. This aims to enhance the perception of schools as an important portal for universal access to children’s health services, within wider school health and educational wellbeing teams. The key contribution of school nurses in working across health and education is seen as key to support early identification and intervention; with a focus on promoting health, wellbeing and attainment for vulnerable children and families and those at risk of significant harm. Ten priority pathways for School Nursing Services were identified, which address: Substance misuse, child protection, domestic abuse, looked-after children, homelessness, youth justice, young carers, transitions, sexual health, and emotional health/wellbeing.

Of significance for partnership development and delivery of Children’s Services Plans, are the following consultations which also took place in 2018/19:

 The Children (Equal Protection From Assault) (Scotland) Bill proposed changes to the law on physical punishment, with support for removing an existing defense for parental use of physical chastisement on children. Respondents highlighted the need for a public information campaign, increased provision of preventative family support services, and clear guidance for police, health and educational professionals which outlines the need to exercise discretion to avoid unnecessary requests being made of Social Work Services and SCRA.

 A public resource to support disabled children, young people, and their families will provide information across three pillars of additional support needs: Rights and information, accessibility of support, and transitions.

 Views on potential changes to Part 1 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 were sought. This covers parental rights and responsibilities and contact and residence for children whose parents are separated.

It is against this evolving policy, legislative and practice landscape that Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Planning Partnership deliver services which strive to continuously improve outcomes for Aberdeenshire’s children and young people. This is done through progression of Thematic Group action plans, and delivery of universal, generally available and targeted services to children, young people, families, and communities. In this way the Community Planning Partnership (CPP) continues to ensure Aberdeenshire delivers against key strategic outcomes of the Scottish Government National Performance Framework:

 Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed  Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens  We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk

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Regional Collaboration

The Northern Alliance is a Regional Improvement Collaborative between eight local authorities across the North and West of Scotland: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Highland, Moray,

Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands, with a shared vision to improve the educational and life chances of our children and young people. Unique to the Northern Alliance is its rurality, covering 58.4% of the landmass of Scotland yet representing a small percentage of the Scottish population. The geography and common challenges experienced across the region moved the collaborative to identify new ways of working, and to adopt a shared approach to the communities it represents in the North and West of Scotland and the islands. Over the past year the Northern Alliance has made developments in many areas and has seen progress including:

 The launch of the Emerging Literacy in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Online Professional Learning Toolkit. This is designed to support ELC settings through self- facilitated professional learning in taking a developmental approach to Emerging Literacy.  A Community Learning and Development (CLD) Family Learning pack distributed across all 8 authorities and strengthened digital in CLD practitioners.  e-Learning initiatives across the Northern Alliance attracting attention from throughout Scotland, and from educationalists from places such as Japan, Australia, America, Wales, Ireland and the Channel Isles, with delivery of 28 certificated subjects across the authorities.  Improved engagement with languages shown in 1+2 Government Survey responses authority wide.  A suite of workshops is currently under development as an offer of support to local authorities to remove barriers to learning created by poverty.  Development of a Learning Estates Strategy and toolkit.

The Northern Alliance continues to develop its culture of collaboration, sharing expertise and creating local and regional networks. Equity in educational outcomes, with focus on poverty related attainment continues to feature centrally in the work of the collaborative. Children’s Services Planning: The Strategic Landscape

Our Children’s Services Plan forms part of wider landscape of support delivered across

Aberdeenshire, through local organisations and strategic partnerships.

Aberdeenshire Community Planning Partnership (CPP) is responsible for delivering positive changes for communities in Aberdeenshire, which it does by working towards the goal of achieving the “best quality of life for everyone in Aberdeenshire”.

Partners also continue to work together at a strategic and Key UNCRC Articles local level, to deliver priorities with communities through the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan 2017-2027, Locality 3, 4, 5, 41 Plans, Local Community Plans, and Community Action Plans.

The CPP Board provides strategic direction for the partnership, with the CPP Executive coordinating community planning across Aberdeenshire to implement delivery of agreed outcomes and to address any barriers that arise. Three LOIP Strategic Lead Partnership Groups are responsible for the governance and monitoring of their LOIP priority, and ensure partners take ownership of agreed actions.

The CPP Board formally agreed LOIP priorities in 2017, against which progress is reported annually. These are:

 Reducing Child Poverty in Aberdeenshire  Changing Aberdeenshire’s Relationship with alcohol  Connected and Cohesive Communities

Strategic priorities of Aberdeenshire’s Children’s Services Plan mutually reinforce those of the LOIP, with specific actions contributing to the LOIP and vice versa. The Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 placed new requirements on CPP’s to work together with communities experiencing significantly poorer outcomes than other communities in their area. In Aberdeenshire, Locality Plans were developed for Peterhead and Fraserburgh, with plans for Banff and Macduff under development and expected to be finalised in 2019. These plans focus on reducing socio-economic inequality, and acknowledge that action which supports local communities is often best coordinated and delivered at a local level where partners have an in-depth understanding of the issues communities face, and can draw upon strong relationships and networks.

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Aberdeenshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (AHSCP) reports jointly to Aberdeenshire Council and NHS Grampian. It is managed by The Integration Joint Board (IJB), whose membership

includes elected members.

Health and Social Care Integration has resulted in significant changes in how many adult services are managed and delivered, with the partnership also responsible for delivery of Aberdeenshire’s Health Visiting and School Nursing Services. 6 AHSCP Locality Plans are informed by locality needs profiles, with partners working together where service delivery is shared. AHSCP will be undertaking extensive consultation on their new strategy in 2019.

Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership also reports to the IJB.

Where ADP activity relates to children, young people, and families, this is coordinated and led through multi- agency actions in the workplans of the Substance Misuse Thematic Group, and Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee.

Mutual membership of the Executive Group for Public Protection, GIRFEC Strategic Group and Child Protection Committee, supports ongoing collaboration with the IJB and Community Planning Partnership Board/Executive. This ensures key messages regarding children and young people’s wellbeing are highlighted to planners, policy makers, and practitioners across partnership, and identifies opportunities or requirements for collaborative action. Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire Council has 11 strategic priorities for 2017-2022, against which Council Services are delivering. These are to:

Support a strong, diverse and successful economy

Have the best possible transport and digital links across our communities

Provide the best life chances for all our children and young people by raising levels of attainment and achievement Work with parents and carers to support children through every stage of their development Encourage active lifestyles and promote well-being with a focus on obesity & mental health Have the right mix of housing across all of Aberdeenshire

Support the delivery of the Health & Social Care Strategic Plan

Work to reduce poverty and inequalities within our communities

Deliver responsible, long-term financial planning

Have the right people, in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time

Protect our Special Environment

As with all local authorities in Scotland, continued and significant financial pressures have been faced by Aberdeenshire Council over the past year. This necessitated difficult Revenue Budget decisions being made in 2018/19, with similar challenges anticipated in the years ahead.

Particular considerations for the local authority included:

 The Scottish Government 2018/19 Finance Settlement for Aberdeenshire  Re-profiling of capital funding  Expansion of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) entitlement  Free Personal and Nursing Care for under 65s  Investment in integration including school counselling services  Maintaining pupil/teacher ratios at national level  Providing places for probationers under the teacher induction scheme,  Barclay implementation costs (non-domestic rates)  Town Centre funding

Children’s Services Planning: Who We Are

Accountability for the planning and delivery of our Children’s Services Plan, has been devolved by the Community Planning Partnership Board, to the Executive Group for Public Protection and GIRFEC Strategic Group. Local Children’s Services Planning arrangements (diagram below) are supported by a structure which encourages distributed collaborative leadership, facilitates development work and decision-making, and maintains clear channels of communication.

Each group has representation from key public authorities, strategic partnerships, and Third Sector organisations, with each making a unique contribution to local partnership arrangements. Chief Officers retain ultimate oversight of the wellbeing of all children through the Executive Group for Public Protection (EGPP). This forum ensures scrutiny of matters impacting on children and young people’s safety and wellbeing is considered at the highest level, within a wider remit of prevention of harm to vulnerable groups.

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The EGPP seeks assurance from leads on Adult and Child Protection, Offender Management/ Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), Community Safety, Community Justice, the Alcohol and Drug Partnership, Health and Social Care Partnership, and Children’s Services Planning. A clear focus is retained on groups who experience most risk, with recognition that the needs of our most vulnerable children and young people must remain visible on all agendas. This includes awareness of those responsibilities held by ‘Related Services’ under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 which are delivered via Adult and Community-based Services. Connectivity between workstreams delivered by the Child Protection Committee and wider Children’s Services Planning arrangements remains supported through representation on these fora. This ensures consideration of a continuum of support ranging from prevention/early intervention through to targeted/high risk is considered with ongoing development and improvement activity allowing identification of any areas of overlap or mutual interest. Over Year 2 of the Plan, progress continues to be made against ongoing aims to adapt and embed local GIRFEC Governance Arrangements.

GIRFEC Governance Arrangements

Establish processes which embed the Joint Strategic Planning Framework using performance 1 information

To implement and promote the collective vision of the Children’s Services Plan across Aberdeenshire 2

Embed a cycle of joint self- evaluation which demonstrates commitment to continuous 3 improvement

Aim 1: Establish processes which embed the Joint Strategic Planning Framework using performance information

A joint strategic planning framework was endorsed by Chief Officers in 2017, which adopted an ongoing cycle of intelligence and structured performance reporting. This includes both quantitative data and performance indicators, with recognition of the importance of qualitative data and direct feedback from children, young people and families in evaluating the impact of different services.

This framework includes:

 Thematic Subgroup reporting on progress of multi-agency action plans  A high-level overview of service provision each year by Universal Services, individual agencies/services, and via partnership initiatives and actions.  Organisational performance against national outcome indicators and targets  Flexibility to include specific outcomes by agreement, for example monitoring aspects of Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 implementation (once fully enacted)

Baseline data has been established in key service delivery areas, with work continuing over to refine and establish outcome indicators and performance measures. The national Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Census and dataset is currently under development, with the Scottish Government collaborating with key stakeholders to progress this. The census aims to agree a data set which supports a more consistent national approach to reporting on wellbeing outcomes for children and young people. Aberdeenshire’s performance framework will incorporate any nationally agreed indicators as and when these are confirmed. In the interim, a tracking tool with high-level wellbeing measures and indicators has been developed to support longitudinal tracking of key performance indicators, and target-setting (where appropriate) for the 2020-2023 Children’s Services Plan. A continued challenge faced by Aberdeenshire, and indeed authority areas across Scotland, is to gather data in areas where performance indicators are not yet been established; and to develop meaningful measures which inform service improvements, rather than simply being those things which are easy to measure.

Aim 2: To implement and promote the collective vision of the Children’s Services Plan across Aberdeenshire

The initial launch and promotion of Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Plan is described in our 2017/18 Annual Report; with a range of awareness-raising sessions undertaken as a partnership, and by individual organisations.

A dedicated section of the Aberdeenshire GIRFEC Website remains the key partnership resource on Children’s Services Planning., with a wide range of information and resources available to children and young people, families, practitioners, and the general public. The Children’s Services Plan pages were revised in early 2019 as part of an ongoing website expansion and improvement programme. Website analytics from 2018/19 show our Children’s Services Plan was the 11th most downloaded document from the GIRFEC Website this year.

Aim 3: Embed a cycle of joint self- evaluation which demonstrates commitment to continuous improvement

An annual self-evaluation and review process was agreed for all groups contributing to Children’s Services Planning arrangements. The purpose of this was to reflect constructively on how each group functions in respect of their agreed role and remit, to enable groups to highlight good practice, and to identify areas for development or improvement. Year 1 established a local framework for collaborative working by partners. Over 2018/19 the GIRFEC Strategic Group intend to take stock and refine these arrangements, based on reflection and the learning from Year 1, and to focus on those areas where further improvement is required. A range of practice-based self-evaluation, audit and quality assurance activity is being developed and delivered through the Ops and Practice Subgroup of the Child Protection Committee, and the Coordination and Support Hub (further detail in those sections).

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Supporting improved use and analysis of partnership data is a key focus within self-evaluation, and the current review of Children’s Services Planning arrangement in Aberdeenshire will consider the role of the Intelligence, Data and Planning Group. Key outcomes to be achieved include support for joint analysis of partnership information, ensuring individual service data is utilised to best effect by partners, and continuing to refine robust and meaningful progress measures. As we enter Year 3 of our plan, refining an approach to joint strategic needs assessment is a key area of focus. Learning from the national review of Children’s Services Plans highlighted challenges faced by public services in undertaking non-bureaucratic needs assessment in a meaningful and proportionate manner. Rather than collating tri-annual data as a static snapshot in time, the approach to this in Aberdeenshire aims to embed data within the annual reporting cycle; to support monitoring of current trends and identification of emergent needs. Engagement at national Children’s Services Planning Strategic Engagement Events in 2019 identified a need for national policy approaches to support more connected and streamlined approaches to the different planning requirements of Community Planning Partners. Further work on this being progressed by the Scottish Government.

Our Community

Political Profile Aberdeenshire Seats by Political Party (as at 31 March 2019) Aberdeenshire Council is made up of 70 elected Conservative 21 Councillors who represent 19 wards in 6 Areas of Scottish National Party (SNP) 21 the authority. Aberdeenshire’s current political Liberal Democrats 14 representation is shown in the table (right). Aligned Independent 7 Independent 3

Labour 1 Unaligned 1

Population Profile

The National Records of Scotland published its most up-to-date Scottish population projections on 28 March 2018, based on 2016 mid-year population estimates. These remain unchanged from the 2017/18 annual report. Scotland’s population is projected to increase by 5.3% between 2016 and 2041, reaching 5,693,200 people. This projected growth is entirely due to positive net migration (more people coming into Scotland than are leaving) and natural growth over that period is negative. This means that the number of deaths is expected to be higher than the number of births. The most rapid population growth is predicted to take place between 2016 and 2026. Over that period, the number of children is projected to increase by 2% and the pension-aged population by 19%. The working age population is projected to decrease by 1%, with the 16-24 age group showing the biggest drop at -.5%. In 2016, Aberdeenshire’s population was 262,190 - roughly 5 % of Scotland’s total population. By 2041 this is projected to rise to 295,760. This is an increase of almost 13%, and the fifth highest projected growth amongst all Scottish local authorities. 7% of that population growth in Aberdeenshire (18,590 people) will be over the next decade. Between 2016 and 2026, the number of children is projected to increase by 6.4 % while the 16-24 age group is expected to decrease by 1.5%. While Aberdeenshire is still expected to experience continued population growth over the next 20 years, this is now 5.6% lower than earlier (2014 based) projections suggested (and 9.5% lower for neighbouring Aberdeen City). These figures reflect an impact on North East population trends due to economic pressures resulting from a fall in the oil price. Aberdeenshire is one of only nine local authorities expected to gain population through both natural change and migration as the number of births is projected to be higher than the number of deaths. The number of live births in Aberdeenshire in 2018 was 2,698, up slightly from 2017 (2,659) and 2016 (2,643).

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Aberdeenshire Population 2018 - Children and Young People (Aged 0-21) Age Group Male Female Total % of Total Population Population Population Population 0 - 15 25,184 23,849 49,033 18.8% 16 - 18 4,391 3,941 8,332 3.2% 19 - 21 4,173 3,233 7,406 2.8% All Ages 33,748 31,023 64,771 24.8% National Records of Scotland (Data 31 March 2019)

Of the population aged 0-15 years: 28% are 0-4 years old, 46% are 5-11 years old, and 24% aged 12-15.

Aberdeenshire Projected Population - Children and Young People (revised 2018) Age Group 2016 2021 2026 2031 2036 0 - 15 48,871 51,434 52,010 52,151 52,085 16 - 18 8,869 8,441 9,955 9,688 9,697 19 - 21 7,853 7,081 7,597 8,418 8,166 All Ages 65,593 66,956 69,562 70,257 69,948 National Records of Scotland (Data 31 March 2019)

The most recent minority ethnic census Aberdeenshire Minority Ethnic School information dates to 2011. However, Population Data (2018) Aberdeenshire schools data (right) reflects the Total School Population 35,834 (100%) number of children who identify as; White White Other 2,212 (6.17%) Other (including White-Gypsy/Traveller, White- Minority Ethnic Group 1,287 (3.59%) Other, White-Irish, and White-Polish), Minority Unknown/Undisclosed 188 (0.52%) Ethnic Group (all categories other than White- Scottish, White-Other British, and White-Other), or Unknown/ Undisclosed. This equates to just over 3,680, (or 10%) of all children and young people enrolled in Aberdeenshire schools.

Households

There were 110,296 households in Aberdeenshire in 2016, with an expected increase of 17% over the next 25 years (to 128,752). Much of this increase is households with 1 adult and 1 or more child(ren), with households which include at least one child projected to increase by 1,941 (or 6%). Of all Scottish local authorities, Aberdeenshire (alongside East Renfrewshire) will continue to have the highest proportion of households containing two adults and one or more children.

The Aberdeenshire City and Shire Housing Need and Demand Assessment (2017) shows there is an expected rise in the number of single-person households by 42% over the next 25 years. There are likely to be pressures faced by services at both ends of the age-spectrum in future years, as there is also a very large projected increase in the number of households headed by someone aged 75+ (84% or 11,943 households). Although the housing waiting list has reduced and supply of affordable housing has increased; housing need continues to outstrip supply of affordable housing. An aging population combined with the increasing proportion of single- person households, will continue to place increasing pressure on 1-bed properties.

In 2016 there were 116,421 dwellings in Aberdeenshire -an increase of 20% since 2001. The majority are either detached (47%) or semi-detached (29%), with terraced dwellings and flats comparatively fewer (12% respectively). Most properties are privately owner occupied (73%). The private rental sector accounts for 10% of housing stock, and the social housing rented sector for 16%.

Aberdeenshire Council Housing Stock (2018) Bedsit I bed 2 bed 3 bed 4 bed Total 38 5,063 5,194 2,468 140 12,903

Twelve Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s) provide 4,737 properties in Aberdeenshire. The largest of these providers have almost 1000 properties, with over half of Aberdeenshire’s RSLs having fewer than 100 properties. This means the supply of affordable housing remains a challenge; with a tangible impact on attracting and retaining key workers such as teachers and health visitors to the region.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Local Housing Strategy (2018-2023) is based on close partnership working to ensure provision of quality, affordable, inclusive, housing. This recognises the need for diverse housing provision which meets a range of particular needs. The strategy has priorities:

Aberdeenshire Local Housing Strategy Priorities (2018-2023) Affordable Housing Energy efficiency, fuel poverty and sustainability Homelessness & Housing options Independent Living Minority Ethnic Communities Private Sector

The Housing Strategy is delivered through two teams: Affordable Housing deals with Low Cost Housing and Shared Equity, Particular Housing Needs, Minority Ethnic Communities (including Gypsy/Travellers) and Empty Homes; and Private Sector Housing which deals with Landlord Registration, Scheme of Assistance, Care and Repair, and Fuel Poverty.

A particular issue highlighted within the Housing Need and Demand Assessment (2017) is the proportion of families under 24 in Aberdeenshire deemed to be living in concealed Households. This would include young couples living with parents (15.2% in Aberdeenshire compared with 10% for Scotland), and under-occupation (which is estimated at 41% locally compared to 29% nationally).

Homelessness The Scottish Government set up the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) in 2017, with an aim of ending homelessness and rough sleeping. With 70 detailed recommendations made, this provided a vision of a whole system approach where prevention of homelessness is paramount, and responsibility lying not just with local authorities, but with all parts of the public sector. The cornerstone of these recommendations has been a transition to a Rapid Rehousing approach, with Housing First as a key part of this model.

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Rapid Rehousing involves rehousing people who have experienced homelessness, by ensuring they reach a settled housing option as quickly as possible, with minimal transitions and time spent in temporary accommodation. Housing First is now the first response for people with complex needs and multiple disadvantage. The Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP) is the new planning framework for local authorities and their partners, with each local authority required to collaboratively develop their plan over a 5 year period (2019/20 to 2023/24). Aberdeenshire’s RRTP was published in March 2019

Aberdeenshire Council’s Housing Service has been working with colleagues in Community Learning and Development to develop tenant engagement, and to support participation from those with lived experience of homelessness to inform local delivery of housing services. Homelessness prevention is central to the delivery of housing services in Aberdeenshire. Two thirds of homeless applications in Aberdeenshire are from households where the main applicant is under 35years of age, with half of those aged between 16 and 24. Supported accommodation for young people at King Street, Peterhead can accommodate 6 young people aged 16-25 years. Provided by Aberdeenshire Council, King Street is staffed 24 hours a day, with support provided by a full-time Housing Support Officer.

A change in local procedure means Looked After Children no longer have to register as homeless in order to access housing, and national measures have been taken which exempt young people leaving care from having to pay council tax for a period of time.

Collaborative Approaches

Aberdeenshire’s Housing Service is proactively involved with Children’s Services planning partners concerning the particular needs of local young people at risk of homelessness. A range of preventative, early intervention and crisis response action is being considered on a multi- agency basis.

This includes engagement with Education Services to promote housing and homelessness education within schools, and consideration of specialist mediation services to work with families and young people identified as at risk of becoming homeless. Opportunities offered by Community Hosting Models which provide short term accommodation for young people are also being explored, which allow the opportunity for work to be undertaken to support a return home providing this is safe and reasonable to do so. Community-based solutions could be potentially very useful as a local response which enables young people to remain within a specific area.

The Housing First approach is used to address the needs of tenants with multiple or complex needs, who have been unable to sustain temporary accommodation. A full time Support Worker works exclusively with a reduced caseload to support individuals within temporary accommodation, with the intention these will be converted into permanent tenancies. The Support Worker links to and works with a range of partner agencies, to identify the appropriate package of support. Early indications are that Aberdeenshire’s rural Housing First model is proving effective, with good outcomes for individuals and cost savings to partner agencies such as the Scottish Prison Service.

Rapid rehousing requires a shift away from the language and culture of ‘tenancy readiness’ by all housing providers. The majority of homeless households (an estimated 88%) within Aberdeenshire will transition into mainstream settled housing with no need for specific support other than signposting and low-level housing management support. An further estimated 8% of households would have medium support needs, which require visiting or multi-professional wraparound support, and 4% have severe and multiple disadvantage or complex needs and benefit from intensive wrap around support.

This aligns with identified provision through Aberdeenshire’s existing Housing First approach, and the proposed development of further tenancies through the Aberdeen City and `Shire Consortium Pathfinder Project, which is in its initial stages. Partners in the Consortium will establish 20 Housing First tenancies within Aberdeenshire, and participate in an evaluation carried out by Heriot Watt University and Glasgow Housing Network.

Housing partners are responding to the implications from wider rollout of Universal Credit, which the experience in other authorities suggests can lead to a trend of increased rent arrears. Provision of financial inclusion advice, support to tackle fuel poverty, and working with social landlords remains key to delivery of Aberdeenshire’s housing support services. This helps improve outcomes for local families and contributes to action tackling Child Poverty.

Transport

Aberdeenshire is a predominantly rural area which presents challenges for the provision of an accessible, affordable and sustainable transport system. Without access to a car or to affordable public transport, children and families can be isolated from services and find it more difficult to access education, employment and leisure opportunities.

Around 14% of local households do not have access to a car, and public transport is often expensive, with long journey times. 81% of people living in urban areas of Aberdeenshire are satisfied with public transport services, however this drops to 51% in rural areas (Scottish Household Survey 2017). This is a particular issue for children and young people because they either can’t drive, or don’t have access to a car.

Aberdeenshire Council continues to engage with partners to promote more active, sustainable methods of travel through local and regional transport strategies and plans, such as the Walking and Cycling Action Plan and Integrated Travel Town Project. There are many benefits of active travel for children and young people, including better physical health, reduced risk of obesity, improved mental health and wellbeing, better air quality, and safer communities.

Maximising access to affordable transport is therefore a key consideration in development of local transport infrastructure and services. 38% of Aberdeenshire households experience fuel poverty, which is higher than the Scottish average of 34%. 29% of those households were families. (SHCS LA Tables revised 2018 - Fuel Poverty)

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The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) reached completion in early 2019. This was later than intended as a consequence of Carillion Construction Ltd entering liquidation in January 2018, and delays caused by extreme winter weather conditions. The AWPR is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Scotland, and part of Transport Scotland's commitment to improve road travel and safety conditions in the North East, delivered in partnership with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Council. Some local journey times have been significantly reduced, with the AWPR improving accessibility within large parts of Aberdeenshire. Stagecoach buses introduced new direct north (from Peterhead) and south (from St Cyrus) routes to the airport, as the AWPR means no longer having to go into Aberdeen City to change buses. Transport Scotland statistics show the number of rail passenger journeys to, from, or within Aberdeenshire had been gradually increasing since 2007/8, however these fell by 7% in the most recently reported period (2016/17). The first phase of the Scottish Government funded Aberdeen-Inverness Rail Improvement Project is due for completion in 2019. This will allow capacity for a new station at Kintore, more through-services to the Central Belt, half-hourly services from Aberdeen to Inverness, increased reliability, and more services at peak and early/late times.

Area Bus Forums have been available in each of Aberdeenshire Council's 6 administrative areas since 2000, and act as the principal focus for consultation on public transport matters. Forums are held approximately every 6 months, and are grouped to allow decision-making on an equitable basis across Aberdeenshire. These provide a forum for members of the public to share their views with the Council Passenger Transport Unit, elected members, and local bus operators.

All children in Aberdeenshire receive free school transport if they live over two miles away (from their zoned primary school), or over three miles (from their zoned secondary school). Children with Additional Support Needs will have an individual assessment of need to determine any requirement for school transport, based on each child or young person’s unique circumstances.

Aberdeenshire’s Shadow Youth Council members have also been engaged with Chief Officers in discussion on the issue of transport. Transport came 4th in a 2019 Youth Forum survey of priority issues for young people.

Employment

Aberdeenshire celebrates a strong entrepreneurial culture in farming, food, fishing, and tourism; with the oil and gas industry a key local employment sector. In 2018, the average household income in Aberdeenshire was £36,220 - considerably higher than the Scottish average of £28,186 (CACI Paycheck 2018). 2018 figures from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings show the difference between weekly gross pay for a full-time worker in Aberdeenshire varies between £360 (10th percentile) to £933.20 (80th percentile) - a median of £594.50. This difference of 159% means Aberdeenshire’s income gap is higher than the Scottish average (by 146%), and it could be concluded that relatively high oil-related salaries may impact on this disparity. The income gap in 2017 was 174.3%, and it may be that oil and gas recession job-losses may have impacted on this narrowing gap. Unemployment levels remain overall low, at 2.8% for Aberdeenshire compared with 4.3% in Scotland as a whole. There has been a very slight decrease in unemployment over the last year, however the downturn in the oil and gas industry continues to have an impact on the local job market. Challenges around transport and digital connectivity in more rural parts of Aberdeenshire also play a role in access to economic opportunities. Looking at younger age-groups demonstrates some challenges continue to be experienced. Between 2017 and 2019, the youth employment rate for 16-19 year olds in Aberdeenshire slightly decreased from 54.6% to 53.9%. However, this remains higher than the Scottish average (37.8%) with an increase in employment rates for Aberdeenshire’s 20-24 year olds (up to 78.1%, from 70.1% in 2017/18). This is also above Scotland’s national comparator rate (71.6%). (https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/)

Aberdeenshire trends over 2018/19 reflect a continued local demand for money/debt advice and employability support, as the impact of Welfare Reform and economic downturn in the North East oil and gas sector has continued. Over 2018/19 this advice was accessed by 6,180 clients, with a financial gain of £4,247,310. Of those clients, 847 families were supported to increase their household income, which has a direct impact on reducing child poverty. The Welfare Rights Worker has supported 311 clients over the year, with a client gain of £565,349. While not all clients will be families with children, the worker also provides support to young people under 16, and aged 16-18, to ensure they access full benefits entitlement. The graph below shows the annual client breakdown:

As part of the support offered to young people through Opportunities for All, the CLD Service manages Activity Agreements. These are individualised employability programmes which provide additional support for young people who require extra help to progress into positive post-school pathways. Activity Agreements are delivered in conjunction with Children’s Services Throughcare/Aftercare Social Work Team, and a range of local partners. Funding is also provided to Third Sector organisations such as LEAD Scotland, to deliver Activity Agreements within specific geographic areas or to specific young people. Requests for Activity Agreements are primarily from Fraserburgh and Peterhead (33%), with 15% from Kincardine & Mearns.

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Characteristics of young people supported by Activity Agreements include:

18% - Non-school attendance 20% - Mental Health issues including anxiety 11% - Social, Emotional, or Behavioural Disorders 11% - Asperger’s/Autism Spectrum Disorder >5 - Young people with care experience.

Over 2018/19:  45 young people completed an Activity Agreement  80% moved from an Activity Agreement to a positive destination (an increase on 70% in 2017/2018) Fairer Scotland Funding supported a further 286 young people (aged 16-20), to participate in training opportunities over 2018/2019.

Poverty and Inequality

The Scottish Government set a national target to reduce poverty rates in Scotland by 2030 to less than 10% of the population living in relative poverty, and less than 5% in persistent poverty. The creation of an Independent Poverty and Inequality Commission scrutinises Scottish Government policy and monitors progress towards tackling poverty and inequality. The Commission also plays an advocacy role helping to bring about real reductions in poverty and inequality, and providing independent advice to ministers.

Child poverty has long-lasting effects, with the potential to perpetuate inequality within and between communities. It is related to a range of adverse outcomes which include poorer health, educational attainment, finance, and employment. The Child Poverty Action Group defines Child Poverty as growing up in families, “without the resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are the norm in 21st century Scotland”. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 has placed duties on Scottish Ministers to publish national plans every four years, and to provide regular progress updates. The first Delivery Plan, Every Child, Every Chance (2018-2022) has set out proposals on three main drivers of child poverty: income from work and earnings, costs of living, and income from social security. The Act also requires joint production of an annual Child Poverty Action Report by Local Authorities and Health Boards.

Child Poverty in Aberdeenshire

A range of issues impact on the number of children and young people who live in poverty in Aberdeenshire. This includes welfare reform, zero-hour contracts, fuel poverty, rising costs in housing, childcare and transport, rising unemployment, debt, and associated mental health issues. Whilst Aberdeenshire has amongst the lowest rates of child poverty in the United Kingdom, nevertheless, a number of areas within Aberdeenshire are approaching the Scottish average for Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). The highest proportions of income deprivation found typically, but not exclusively, in North Aberdeenshire:

 Banff  Fraserburgh Harbour & Broadsea, and Fraserburgh Lochpots  Peterhead Bay and Peterhead Harbour

Local data shows us that even within less-deprived data-zones, this does not mean no children and young people are experiencing poverty. For example, Westhill Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) manages the largest amount of private debt of any CAB network in Scotland. A further update on Child Poverty statistics by local authority, ward and constituency is expected in May 2019 (End Child Poverty). Aberdeenshire data for 2018 shows that:

 Approximately 7,023 children and young people are living in poverty. This is 12.59% of the 0- 18 age group population.

 2,803 households with children earn less than 60% of the median household income of £27,300 per year. This is 9.03% of all households with children.

 2,556 children received free school meals.

Child Poverty Action Plan

Community planning aims to empower and support communities to understand and tackle local challenges together, in order to deliver better outcomes for children, young people, families and individuals who live there. Reducing Child Poverty was agreed as a strategic priority within Aberdeenshire’s Local Outcomes Improvement Plan (LOIP). The Child Poverty Action Plan is led by the Tackling Poverty and Inequalities Strategy Group, working collaboratively with partner organisations to deliver the most effective action. Aberdeenshire Council commissioned research by The Poverty Alliance in 2017, to provide Community Planning Partners with a better understanding of the lived experiences, extent and nature of child poverty in Aberdeenshire. Its resultant research findings,

Tackling Child Poverty in Aberdeenshire: Lessons from Local Voices became available in April 2018, and informed the range of actions agreed in the Child Poverty Action Plan. The local approach to tackling Child Poverty has a focus on both tackling the root causes of poverty, and on building people’s capabilities.

This is done through supporting income maximisation and employability, improving quality of life, helping families manage the impacts of poverty, and promoting positive life choices.

4 overarching goals have been set out in our LOIP Child Poverty Action Plan:

 Preventing children on the margins of poverty, from falling into poverty  Reducing the number of children living in poverty, by moving them out of poverty  Protecting children living in poverty from its most adverse effects.  Enabling children to live a poverty-free adult life

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A long-term approach is required to overcome child poverty, with action to break the cycle of poor outcomes through early intervention and prevention, building on individual and community assets, and ensuring the needs and views of children and families are central to service design and delivery. This approach goes beyond listening to the lived experiences of families, to consider them essential partners in the construction of future strategies. Aberdeenshire’s first Child Poverty Local Action Report will be available in June 2019.

Good Practice Case Study: Health for Work Project (Peterhead & Fraserburgh)

Building on the success of the Peterhead pilot in 2018, continued Welfare Rights support has been provided from Peterhead GP Practice via the Health for Work Project. Funded by the

Scottish Government’s Employability Innovation Fund, this project is led by Aberdeenshire’s Health & Social Care Partnership with an aim of improving service delivery to clients with a mild-to-moderate health conditions.

One element of the project has been availability of a Welfare Rights Officer within Peterhead

Medical Centre, who provides advice on areas such as welfare, debt, housing, employment, immigration, and support ranging from helping clients fill in an application form, to representation at tribunals (such as appeals, benefit applications and employment issues).

A service has been provided to 261 clients in 2018/19, of whom 174 were of working age, and 7 under the age of 16. The officer advised 186 clients on benefits and 26 on benefit grants, with a financial gain of £467,162. This additional money has supported families to increase their household income, supporting improved health & wellbeing and helped to address Child

Poverty. An important element to this project is the warm-handover approach, which means families only have to tell their story once. In addition to working closely with medical practitioners, the Welfare Rights Officer works with a wider range of partners who deliver services in the local community. They can onward-refer people to the most suitable services, whether this is for employment support, Turning Point for help with addictions, or to courses such as ‘STEPS’ (which boosts people’s general confidence and self-esteem).

Project outcomes so far indicate this has reduced the amount of repeat GP appointments with patients whose health is affected by various socio-economic factors. This has had a further benefit of freeing up GP time, as with the Welfare Advice Officer now completing these tasks, GP’s are no longer having to write letters or complete forms which are not related directly to patient health. Feedback from local GPs, Health Visitors and Midwives has been positive, and this model of Aberdeenshiredelivering information Council & advice services has been highlighted as good practice at a national level. The project is being evaluated at present, however the learning from this partnership project will inform future practice in Aberdeenshire.

A Committed and Confident Workforce

Local GIRFEC Groups are a key forum in Aberdeenshire, established with an aim of supporting collaboration and effective reflection on multi-agency practice at a local network level.

With a focus on the GIRFEC National Practice Model approach, Local GIRFEC Groups bring together local leaders across children’s services, in a multi-agency forum. Based in 17 localities across Aberdeenshire, Local GIRFEC Groups have had led or supported a range of learning, practice development, and partnership activities/events over 2018/19.

Examples of topics addressed have included:

 Exploring local knowledge, skills and resources Locality available to support children and young people’s Aboyne Laurencekirk mental health Alford Mintlaw  awareness raising and a multi-agency response to Banchory Oldmeldrum substance misuse/county lines concerns Banff Peterhead  5 Multi-agency GIRFEC/Children’s Services Plan Grow Ellon Portlethen Your Local Network events Fraserburgh Stonehaven  Partnership events signposting parents/carers to Huntly Turriff local support services Inverurie Westhill  Kemnay Exploring multi-agency approaches to non-school attendance  Information-Sharing  Multi-agency evening event for parents – online safety Enhancing Public/Third Sector Networking A programme of multi-agency events was delivered across Aberdeenshire via Local GIRFEC Groups, to launch the new Children’s Services Plan and raise awareness of its strategic priorities.

Wave 1 of these events took place last year (Huntly, Portlethen, Aboyne, Inverurie, Meldrum, and Mintlaw), with a further 5 events delivered over the 2018/2019 period (Mearns, Turriff, Stonehaven, Banff and Fraserburgh).

These Grow your Local Knowledge events were delivered by Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action in collaboration with Local GIRFEC Groups, and provided a networking opportunity for professionals working in the Third Sector and statutory agencies. Workshops on using the National Risk Framework were offered alongside these events, facilitated by Aberdeenshire’s Child Protection Practice Improvement Officer. 36

Events aimed to:

 Promote awareness of strategic priorities in Aberdeenshire Children’s Service Plan  Raise awareness of locally available services providing support to children and families  Provide information on the Aberdeenshire GIRFEC approach, and signpost colleagues to resources on the GIRFEC Website

Each event had Third Sector stallholders, a presentation on the Children’s Services Plan, and an on-a-page hand-out - GIRFEC in Aberdeenshire. Learning points from the events included making sure significant notice was given to support maximum attendance. Feedback from participants demonstrated the value of locality-based events such as this, which support the natural professional networks of teams who work together in a particular community.

“Left with 4 new “Great “Gathered lots of “Learned about contacts and more information useful information to new services” awareness of what sharing event” share with team” people do”

The role of the Coordination & Support Hub is to strengthen connections between strategic intention and operational practice, building on core messages delivered through service communication channels. The Hub does this in a number of different ways:  Sharing key local and national GIRFEC briefings  Providing a forum for Local GIRFEC Groups to share good practice, highlight barriers to multi-agency working, and share frontline practitioner experiences  Support collaboration with Thematic Subgroups, through sharing updates on development work, and providing opportunities for Local GIRFEC Groups to contribute to this.

The Hub supports Local GIRFEC Groups to embed consistent multi-agency practice across Aberdeenshire and raises awareness of Aberdeenshire-wide services, strategies, and available practice resources. It also provides a forum where Local GIRFEC Groups can identify emerging trends and themes, with this feedback used to inform ongoing development and improvement of the GIRFEC Learning and Development Modules, Multi-Agency Guidance, and the GIRFEC Website. Support provided to Local GIRFEC Groups by the Hub includes:  An identified Service Representative for colleagues to seek advice/guidance from  Quarterly joint meetings of the Hub with the 17 Local GIRFEC Group Chairs  Peer support via a nominated Local GIRFEC Group Chairs representative

Over 2018, Local GIRFEC Groups highlighted continued challenges with staff turnover, operational demands, capacity and lack of clarity. To address these issues, the Hub focussed on reinvigorating group membership over Autumn 2018/Spring 2019. New Chairs were confirmed in February 2019, from Children’s Services Social Work, Public and Community Child Health Services, and Primary, Secondary and Special Education. An Induction Workshop is scheduled to take place in April 2019. The Local GIRFEC Groups Terms of Reference and Induction Pack materials were also revised in 2018, with an aim of supporting increased clarity of purpose and remit for Local GIRFEC Groups. The Coordination & Support Hub also supports a number of development workstreams, focussed on aspects of multi-agency practice. This includes:  Revision and development of Multi-Agency GIRFEC Guidance and documentation  Development and delivery of the GIRFEC Modules Training Calendar  Expansion and update of the GIRFEC Website

In 2018/19 a new Multi-Agency Audit/Self-Evaluation Workstream was established, with a Steering Group set up to lead development of a framework for multi-agency self-evaluation and quality assurance. The Steering Group includes representatives from Community Child Health, Schools, Educational Psychology, Police, and Children’s Services Social Work, with members encouraged to involve colleagues from their wider service to support development of a practitioner- informed methodology. This will support an ongoing cycle of multi-agency self-evaluation, focussed on effective use of the GIRFEC practice approach through a range of quality assurance and audit tools. Audit activity will consider different elements of a child’s wellbeing journey (such as chronologies, request for assistance, child’s plan, participation of families), and helps inform a multi-agency overview of How Good is Our GIRFEC in Aberdeenshire? The Steering Group have set out a number of outcomes to be achieved:  To develop a multi-agency performance framework for Aberdeenshire  To establish baseline data, against which practice improvement can be measured  To inform wider reporting on multi-agency GIRFEC implementation  To identify future learning and development needs  To inform ongoing update of practitioners GIRFEC Guidance  To identify and share examples of good practice  To enhance local collaborative leadership through multi-agency self-evaluation activity

The initial ‘Request for Service’ audit tool, has been developed and refined, with Ellon Local GIRFEC Group piloting this in September 2019. Thereafter the tool will be refined in light of feedback, and rolled out across the remaining 16 Local GIRFEC Groups. Feedback on this activity will be collated and reported to the Coordination and Support Hub, and will inform assurance and recommendations to the GIRFEC Strategic Group. Once baseline data has been established through initial activity, it is anticipated this approach will evolve and progress to eventual peer-led self-evaluation by Local GIRFEC Groups, which empowers groups to address locally identified practice priorities.

Guidance The Pan-Grampian Practitioners Guide to Information-Sharing was updated by partner agencies across Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray Council, Police Scotland, and NHS Grampian. This was relaunched in early 2019 with an accompanying flowchart (left).

Aberdeenshire’s GIRFEC Guidance was also revised, with an initial intent to launch this in 2018/19. This was delayed in light of live national developments around the Information Sharing (Scotland) Bill 2016, Code of Practice, and Parts 4 (Named Person) and 5 (Child’s Plan) of the Children and Young People Act (2014). Aberdeenshire’s revised guidance will now be launched in 2019/20 with further revisions made in line with national updates and local requirements. 38

Multi-Agency Learning and Development

Aberdeenshire’s Learning and Development Sub-Group oversees provision of multi-agency training opportunities for GIRFEC, Child Protection, and Domestic Abuse. Training sessions for these three interconnected areas of practice are developed, delivered and reviewed by practitioners from across the partnership, helping to ensure a joined up approach in delivery of key messages, and development of course material and delivery of training. 6 GIRFEC Modules reflect the range of key multi-agency processes in assessment and support for children and families, based on the National Practice Model and GIRFEC approach.

Module Title 1 Children’s Rights, Engagement, and Participation 2 Information-Sharing 3 Named Person and Lead Professional 4 Assessment and Chronologies 5 Multi-Agency Meetings 6 Action Planning: The Child’s Plan

Improvements made in the learning and development offer in 2018/19 included:  Redeveloped course registration to provide better data on participants by sector/role  An increase in training locations, with delivery in all 6 areas of Aberdeenshire  Revised course content, based on national policy/legislation and participant/trainer feedback  The newly introduced Module 1 (Children’s Rights) ran successfully over the year  Revised content and approach in Modules 2 (Information Sharing) and 4 (Assessment and Chronologies) was piloted to positive feedback from participants  Revision of Modules 3, 5 and 6 is in progress, with an expectation these will be piloted ready for delivery in the 2019/20 Calendar.  Revision of the on-the-day and 3-month evaluation forms, to improve training data and better evaluate its impact on practice

Training Delivery Delivery is facilitated on a multi-agency basis. Alongside Education and Children’s Services Social Work, representation of the GIRFEC Learning and Development Group includes Midwifery, Early Years, Substance Misuse/Criminal Justice, Third Sector, AHSCP’s Lead Social Worker, NHS Grampian Lead Nurses (Children & Families and Child Protection), and Police Scotland.  31 Modules were scheduled for delivery between April 2018 and March 2019 - 81% ran. This was an improvement from 2017/18 (when 64% of Modules were delivered)

 Of the 6 cancelled (due to low numbers), 3 were scheduled in January 2019 with relatively short notice for sign-up prior to the Christmas break, and 2 in less central locations (Aboyne and Banff).  294 participants attended GIRFEC Modules over 2018/19. This is an increase of 48% compared with the same period in 2017/18.

Delivery of GIRFEC Modules (2014-2019) Year 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Workshops 6 1 14 10 25 Participants 95 17 190 103 294

Location

Modules were delivered at an increased number of locations across Aberdeenshire (200%), to support wider attendance, provide local workforce training opportunities, and minimise participant travel-time.

Workshops Location Delivered Aberdeen 3 Banff & Buchan (Banff) 4 Banff & Buchan (Fraserburgh) 1 Marr (Huntly) 3 Garioch (Inverurie) 5 Buchan (Peterhead) 5 Kincardine & Mearns (Portlethen) 1 Kincardine & Mearns (Stonehaven) 1 Formartine (Ellon) 2

The aim for 2019/20 is to ensure equity of access by delivery of all 6 Modules in each area of Aberdeenshire. Use of less popular venues will be reduced as will use of those found less suitable due to size/layout.

Participants

A wide range of practitioners from Adult, Children’s and Community Services (Statutory, Third Sector and Funded Providers) have attended the GIRFEC Modules over 2018/19.

This also included colleagues from Homecare, Housing, Care Management and Antisocial Behaviour Teams.

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The graph below shows total participants over 2018/19, broken down by module attendance and organisation/sector:

Total = 59 AC - H&SC AC - E&CS NHS Other 70 14 60 Total = 51

Total = 52 50 16 13 16 Total = 41 40 Total = 39 9 16 19 9 Total = 32 30 10 9 10 11 20 15 7 20 25 17 18 10 13 12 6 0 3 3 3 Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module 4 Module 5 Module 6

Evaluation Data Participant feedback indicates a high percentage achieve the intended learning outcomes of each module:

Module 1

Module 2

Module 3

Module 4

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Module 5

Module 6

Participant evaluation and feedback remains

very positive, and informs development and update of GIRFEC Module content on an ongoing basis.

Supporting a competent, confident, multi- agency workforce remains core to ongoing GIRFEC implementation and delivery of our Children’s Services Plan, with Learning and Development a continued priority for the partnership over 2019/20.

The GIRFEC Website continues to be a valuable multi-agency resource, and remains the key portal for accessing Child Protection and GIRFEC training across the partnership.

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The GIRFEC Website

Aberdeenshire’s GIRFEC Website provides the key online GIRFEC and Children’s Services Planning resource for children, young people, parents and carers, public, private and third sector practitioners, Community Planning Partners, elected members, and the wider public. Development of the website is led by the Coordination and Support Hub, with technical support from a Children’s Services Information Officer. Website analytics for 2018/2019 show increased use of the website, reflecting its continued value as a one-stop-shop platform to access multi- agency resources and information.

The website provides information on all aspects of Getting It Right For Every Child in Aberdeenshire, including local multi-agency guidance, learning and development opportunities, and the Practitioner’s GIRFEC Toolkit. There are dedicated sections of the website providing resources and information on:  Child Protection  Corporate Parenting.  GIRFEC for Parents/Carers  Children’s Rights

Improvements to the website in 2018/19 included:

 Continued enhancement of website usability and accessibility  An embedded online booking system for the expanded Child Protection Training Calendar  A range of new and updated multi-agency guidance and resources for practitioners  Direct links Aberdeenshire’s Family Information Service on the Parents/Carer section  Updated Children’s Services Plan and Multi-Agency Governance Arrangements pages  Significant expansion to the Children & Young People section: Information on local youth participation opportunities, Children’s Rights resources, Aberdeenshire Children & Young People’s Charter, and Year of Young People activities

Use of the GIRFEC Website

Activity on the website is monitored through google-analytics, which provides data on how people use the website. This, along with feedback received informs ongoing development and improvements to the website. Data demonstrates growing engagement with the website content, which is evidenced through numbers of viewing sessions, and information on most-accessed pages and document downloads.

In 2018/19, website traffic increased Number of GIRFEC Website User Sessions (Annual) by 150% compared to the previous (1 April- 31 March) year, with over 50,000 unique website 2015 - 2016 7,508 views. This continues a strong year- 2016 - 2017 10,334 on-year trend where use of the 2017 - 2018 16,575 2018 - 2019 24,811 website is rising at an exponential rate (see table left).

The graph below shows the number of website user sessions per month, which has remained consistently higher in 2018/19 than in previous years. There is an overall 50% increase in the number of browsing sessions, with any dips in access correlating to holiday periods.

Website statistics for this year also reflect a record high of 2742 website sessions in a single month, the greatest since launching the website 4 years ago.

Number of Sessions by month

2016 - 17 2017 - 18 2018 - 19

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 2016 - 17 1052 1391 1030 657 850 843 676 1059 594 757 733 692 2017 - 18 432 1506 1175 658 1442 1658 1209 1414 730 1945 2178 2228 2018 - 19 1805 1901 1542 1303 2742 2258 1973 2112 1666 2363 2614 2532

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Download and Pageview data below, suggests people accessing the website over 2018/19 had a particular interest in:  Child Protection (Leaflets and guidance)  The GIRFEC Approach/National Practice Model/Practice Tools  Children and Young People (Year of Young People, The Charter, Gaining Views)  Multi Agency Learning and Development opportuntities (GIRFEC/Child Protection)  Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Plan

Top Page Views (2018/19) Page Title/Topic Views GIRFEC Aberdeenshire 14156 GIRFEC Approach Toolkit 7751 Aberdeenshire Child Protection Multi Agency Training Calendar 7243 Learning & Development 7050 Practitioners – GIRFEC Aberdeenshire 6249 Upcoming Events 6206 Child Protection 6042 Multi-Agency Guidance – GIRFEC Aberdeenshire 5541 Child Protection Basic Awareness Training 2167 Children & Young People – GIRFEC Aberdeenshire 1974 What Is GIRFEC? 1872 Child Protection Leaflets 1821 Aberdeenshire Youth Voices - #YOYP2018 1806 Wellbeing 1694 Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee 1653 Aberdeenshire #YOYP2018 Signature Events & Wider Calendar 1499 The National Practice Model 1390 Introduction to Multi-agency Child Protection Practice 1207 Aberdeenshire Children & Young People’s Charter 1085 Who We Are – GIRFEC in Aberdeenshire 1016 Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Plan (2017-2020) 1013 What is Wellbeing? (Parents/Carers section) 998 What is the Named Person (Parents/Carers section) 993 Tackling Child Neglect 962

Top 10 Downloads (2018/19) 1. GIRFEC Modules Training calendar 6. National Practice Model 2. Wellbeing Indicators 7. Aberdeenshire Wellbeing Web 3. Child Protection Guidance 8. My World Triangle 4. Wellbeing Prompt Cards For Children 9. Aberdeenshire Wellbeing Web 5.Wellbeing Prompt Cards For Parents/Carers 10. Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Plan (2017-2020)

Device use remains consistent with figures from 2017/18, showing desktop computers remain the device-type most used to access the website.

This (along with the type of Access by Device 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/2019 information accessed by website Device Type % % % visitors) suggests that practitioners desktop 87% 74% 71% remain a key website audience. mobile 8% 19% 21% Data also reflects a slight increase in tablet 5% 7% 8% access via mobile/tablet over the last Total 100% 100% 100% year, which alongside pageview and download data suggests the website is increasingly used by parents/carers and children and young people. Activity around Year of Young People is likely to have positively impacted on this. New resources on the GIRFEC Website are promoted via Local GIRFEC Groups and through services, helping to ensure practitioners are aware of the most up-to-date information and resources available online. Utilising partnership networks such as Early Years Forums and Local Learning Community Partnerships also helps to communicate key messages and impacts positively on website traffic. Over 2018/19 we can see a spike in website access following publication of new Child Protection leaflets, the updated GIRFEC Modules Calendar, and launch of Aberdeenshire Children & Young People’s Charter. Website development over 2019/20 will continue to enhance users experiences, expand information available in the Parent/Carer section, and streamline the Learning and Develoment page.

Communication All coverage concerning Children's Rights, Services for children and young people, information for families, promotion of events (such as Year of Young People, or #adoptionweek) and relevant training opportunities; was delivered without the need for paid-for advertising, supported by the Council's corporate communications team. Articles were given exposure on the Aberdeenshire Council website and intranet, as well as being promoted with relevant media contacts, corporate and team social media channels.

Key Communications Statistics for 2018/19:

 250 Facebook posts  1,154,375 total Facebook reach  53,443 reach for highest performing Facebook post which was about new playpark facilities  36 news releases shared on website, intranet and via social media as well as with relevant media contacts  234 tweets  819971 total impressions on Twitter  17967 engagements on Twitter

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Further consideration to recording of relevant communications by all partners will be progressed over 2019/2020. A particular focus will be on highlighting and celebrating stories of success from across the Children’s Services Planning Partnership.

Strengthening Engagement

Multi-agency input was delivered at the Education and Children’s Services (ECS) Big Picture Day in April 2018, which involved over 200 participants from Children’s Services Social Work, Community Learning and Development, Educational Psychology, Schools, Early Years, Area Managers, Community Planning Teams and Quality Improvement Officers. This session provided information on a range of topics, with input focussing on key aspects of the GIRFEC practice approach and Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Plan:

 Effective use of Multi-Agency Action Planning Meetings  An update on the work of the Mental Health & Wellbeing Thematic Group  Collaborative Local Leadership (Early Years Forums, Local Learning Community Partnerships, Local GIRFEC Groups)  Corporate Parenting: Real Life Stories

The Big Picture Day also provided an opportunity for cross-service practioners to discuss and reflect on what is working well with local GIRFEC implementation, and where further improvements could be made.

What’s going well? Even better if?

Building positive relationships across partner Building further on the available Universal agencies offer Good knowledge of local needs in our Setting realistic targets within Child’s Plans communities Making best use of local partnership Greater understanding of differing service resources to respond creatively and roles support individual children/young people Early identification of wellbeing needs Using peer support of colleagues in school clusters and Local GIRFEC Groups to Supporting positive outcomes through working further enhance confidence, skills and as a Team around the Child knowledge Supporting transitions Better consistency of approach More robust exploration of individual service Reducing the frequency/number of resources before initiating multi-agency MAPAPMs processes Flexible and creative solutions

A workshop exploring the differing contributions of Local GIRFEC Groups, Early Year Forums and Local Learning community Partnerships was delivered on the day, with feedback indicating this had positively impacted on participant’s understanding of the differing group remits.

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Children and Young People’s Rights

Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Planning Partnership has a firm commitment to actively facilitate children and young people’s participation and promote Children’s Rights. This means all organisations and services take steps which ensure children and young people’s views influence both current delivery of support, and the future planning and development of services. A range of activity took place over 2018/19 in support of this.

Children’s Rights - Aims 1 To give further and better effect to Children’s Rights in Aberdeenshire 2 To effectively utilise GIRFEC Governance arrangements in respect of specific responsibilities for Children’s Rights

Over the year, Children’s Rights have been promoted through the work of individual services, and as a partnership, based on the fundamental philosophy of our Plan. 5 promises were made in our Plan, and these are used as a guide to report each year on the ways in which children and young people’s Rights have been enacted locally, and to identify what progress has been made in relation to duties under Part 1 of The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. These promises show our commitment as a partnership to: Promise1: Take a Rights-Based approach to Children’s Services Planning Promise 2: Improve use of multi-agency information on Children’s Rights Promise 3: Work collaboratively to create a Children & Young People’s Charter Promise 4: Give explicit consideration to UNCRC & Children’s Rights in Service Planning Promise 5: Promote Children’s Rights in all decision-making

Promise1: We will take a Rights-Based approach to Children’s Services Planning

Examples of how ‘further and better effect’ has been given to Children’s Rights and the UNCRC, are incorporated throughout this annual report. Examples are highlighted as relevant to specific services, wellbeing themes, and in action to address our strategic priorities.

Promise 2:We will improve our use of multi-agency information on Children’s Rights.

Youth Voice Matters Aberdeenshire is a Quarterly Online Newsletter established in 2018. This shares updates of positive youth social action across the partnership, and the shared commitment to tackle some of the big issues for children and young people in Aberdeenshire. Contributions to Youth Voice Matters are provided by youthwork practitioners, and members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, Year of Young People (YoYP18) Ambassadors, Aberdeenshire Youth Council, Community Youth Platforms, and Specific Youth Issue/Interest Groups.

These updates directly inform Aberdeenshire’s annual Children’s Rights reporting, through their inclusion in this report.

GIRFEC Website

The GIRFEC Website had further update and expansion of the Children & Young People’s Section over 2018/2019. Alongside the Year Of Young People and Charter webpages developed last year, new pages were created with a specific focus on Children’s Rights.

New pages have provided a range of resources on Children’s Rights and the UNCRC, with information available to children and young people on how to access their Rights.

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Over 2019/20202 we intend to progress more direct involvement of parents, children, and young people in further developing the GIRFEC Website.

Youth Voices

The Youth Voices project ran over Year of Young People 2018, as an online platform from which Aberdeenshire’s young people could share their hopes and aspirations for Year of Young People 2018. Each Youth Voice shared a young person’s interests and hobbies, their views on what mattered most, and talked about their experiences of life in Aberdeenshire. Youth Voices was open to anyone aged between 8 and 25, and dozens of local young people shared their individual stories on the GIRFEC Website. Submissions included a huge range of creativity and inspiration, with drawings, videos, song, poetry, music, prose, and straight-to- camera dialogue. Some of these stories are shared below:

I believe it’s vital that young people are at the centre of our democracy as we are the future generation. This starts with youth participation in local communities, in youth forums, local councils and school clubs. These organisations give young people a platform to champion free expression as well as a voice to create change and demonstrate potential. I would encourage every young person growing up in Scotland to take part in this beautiful freedom we are entitled to. (Lauren)

To me I think it is important to be heard by older people and I think they should take in what we are saying and do something about it. The greatest thing about being a young person in Aberdeenshire is if you want peace and quiet it is on your doorstep and there is not too much trouble, however public transport is a huge issue where I live as it is really expensive and very time consuming if I wanted to go to Aberdeen. (Amy)

I think it’s really important to get involved as much as you can in your community and make the most of life. A good thing about living in Aberdeenshire is that there is lots of opportunities to develop my leadership skills through volunteering. (Iain)

I would love for the general perception of young people to change, as the youth of today are so often seen as being rude, selfish, and apathetic. This is something I would be overjoyed to see change. This stance could perhaps be swayed by promoting youth voice. (Much like what is happening this year). (Taryn)

The best thing about Aberdeenshire is the countryside and the wildlife. (Sarah)

For the Year of Young People, we want to break the stigma that surrounds Fraserburgh and exhibit that the young people in our area are worth boasting about, not complaining about. As young individuals who persistently strive for the best, we want to promote the positive aspects of Fraserburgh Academy. We are keen contributors to the work of the Pupil Participation Forum, active role models and dedicated members of our school Pupil Leadership Council. We have had a big impact locally, where we all volunteer regularly. (Aiden, Georgia and Kelly)

I like Aberdeenshire because it is safe and a beautiful place. (Abigail)

The best thing about being a young person in Aberdeenshire is feeling safer in my surroundings. I would like to see a change in the amount of activities for young people to do in rural areas and better transport so we get out and about a bit more. (Chloe)

I have been involved in volunteering since I was in S1 with the support of Community Learning, getting involved in the community has been such a great learning experience! I’ve met many new people and learnt more about how different part of the community work and how I can do my part in helping. (Nicole)

As a young person, I feel Aberdeenshire is the best place I could have grown up in. I feel safe, the services provided keep me engaged and busy, and the opportunities offered by my school are excellent. I wish to educate and empower young people in relation to their digital rights, something which is often forgotten. (Lola)

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Learning and Development Multi-agency delivery of Aberdeenshire’s new GIRFEC Module: Children’s Rights and Participation began in May 2018. This has provided an opportunity for practitioners to consider different ways in to promote children’s rights and empower children and young people by facilitating their participation. This module also helps to raise awareness of organisational Rights-reporting duties with the multi-agency workforce. By exploring connections between UNCRC Articles and Wellbeing, differentiating between engagement and participation and providing practical examples; this Module supports practitioners to reflect on age-and-stage appropriate ways to promote Children’s Rights as part of their day-to-day roles and responsibilities. Awareness-raising of national Children’s Right’s developments are shared at all levels of the GIRFEC governance arrangements. This includes Chief Officers, the GIRFEC Strategic Group, Coordination and Support Hub, and Local GIRFEC Groups.

Promise 3: We will work collaboratively to create a Children & Young People’s Charter

Aberdeenshire Children and Young People’s Charter has provided a vehicle for raising awareness of Children’s Rights across the Community Planning Partnership, and with the wider workforce. The Charter provides a local reference point against which organisations can consider the ways in which Children's Rights are being upheld and progressed as they would like.

The Charter was endorsed at Aberdeenshire Council’s Education and Children’s Services (ECS) Committee in August 2018, and then by Full Council in September 2018. The Chair of ECS Committee wrote to all other Council Committee Chairs, outlining the important role of elected members in supporting Children’s Rights, and encouraged them to reference the Charter in their decision-making. This led to the direct involvement of young people in Aberdeenshire Council’s budget-setting process. Young people’s views on ECS Committee agenda items are shared to inform Committee decision-making.

Young People are taking their Charter to the Community Planning Partnership Board in June 2019, where they will ask Board members to endorse this, and to commit to take action as leaders which promotes Children’s Rights in their own organisation. The Charter featured as one of the top 20 pages accessed on the GIRFEC Website in 2018/19.

Further work is required to develop meaningful performance indicators against which progress in Children’s Rights can be measured, and reported. This will take place in line with national developments on Children’s Rights Reporting, and most importantly, in collaboration with children and young people themselves.

Promise 4 - We will give explicit consideration to UNCRC Articles and Children’s Rights within our service planning.

All Thematic Group Action Plans link directly to Wellbeing and UNCRC, and they detail what action is being taken to capture the views and experiences of children and young people as they relate to each strategic priority theme. This Rights-based strategic planning approach has been adopted in Aberdeenshire Council’s National Improvement Framework Plan, CLD Plan, and will be incorporated in the 2019 update of the Social Work Continuous Improvement in Children’s Services Plan.

A new requirement for impact on Wellbeing and contribution to Children’s Rights is being included as part of the revised Aberdeenshire Council Corporate Reporting Template. This will be in place from July 2019, with work in progress to develop accompanying staff guidance and online training to support implementation of the new feature. This step supports explicit consideration of Children’s Rights within all Council Policy and Decision-making, and reflects a clear corporate commitment. Plans to embed the Children Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment within a revised joint equalities screening and assessment tool in Aberdeenshire is currently being explored.

Aberdeenshire Schools continue to provide a range of opportunities for Learner Participation and Learning for Sustainability (Global Citizenship).

One way this is demonstrated, is through engagement with the Rights Respecting Schools Programme (RRS).

Rights Respecting Schools

Aberdeenshire Council have a Service Level Agreement with UNICEF to support delivery and accreditation of RRS Awards, with support provided to schools to participate and implement the programme. There was an increase in the number of Rights Respecting Schools in 2018, as shown in the table below:

Aberdeenshire Rights Respecting School Awards (RRSA) 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Schools % Schools % Schools % Schools % Total Registered RRS’s 115 68% 81 47% 85 50% 91 52% Recognition of 34 20% 32 19% 36 21% 38 22% commitment (Bronze) RRSA Level 1 (Silver) 23 14% 18 11% 18 11% 24 14% RRSA Level 2 (Gold) 8 5% 13 8% 13 8% 14 8%

16 schools are working towards Bronze Award status, with an increase of awards in the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Award Categories this year. This demonstrates the positive impact of re- engagement support which has been provided to school.

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Ongoing training remains available to support schools to progress through the RRS Awards, with an aim to build further on this increase in 2019/20.

Several schools run Rights Respecting Groups. These are led by young people, and have an active social media presence. “I have supported the Inverurie Academy Rights Respecting Schools Group to deliver a very successful 'learning journey' for S1 and S2 pupils during Human Rights Week (w/c 10th December). I continue to support the group in its work towards achieving the Silver Award for the school, in my capacity as its Vice-Chair”. (Josh)

Over 2019/2020, children and young people will be involved in the school self-evaluation process, as part of an Education Scotland pilot being run in Aberdeenshire.

Promise 5: We will promote and support Children’s Rights in all decision-making.

A range of development work has continued across Aberdeenshire which supports Rights-based decision-making, and increased facilitation of youth participation in local decision-making forums.

The CLD Work with Young People Team leads and supports a great deal of youth participation in Aberdeenshire, alongside a range of partners who support Specific Interest Groups, such as the Police Scotland Youth Volunteers, Quarriers Young Carers, and the well-established advocacy work of the Children’s Social Work Service Children’s Rights Team, who promote active participation by care experienced children and young people.

The graphic below shows different groups who collectively form Aberdeenshire’s Youth Participation Structure:

Aberdeenshire Youth Council

In October 2018, 14 young people representing the diverse population of young people in Aberdeenshire met with the Chief Executive and Directors of Aberdeenshire Council. This group of young people are representatives from Aberdeenshire Youth Forum, who aim to inform and influence developments on a range of matters which are important to local young people. At these meetings, young people have discussed transport, results from their survey on drugs and alcohol, and the #YOYP2018 Legacy for children’s Rights and participation Aberdeenshire.

Quarriers Young Carers Group: After an input on youth participation by the Work With Young People Team to the Quarriers Team, Quarriers staff have been promoting the opportunity to young carers to get involved in local youth participation. Two young people have expressed an interest in coming along to the Aberdeenshire Youth Forum meeting in 2019. AYF members were delighted to have more young people on board and looking forward to welcoming them in 2019.

Aberdeenshire Members of Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP’s)

From left to right: MSYP’s Josh, Emma, Lauren, Evie, Sash, and Dyana. The wide range of topics being addressed, from Transport to Mental Health, Employment and Drugs, shows that Aberdeenshire’s MSYPs continue to work hard and represent young people from across their constituencies.

In June 2018, Aberdeenshire MSYPs attended the 65th National Sitting and 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP). MSYPs selected public transport as the organisation’s new national campaign. Emma had already started asking young people about the problems they face travelling locally and plans to release an online survey to determine the areas to be focused on for the campaign. Sasha and Josh attended All Aboard’s launch at the 67th National Sitting in October 2018.

Prior to this, the MSYP’s consulted young people from across their constituencies on transport priorities, including via a stall at the Haddo Mash Up event, where they enjoyed speaking with young people about what was important in public transport. Following additional consultation, the final tally stands at ‘accessible’ with 66 votes, ‘acceptable’ with 91 votes, and ‘affordable’ with 163 votes. There was an extended time allocation to debate Members’ Motions at this Sitting. This is an opportunity for MSYPs to put forward an idea to become SYP policy, before it is debated and voted on. Sasha proposed a motion to bring Scotland’s rail network back into public ownership. 58

Following a vote, the motion passed with support from 58% of MSYPs, making this SYP policy for the next three years.

Following a consultation in her local area, Lauren found that mental health issues were a top priority for young people. As part of her work in the Mearns Youth Forum, the group organised a mental health and well-being awareness evening. Lauren plans to speak to constituents about the current project of the SYP Justice Committee and ask young people for their thoughts on drugs education and how it can be improved. Lauren has also been raising awareness of young people’s employment rights with local businesses, to ensure that young people are being paid the minimum wage, and will facilitate informative workshops with her constituents to show how they can report businesses who are failing to pay the minimum wage and provide sufficient breaks.

Josh and Sasha returned as Community Councillors for Inverurie and Kemnay, respectively in June 2018, and Josh was elected as the new Chair of Inverurie Community Council, the youngest recorded in Aberdeenshire and, potentially, Scotland. Sasha recently took up his duties as the new Member of the Youth Parliament for North East Scotland, representing Aberdeenshire’s young people at a UK level. He attended a British Youth Council Convention in Glasgow with fellow Scottish MYPs, to find out more about the relationship between various youth voice organisations across the country.

Pupil Participation Forum (PPF) The PPF is a group of 68 young people, represented by 4 young people per secondary school. It has been running since 2015. Young people choose to get involved and range from S1 to S6. Young people on the PPF meet regularly to discuss issues of concern to them, and are often used as a consultative mechanism for council departments, universities and other organisations such as the NHS. The PPF want to make things better – and have a credible role in improving schools and having a positive effect on society. The PPF creates a platform which empowers young people in schools to:  identify important issues in education to work on  take action and make positive and credible change for young people and local communities  demonstrate that young people can make a difference

Over 2018-2019 the PPF have led work on:  Co-ordination and running of a Youth Volunteer Award event which recognised and celebrated Youth Volunteering across Aberdeenshire. We received a COSLA Bronze Award for our work on this  Creation of an entrepreneur film, with 8 entrepreneurs filmed, and editing done by the PPF with the support of the media unit. The final film promotes entrepreneurship as a career pathway, and be screened at academies  A wellbeing survey of young people from S3-S6, to gather evidence to create a wellbeing resource made by young people for young people. Work has begun on this resource looking at: time management, self-esteem, social media, resilience and coping with stress.

I-CON

The I-Con Committee, hosted their best comic convention to date on 1 September 2018. The I-Con committee is run by young people, and was part of the Aberdeenshire-wide celebrations for Year of Young people 2018. About 400 people of all ages attended this free event in Inverurie, held at the Garioch Community Centre.

The Con is an important event for lots of young people and members of the community, many whom may identify with and suffer from anxiety and social issues. It gives them the opportunity to be themselves, and be able to get out of the house and socialise at an event designed for people with similar interests. I-CON also created the design for Aberdeenshire’s Children and Young People’s Charter.

Aberdeenshire Youth Forum (AYF)

In April 2018, 21 #YOYP2018 Ambassadors and supporters met at Garioch Community Centre and spent the morning participating in a conversation café on drugs and alcohol. The young people’s views have been shared with the GIRFEC Thematic Subgroup leading on Substance Misuse, to inform their action plan and development work.

At the beginning of June, on a hot and sunny day, the group met with Young Scot and Transport Scotland to participate in a co-design session on transport issues which will inform the National Transport Strategy for Scotland. Despite the heat, the young people contributed a great deal in looking to the future of transport. The application for Aberdeenshire Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing project was also discussed and two young people participated in short films to endorse the funding application.

At the September meeting , AYF did a review of Year of Young People so far, and prepared for the Mash-Up and volunteer festival steward role with a film-making session. They also explored social media event promotion, using the hashtag #haddomashup. In November 2018, young people from Banff, Stonehaven, Laurencekirk, Inverurie, Kemnay and Fraserburgh came together to discuss youth participation, representation, Rights, Charter chat, and the end of #YOYP2018 celebration event.

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Youth Forum members were happy that Aberdeenshire Children and Young People’s Charter is a way of ensuring professionals use a rights-based approach with us, and are getting it right for every child and young

person.

The Forum decided to think about the charter statements in the context of school, recognising teachers as the main professional in their everyday world. Listed below is what Youth Forum Members said/wrote about the statement 5 (Celebrate diversity and take steps to stop bullying and discrimination).

 Eliminate taboo subjects! Start a conversation!  More acceptance needed in schools  Better training for teachers  Improve PSE – more information needed about society around pupils

Aberdeenshire Youth Bank

Two existing members delivered two training sessions at the beginning of the term to new members of the Youth Bank. Young people representing South, North and Central Aberdeenshire, came together to learn all about their new role as Aberdeenshire Youth Bank 2018-2019 members.

Aberdeenshire Youth Bank members have been very busy this year looking at funding applications; and putting into practice skills such as decision making, problem solving, communication skills, and working as a team.

A total of 23 applicants have been received, an increase from last year. The successful applications encompass a variety of projects - LGBT projects, Youth Work provision, local Skate Park, Scouts,

Music Projects, Community Gardens, amd Celebrating local successful volunteering to mention some.

All Aberdeenshire Youth Bank members will come together on the 24th of January 2019 to evaluate their experience.

Meldrum LGBTQ+ Group

All members of Meldrum LGBTQ+ Group made personal presentations for the GIRFEC Website Youth Voices project.

They also made a PowerPoint presentation displaying all they have achieved, goals and ambitions which will be part of a youth celebration event in 2019.

Meldrum LGBTQ+ group have also been working on a piece to be included in the National Pride House Legacy Quilt which will be displayed in various schools around Scotland.

The group hope it will be displayed in Meldrum Academy at some time in the future.

Banchory Skatepark Crew

Banchory Skatepark Crew have been campaigning and fundraising for a new skatepark in Banchory. The group continues to meet weekly and are planning a trip to Edinburgh in March. This includes a visit to the Scottish Parliament to attend FMQ’s and a research visit to a Skatepark, Zone 74 in East Kilbride.

This trip will be mostly funded by money the group was awarded by Aberdeenshire Youthbank, so thank you to them for that. The group work alongside a small group of dedicated adult organisers and we had our AGM on 19th December where we reflected on a successful year, having gained charitable status and £10k from the national lottery to complete our feasibility study, and put in place the timeline for our 2019 planning and fundraising, and ultimately the building of a new Skatepark for Banchory.

A fundraising film night, the UK premiere of ‘Ode to Muir’ was held in Banchory Town Hall in January 2019, and was a sell-out (250 tickets). A brilliant time was had by all. The Skatepark Crew were there selling raffle tickets and shaking donation buckets. Thank you to those in the community who supported our event, we have added just under £2000 to our money pot!

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The proposed design of new Banchory Skatepark:

Syrian New Scots

Young people from the Syrian New Scots Group attended a day at the Gaitherin in the October holidays.

The group got to participate in a new experience, and to try drama, dancing and playing different instruments. The young people especially enjoyed the modern campus of Alford academy.

Community Youth Platforms

17 Community Youth Platforms were established across Aberdeenshire in 2018, with an aim of providing young people with opportunities to discuss issues which matter to them in their local community and empowers them to take action. The Platforms have also developed a mechanism through which to encourage more streamlined consultation and engagement with children and young people by organisations across Aberdeenshire.

Community Youth Platforms are based in localities across North, Central and South Aberdeenshire:

North Youth Platforms Central Youth Platforms South Youth Platforms

• Banff • Kemnay • Stonehaven • Fraserburgh • Inverurie • Aboyne • Peterhead • Port Elphinstone • Mearns • Turriff • Ellon • Portlethen • Insch • Meldrum • Banchory • Mintlaw • Westhill • Huntly • Newmachar

Over 2018/2019, the Community Youth Platforms have undertaken an impressive range of work, with examples below shared by young people and youthworkers involved:

Celebrating 20 years of Tarves Hut #YOYP2018 Event took place on a beautiful sunny day in May at Tarves Primary School. The local YOYP2018 ambassadors and young people who meet up in the hut, organised the event and ensured that there were plenty of activities for young people to have fun.

One parent said, “This is a fantastic community event, my children have had a blast, there are so many things to see and do. What a great atmosphere”

One young person in P6 said “I’m really excited about coming along to the Hut after the school holidays. It’s really cool and it looks like fun”

Members of The Hut, Tarves attended the Inspiring Aberdeenshire ceremony at Haddo house on 15th June, and were presented with a finalist award after being nominated for the Community Spirit category.

Mearns Youth Forum planned and delivered their Mental Health and Wellbeing Campaign over 2018.

The first part was delivered during the 5-week exam period within Mearns Academy called Food For Thought. The organised a display table with information leaflets, free wristbands, stress balls, keyrings, balloons and pens. Posters were displayed around the school highlighting the importance of good study habits, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and drinking fresh water. They also gained funding to provide all those sitting exams with a bottle of water

going into the exam and a fruit pot/piece of cake for after the exam. The event proved popular, with young people accessing water and refreshments throughout the full 5 weeks. School teaching staff and exam invigilators congratulated the Forum members on this campaign and asked if it would be available again next year.

The second part of the campaign was Mearns YOYP2018 Signature Event: Health and Wellbeing in Young People: Awareness Evening.

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The young people not only organised the event but delivered presentations during the evening. Workshops and stalls included:  The SPARK:Resilience  Childline: Mental Health issues in young people  Mearns Academy Pupil Support Worker: Parenting in the digital world, Active Schools: Importance of Healthy Lifestyles  Relax Kids: Chill Skills  SAMH: Support available for young people/parents

Several organisations were invited, who provided information and resources to support young people and their parents on issues. At the event young people gave presentations and a film produced by the forum highlighted exam stress, and techniques and advice by young people to manage their anxieties. Emma Cameron from Third Sector Organisation ‘The Spark’ was the keynote speaker, and she engaged the audience in conversation and awareness of mental health and wellbeing.

There was a great attendance from the local community with comments such as “Lovely evening, well organised and professionally delivered”, “Very informative and thought provoking”. Refreshments supplied by MacPhies also went down a treat. The Forum have been asked if they will run a similar event again next year with suggestions of allowing more time so people can attend more workshops.

Turriff Youth Platform worked on planning their Year of the Young People Event called Turriff Music Festival.

The group made contact with local performers who have come forward to perform and planned to do some engagement with the community during the event.

In addition, the group have identified bullying as a key topic in the area and are looking to do some campaigning around this after the event.

Aboyne Youth Platform came together with other Youth Platforms across Marr to successfully facilitate a World Café Event for community planning partners and organisations. The event demonstrated young people’s social commitment and enabled them to express themselves and promote their groups within the wider community.

Aboyne youth platform focus was on their community consultation Pop up Café exercise regarding their community café idea and young people presented to the audience their findings from the consultation. They also attended the recent Marr Ward Forum on 20th June and successfully facilitated a discussion on their group.

Fraserburgh and Huntly Youth Platforms are both exploring ways to strengthen young people’s resilience and mental health. Huntly are in the first stages of developing an app and Fraserburgh are exploring the benefit of animals as a positive influence on mental health.

Banff Youth Platform are working alongside Huntly Youth Platform to produce a film on their experiences of bullying. They are also consulting with other young people to develop a programme to continue, after their film is made.

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Kemnay Youth Voice Matters have been looking at ways to move our group forward and encourage new members, by taking part in school assemblies and designing new posters and leaflets. We have now designed our own logo and had it printed on hoodies which also have our names on them. The logo looks amazing and we have had a lot of positive comments about it.

Another big part of the last three months has been planning a mental health/mindfulness workshop which we will deliver at several local events. We have been keen to customise our space at the Hut at Kemnay Academy and make it our own. So far we have put up a Dream Tree and bunting with positive and inspirational comments from young people and workers. As part of a 'getting to know our community’ activity, we walked around our local area and took photos of place we like which will go onto canvases for the walls.

We also meet up with another youth voice group in Kemnay for young people with additional support needs called High Hopes. We shared our ideas and chatted about the issues we face as young people, and from that discussion we decided that important issues to us are mindfulness, homelessness and promotion of youth groups to encourage new members to join.

Kemnay High Hopes have been working really hard on a logo for the Platform and applying for funding to Aberdeenshire Youth Bank to Launch their new Youth Platform.

Alford Youth Platform: Two members re engaged with the mental health resource boxes following some time out with exams. Both attended the Marr Ward Forum on 20th June 2018 to show case the mental health and wellbeing resource boxes. They spoke confidently in front of a large number of community members, council officials and councillors, and received positive feedback on the project. Next steps identified by them are to design canvas bags, that have been purchased, so that smaller items from the boxes can be delivered to groups or individuals, making it less obvious that people are using the resources and easier to handle.

Ellon Youth Action Group created a new youth platform with a more focussed direction – YIP (Youth Info Platform). Our young people have created an agenda looking at local issues and ways to engage young people to come together and discuss ideas for immersing themselves into their community.

They feel there is a barrier between young and old and want to create a positive reputation in their local area. We have started planning an intergenerational piece of work and hopefully this will be a major focus for YIP in the new school term.

We created a ‘Take a Break’ drop in café for the duration of study leave, where young people aged 16-18 were encouraged to drop in to chat informally after their exam, or to touch base in between exams. This facility acted as a catalyst for young people who have not used our service before, to engage with new peers and youth workers and to sign up to new groups after the summer holidays.

Meldrum Youth Forum: Four partner organisations (Young Scot, Children in Scotland, Scottish Youth Parliament and Children’s parliament) have been commissioned by the Scottish Government to create a “Learner Panel” for Scottish education to further improve the voice of children and young people in the formulation of national education policy and practice.

5 young people from Meldrum Youth Forum have been involved in several meetings with around 30 others across different areas of Scotland regarding young people giving their views on:

1. Wellbeing and inclusion 2. Learning 3. Participation and voice 4. Open theme (to be chosen by young people)

Portlethen Youth Platform: have continued to meet to discuss issues within their community that matter to them. They have contributed to the Youth Voices project on the Girfec website, by writing a piece and making a short film.

Mintlaw Youth Voice: The Youth Voice group now comprises 4 girls and 1 boy, who seem interested and keen. We have agreed to focus on a simple point they young people identified – queue jumping in the canteen and cafeteria – and they will go through the process of who and how to make contact with the relevant parties to address the issue. We have also linked in with the primary pupil councils and are going around meeting them all and gathering local issues and aiming to have a Central Buchan meeting with reps from all the primaries and Academy.

Port Youth Platform have successfully worked with Aberdeenshire Council landscaping team to discuss the building of a new park at Crichie Park. Young people are in charge of picking the equipment for the new build in 2019, and are organising fundraising events so they are able to have more play equipment.

Aberdeenshire’s Year of Young People 2018 (#YOYP2018)

2018 was Year of Young People in Scotland. This aimed to inspire the nation through recognising young people’s ideas, attitudes and ambitions with a year-long national celebration of our amazing young personalities, talents, and achievements.

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Young people from across Aberdeenshire took part in this, and created a wide range of events and activities over the year to show the world just what they’re made of! This highlights why we need to better recognise and value the contributions made by young people to our local communities.

Deeside Youth Display was an extremely well attended event. About 150 young people and adults attended on the evening of 4th September, at Deeside Community Centre Theatre. This local Signature Year Of Young People event, celebrated and showcased the many talents of young people in the Deeside area.

The event was co-designed with local YOYP2018 Ambassadors and Youth Platform members and aimed to attract people of all ages supporting intergenerational connecting. Promoting two of the year’s themes of participation and culture this event showcased young people’s talents in visual and preforming arts with music and dance performances as well as displays.

#YOYP2018 Mash-Up Festival at Haddo Country Park

The largest event in Aberdeenshire Council's Year of Young People #YOYP2018 calendar took place at Haddo House and Country Park on Saturday 29 September, with a free Mash Up Festival. This was open to all citizens and young people were bussed in from every corner of Aberdeenshire, to enjoy their very own cultural festival. The event included more than 30 local acts.

A large marquee and main stage played host to bands and DJs while the set up in Haddo's Canadian Barn showcased a diverse range of Doric poetry, pipe bands, singer songwriters and dance troupes. The event also delivered activities from street football and zorbing, to a ball pit and even a bike track. Young performers (aged 8 – 25), had the opportunity to busk around Haddo Country Park, as well as being part of a full-festival line up on the main stages.

The whole event was co-designed by young people together with the Community Learning and Development Team. It has brought together representatives of community youth platforms, YOYP ambassadors, staff and volunteers. Young volunteers looked after arrangements on the day as festival stewards, and also took up the challenge of capturing the event on film. You can follow their footage on Twitter using the hashtag #HaddoMashUp

The event was also a platform to enable Members of the Scottish and UK Youth Parliaments and young volunteers to consult their peers on matters including transport and substance misuse.

The Garioch Mind Your Health Event took place on 26th June, with 109 young people taking part from Inverurie, Port Elphinstone, Hatton of Fintray, Old Meldrum, Ellon, Kemnay, Insch, Alford, Turriff, Kintore, Aboyne, Banchory, Mearns, Tarves and Blackburn.

As well as healthy food options and activities, young people had the opportunity to take part in workshops provided by the NHS, ADP and Kemnay Youth Platform on Mental Health, Pharmacies and Smoking cessation, Sexual Health and Alcohol and Drugs Information. Feedback on the event was very positive.

Gypsy Travellers Representative (David Donaldson)

As the representative for young Gypsy/Travellers on Aberdeenshire Youth Council I have been working with young people to ensure they feel they can have their voices heard.

May saw me meet with the Government Ministerial working group to discuss educational improvements for young Gypsy/Travellers. We discussed modern apprenticeships and access to college, as well as the need for basic literacy and numeracy for families on the road. I continued my work with Childline on inclusivity, leading a UK wide cultural awareness training with councillors and base managers. I had the privilege of meeting with the UN rapporteur on racism to raise awareness of the racism and discrimination which blocks opportunities, and propagates unfair treatment for young Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

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The Scottish Government invited me to share my story at the 5th gathering of the directorate. An opportunity I took up at once!

Although it felt really awkward to have loads of people gathered to hear my life story, like I was someone of note, I was glad to have the chance to let them know about the struggles I have faced because of my ethnicity and prejudice.

I supported members of the newly formed Gypsy Traveller Youth Assembly (GTYA) to attend a Government debate on Gypsy/Travellers at Holyrood. Encouraging a couple of members to share their experience and feelings online after the debate. It was their first time at Parliament and a great opportunity for them to see democracy in action!

May also saw me work with Aberdeen University’s Elphinstone institute, to create a programme called ‘Tobar an’ Keir’, which translates from the Cant (Scottish Traveller Language) to Road and house, or in other words at home on the road. The programme supported community members, including young people and children from Clinterty site, to raise awareness of Traveller culture.

This was a first and hailed as a ‘landmark event’ for the Scottish Traveller community.

As usual I had heaps of meetings in Edinburgh. One that I was really happy about securing was with the head of YoungScot. We spoke about inclusivity for Gypsy and Traveller young people, including access to YoungScot cards and digital platforms. This was an area that young Travellers had raised as a difficulty for them without a fixed address.

I also met with BBC Scotland in Glasgow to discuss opportunities for young Gypsies and Travellers in the media industry. I also discussed how we as young Gypsy/Travellers can support the media to better understand the impact that negative shows like ‘My big fat gypsy wedding’ can have on our community.

In June, like many other young Gypsies and Travellers, I went to England to attend Appleby Horsefair – the largest annual gathering of Gypsies and Travellers in Europe! I worked with activists from across the UK to tell young Travellers at the fair the importance of standing up to racism and prejudice.

June was really busy as it was the first Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History month to be endorsed by the Scottish Government. I organised a conference based on intersectionality and the importance of alliances in challenging racism. I took part in a national panel discussion with other young Travellers and Gypsies to share our experiences and opinions on change. Furthermore I organised and hosted a concert of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller artists; young and old from across the UK.

However, I am a big believer in grassroots change and that not everything can be changed on a national level. So, I also spent some time on local activism and representation. To do this I began with one of my firm beliefs: ‘Change always starts with the young’. Where best to find the young but at an assembly at Mearns Academy? I spoke to students about my life as a Scottish Traveller, gave them the chance to ask questions and break stereotypes of the Traveller community.

You’re as young as you feel right? So, I continued my ‘Change starts with the young’ by accepting an invitation to speak to service workers from across Aberdeenshire council about Traveller culture and how they can help challenge the ‘last acceptable racism’ within their roles.

June also saw a meeting of the Shadow Youth management team. I raised the importance of young people being consulted in all planning processes, and the added importance of council’s ensuring they think about diversity of communities when making ‘community’ buildings.

A brilliant feeling to see directors of the council take on our suggestions and discuss with us as equal stakeholders and partners!

Finally, June saw me meet with Police Scotland to discuss the worries of young Gypsy/Travellers about how the Police react to instances of hate crime and instances of stereotyping and racial profiling of young men.

Loads of strong youth voices taking the stage and standing up for their communities! It’s certainly shaping up to be a #Braw year for Youth representation - long may it continue!

Focus for Year 3

Over 2019/2020, further thought will be made as to how best services can embed ‘giving further and better effect’ to Children’s Rights. This includes further inclusion of UNCRC within organisational planning and reporting, and to develop meaningful ways in which services can promote and facilitate children and young people’s participation, measure progress and evidence improved outcomes.

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Health and Wellbeing

The importance of promoting health and wellbeing to give children the best start in life, remains a key national priority. In Aberdeenshire, this ethos can be seen in the provision of a range of health services, and by Chief Officers’ endorsement of Early Years, Substance Misuse, and Mental Health & Wellbeing as strategic priorities in our Children’s Services Plan. NHS Grampian’s (NHSG) governance arrangements were enhanced in 2017 through establishment of the Child and Maternal Health Planning Group (CHAMP). CHAMP reports to the Improving Outcomes for Children Transformation Board, chaired by NHSG’s Chief Executive. CHAMP provides assurance to the Board on a number of key Child Health themes, and this includes consideration of the effective delivery and performance reporting on Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, and Moray’s Children`s Services Plans.

The Grampian Child Health Commissioner maintains an overview of child health issues relevant to Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City and Moray. An interim Commissioner has been in post over 2018/19. In addition to national, North of Scotland and Pan-Grampian child health priorities, the Commissioner led or co-led a number of priority pieces of work for Aberdeen City and Moray Community Planning Partnerships (CPP), and has engaged with colleagues across Aberdeenshire CPP and the Health & Social Care Partnership, to offer support.

Pan-Grampian reports presented to CHAMP in 2018/19 include scoping of Tier 1 and 2 Mental Health and Wellbeing Services, support for Early Years and Child Poverty action plans, and involvement in Joint Inspection of Children and Young People`s Services (Care Inspectorate).

Supporting Pregnancy and Early Parenthood

The Best Start 5 year plan for maternity and neonatal services, was published by Scottish Government in early 2017. A number of NHSG developments over 2018/19 have increased the range of local service provision available to Aberdeenshire’s children and families, in line with the principles of The Best Start. This includes:

 Continuity of Care  Accessible and appropriate local services  Person-Centred Maternity/Neonatal Care  Multi- Professional working, universal midwifery care, early intervention  Targeted support where extra help is required.

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Following a comprehensive refurbishment, Peterhead Community Maternity Unit (CMU) officially re-opened in August 2018 and has provided 24-hour care within the local community. The Unit is staffed by community midwives, midwifery care assistants and health care support workers from North Community Midwifery Teams in Peterhead, Fraserburgh, and Ellon. Peterhead CMU houses 2 delivery rooms (each with a pool), 3-bedded post-natal rooms, scanning facilities, a day assessment unit, consultation rooms and a multi-purpose room. This means continuity of care is a positive factor of support which has been provided at the CMU; with midwives providing antenatal, intra-partum and postnatal care. Parent education classes are available twice per week in Peterhead, which pregnant women and their partners are encouraged to attend.

Pregnant women and their families are fully supported to make choices which suit their individual needs, and are provided with evidence-based information which allows them to make informed decisions regarding delivery plans. Over 2018/19 pool deliveries increased, with the majority of women making use of the pools during labour, as this enables them to cope with labour pains. New infographics (left) provide family- friendly monthly statistics of deliveries, breastfeeding rates, transfers, and other key CMU information.

The Community Maternity Unit (CMU) at Inverurie also opened in January 2019, and has provided a purpose built home-from-home environment for women to receive antenatal, intra partum and post-natal care. 4 single en-suite rooms, 2 labour and birth rooms (each with a birthing pool), a Day Assessment Unit, scanning and consultant clinic facilities have been available. There has been a slow but steady number of births at Inverurie CMU since it opened. Scanning service are increasing, with a consultant foetal medicine scanning clinic is due to commence in May 2019. Two healthcare support-workers are undergoing maternity care assistant training, with new posts anticipated to begin in June 2019. Further service developments at Inverurie CMU include a specialist breastfeeding support session trial, due to begin in June 2019. This aims to support women with complex feeding issues and will complement existing peer-support group provision.

In Banff, the community midwives offer a comprehensive Scottish Parent Education ante-natal programme to all prospective parents, with Third Sector organisations involved in its delivery. Women are also offered a dedicated physiotherapy session and a post-natal reunion. Banff runs a Responsive Parenting Group, where local Health Visitors designed an evening workshop and incorporated this into the antenatal class programme for mums and dads, to encourage more attuned and nurturing parenting approaches. The Best Start lead midwives are currently reviewing strategies to ensure effective provision of ante-natal education support, and will engage with key stakeholders to include families, on future planning.

In February 2019, NHS Grampian launched their new Triage Telephone Line and Assessment Unit; Triage and Induction of Labour Suite. This service can be accessed directly by pregnant women who have any concerns about pregnancy or labour, and no referral is necessary. It is staffed by a registered midwife 24/7 who answers queries, provides advice and arranges assessments where needed.

APPA (The Alcohol Pre-Pregnancy and Pregnancy Project) continues to be promoted across Grampian, with a specialist midwife working with Public Health colleagues to commence Alcohol Brief Intervention training for all NHS Grampian midwifery staff.

Over 2018/19, Roadshows on Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) were delivered at the Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen Maternity Hospital. This helped to raise awareness around FASD for a range of Aberdeenshire practitioners.

In early 2019, specialist midwives for Perinatal Mental Health, Public Protection and Substance Misuse collaborated to form the UNITY Pregnancy Support Team. As many women who are cared for by specialist midwives have concerns which overlap these three areas; the team works cohesively to provide safe, and individualised person-centred care for vulnerable women and their families. The Grampian Perinatal Mental Health Team (PMH) has continued to provide assessment and Improve Health Early advice on complex mental health needs, for Reduce Stigma Inequalites Intervention women with a history of current or previous serious mental health illness. The team have Reduce Waiting Clear Referral Improve been running at reduced capacity in 2018/19 due Times Pathways awareness to staff vacancies, and women are currently Improve staff Support women referred to the community mental health team awareness and Link Person fully in support staff pregnancy via their GP and the PMH specialist midwife.

Outreach specialist midwife clinics are offered across NHS Grampian in Aberdeen, Inverurie, 75

Ellon, Peterhead, Elgin and Buckie.

The role of the specialist midwife helps to integrate mental health and maternity services as key within early intervention supports. Outreach specialist midwife support is available through health services to women in Aberdeenshire through clinics in Inverurie, Ellon, Peterhead, Buckie, Elgin, and Aberdeen. The Perinatal Mental Health Midwife and psychiatric colleagues have developed the North of Scotland PMH Regional Network (Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Moray, Highlands, Shetland, Orkney, and Tayside). This has been highlighted at a national level as an example of innovative practice by the PMH Managed Clinical Network (MCN). The Network raises awareness of perinatal and infant mental health needs across the North of Scotland and reduces stigma associated with these conditions by encouraging multi-disciplinary and cross-sector collaboration, and dissemination of information. The Network encourages a whole-family approach that includes the role of mothers, fathers, extended family; and optimises outcomes for infant. This recognises the social vulnerability and inequalities that families may experience, which can increase the risk of adverse perinatal and infant mental health outcomes. Educational and training opportunities are also shared across the Network within the field of perinatal and infant mental health. Through fostering cross-service collaboration, the Network enhances an understanding of the local context, challenges and specific needs within different areas of North Scotland, and advocates for development of regional services to ensure equitable access for women and their families. The Network supports development of consistent care pathways for women, to optimise access to services (statutory and non-statutory), and to encourage and facilitate service-user and carer engagement.

Community Child Health

Supporting positive parenting, is key to promoting children’s resilience, and reduces the likelihood of future wellbeing needs emerging. This is recognised though inclusion of Early Years as a strategic priority in our Children’s Services Plan. Year 2 progress of the Early Years Multi- Agency Action Plan can be found in Appendix A, with a number of agencies and service making a key contribution to this work.

The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) Programme is a voluntary, preventative programme for young first time mothers, aged >19 years old. The North Team currently use a wider eligibility criteria for clients, due to lower levels of teenage pregnancy in the

region.

The FNP Programme offers intensive and structured home visiting, delivered by specially trained nurses. Family Nurses are involved with a woman from early pregnancy, until a child reaches 2 years old.

The FNP programme has 3 aims:

 To improve pregnancy outcomes  To promote child health and development  To support the economic self-sufficiency of parents Support is based on theories of human ecology, self- efficacy and attachment, with much of the work focused on building strong therapeutic relationships between mothers and their Family Nurse. This helps to facilitate behaviour change, and tackles the emotional problems which can prevent some mothers and fathers meeting their children’s needs. Almost 40 years of rigorous research shows this type of support results in significant benefits for vulnerable young families in the short, medium and long term, across a wide range of outcomes:  Improved early language development and academic achievement  Improvements in antenatal health  Reduction in injuries, neglect and abuse  Improved parenting practices and behaviours  Fewer subsequent pregnancies with greater intervals between births  Increased likelihood of maternal employment and reduced need for social security  Increased involvement of fathers  Reduced likelihood of arrest and criminal behaviour by mothers (with its associated impact on children)

As the FNP programme has become concurrent (with constant recruitment), a North Family Nurse Partnership Team was established in May 2018. All Family Nurse caseloads now cross only 1 local authority boundary, which means 1 nurse solely supports clients in Aberdeenshire, 2 nurses support clients in Aberdeenshire/Aberdeen City, and 2 nurses support clients in Aberdeenshire/ Moray. This can change depending on referrals to the service. Family Nurse caseloads in Aberdeenshire are now largely full (23-25 per nurse); with excellent notifications of eligible clients coming from maternity services and primary care teams.

Family Nurse Partnership Aberdeenshire (to 31 March 2019) Total Clients Enrolled to date 119 Clients currently enrolled 71 Pregnant Clients 12 Clients with Infants 33 Clients with Toddlers 26 Clients Graduated to Universal Health Visiting 48 Services

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The Grampian Family Nurse Programme expanded in June 2018, to offer support to first-time mothers in Aberdeenshire aged 20-24, and where certain vulnerabilities have been identified. A newly appointed FNP Lead began work with colleagues across Aberdeenshire in 2019, to ensure all eligible mothers in Aberdeenshire benefit from this evidence-based programme. Finding suitable accommodation in North Aberdeenshire has proved very challenging over 2018/19. This is being progressed across the partnership in order to ensure Family Nurses have suitable premises in Aberdeenshire from which to provide this vital service to vulnerable mothers and infants.

Health Visiting The Universal Health Visitor Pathway represents a minimum standard core home visiting programme for all families and was rolled out nationally from 2016. This support consists of 11 home visits including child health reviews (below), and reflects key principles of the GIRFEC approach by integrating the role of Health Visitors as Named Persons.

The Pathway has been incrementally implemented across Aberdeenshire over 2018/19, with the 27-month Review Assessment beginning from April 2019. Fulfilling requirements of the Pathways been challenging for local health visiting teams as a result of Aberdeenshire’s large rural geography. This has posed additional resource implications on time and the costs associated with travelling to home visits. Aberdeenshire’s health visiting teams provide a professional evidence-based public health service to individuals, families, groups and communities. This promotes health and wellbeing and reduces health inequalities (such as child poverty). As a proactive Universal Service, heath visiting support starts at 32 weeks during pregnancy and continues up to the child’s first day at primary school.

Aberdeenshire’s health visiting teams also include community nurses and nursery nurses, with these roles also contributing to the delivery of universal services and supporting the roles and responsibilities of Health Visitors. Health Visitors and Family Nurses exercise Named Person functions in Aberdeenshire on behalf of NHS Grampian. Aberdeenshire’s health visitors develop available and responsive relationships with parents which helps to promote, support, and safeguard the wellbeing of children through provision of practical and emotional advice, information and support. Health Visitors provide additional support to children and families where wellbeing needs and risks have been identified, playing a key role in accessing other services, where needed. NHSG guidance has been developed to support staff and line-managers in relation to their Named Person, with similar guidance developed around Lead Professional responsibilities.

Over 2018, digital engagement has been developed, with Health Visiting Facebook Pages for each of the 6 Aberdeenshire Health Visiting Teams created.

Development of these pages is managed via an e-Digital Health Group, which has audited some of that work.

An audit of parent/carer experiences of Health Visiting services showed that 97% of parents/carers stated their Health Visitor was supportive, and 97% stated they would contact their Health Visitor for advice (February 2019).

Immunisation of babies, children and young people presently remains with health visiting and school nursing staff in Aberdeenshire due to limited numbers of dedicated immunisation nurses. With a Scotland-wide Primary Care Improvement Plan as a national driver for dedicated immunisation teams, an assessment is progressing to inform plans for preschool/school immunisation in Aberdeenshire. This has been developed in Moray and Aberdeen City over 2018/19. Although increasing numbers of health visitors are being trained across Scotland, Aberdeenshire’s workforce has over 53% of employees aged over 50+ (compared to 41% in Aberdeen City). Vacancy rates remain low in comparison however. In December 2018, health visitors were nationally up-banded from grade 6 to 7, which is anticipated to make health visiting a more attractive career option for midwives and nurses within Grampian and elsewhere. 79

Health Visitors continue to support the Early Years Forums and Local GIRFEC groups; with two Health Visiting Team Leaders chairing Local GIRFEC Groups. The service also supports a range of strategic and local initiatives, including Gender Based Violence, Bookbug, the Community Nursery Nurse and School Nurse Forums, Mental Health and Wellbeing Group, and Infant Feeding groups.

Breastfeeding

Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership’s Infant Feeding Team has provided support to colleagues in implementing the UNICEF Breastfeeding Standards. This includes provision of anInfant Feeding Co-ordinator, Infant Feeding Advisor (Maternal and Infant Nutrition Funding) and 6 Keyworkers. The team has an aim of facilitating:

 Training for staff in contact with pregnant women or parents of babies/infants  Support, guidance, and problem-solving for parents experiencing infant feeding issues  Audit activity with parents, staff, and premises  Updates to health-visiting teams providing current and new information on infant feeding

The UNICEF Breastfeeding Standards aim to support pregnant women to recognise the importance of breastfeeding and early relationships for the health and wellbeing of their baby. This empowers:  Mothers to breastfeed for as long as they wish  Parents to make informed decisions on the introduction of food or fluids  Parents to develop close and loving relationships with their baby

The Scottish Government has Aberdeenshire Exclusive Breastfeeding rate at 6-8 weeks set a target aiming for 46% of children to be exclusively Year % Children breastfed at 6-8 weeks by 2017 33.5

March 2021. 2018 38.9

Ref: ISD Infant Feeding in Scotland Dashboard

The table above shows current exclusive breastfeeding rates for Aberdeenshire (38.9%), with an improvement of over 5% in this rate seen over 2018/19.

Staff training in the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative is mandatory for all new Health Visitors, and specific training is available for GP’s and Paediatricians. Currently designed as a 2-day course and bi-annual update for Health Visitors, training is moving to 5 online modules, which will be available via the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Turas digital platform):

1. Basic Breastfeeding 4. Breastfeeding Issues in the Mother 2. Breastfeeding Issues in the Baby 5. Formula Feeding 3. Weaning and Family Foods

The number of businesses signed up to NHS Grampian’s Welcome to Breastfeed' initiative is now over 70, with an approach introducing businesses to the new national 'Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly' scheme underway.

Initial post-natal support for parents is provided by Midwifery and Health Visiting Services, with a number of other supports and services available in Aberdeenshire:  Volunteer Breastfeeding Peer-supporters  Responsive Parenting Classes  Antenatal Classes  Parent Club (online support for parents)  Local Breastfeeding Groups  Parenting Classes  Weaning Classes/Confident Weaning Choices  Tongue tie and Breastfeeding support clinics at RACH

Specialist Breastfeeding Support (1-1, or at groups and clinics) is being developed further in Aberdeenshire from June 2019, with recruitment being progressed for three Quality Improvement Infant Feeding Advisors. Confirmation is awaited from the Scottish Government on a Quality Improvement Regional Lead appointment, and it is anticipated this post will provide direction and support in quality improvement of discharge planning and weight loss projects, with an aim of improving infant feeding outcomes. Training and management of volunteer breastfeeding peer supporters is currently under review.

Learning and Development

Led by the NHS Grampian Children and Young People (CYP) Act Project Development Manager, work has continued across NHS Grampian to ensure all elements of the Act are embedded into practice. Awareness sessions on Corporate Parenting have been delivered, with Health Visitors, School Nurses and practice managers receiving face to face briefings, and further training and briefings for other NHS Grampian colleagues across Aberdeenshire are planned to highlight their legal responsibilities in this area. An E-learning module on the Act has also been developed, and is available to all NHS Grampian staff. A workstream has begun to gather information on how well children and young people are involved in decisions about their own care, and the extent to which they are engaged in the design of NHS Grampian services. This will develop alongside ongoing Rights and Participation work progressing across the partnership.

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Childsmile

Over 2018, Childsmile provision has contributed to improving oral health outcomes for Aberdeenshire’s children through delivery and support of a number of dental initiatives.

Daily Supervised Toothbrushing (Aberdeenshire - 2018) Setting Type Number of Number of Settings Children Preschool Nursery/Playgroups 117/14 5,792 Primary Schools 36 2, 077

ChildSmile Teams have also contributed to Aberdeenshire’s LOIP priority Tackling Child Poverty. The service has worked with 87 nurseries and primaries in the 20% most deprived and rural/remote areas of Aberdeenshire, to apply fluoride varnish to 6,625 children.

Childsmile supports 48 dental practices across Aberdeenshire and plans are in place to improve the number of internal referrals to Childsmile from Health Visitors, through additional resources and improving links between teams. Local performance reporting is also being refined to better reflect the wider age range and type of referrals received by Aberdeenshire’s Childsmile team.

The most recent National Dental Inspection Programme (NDIP) data shows that the proportion of Primary 1 children presenting with zero dental decay/cavities in Aberdeenshire, has reached 77.2%. This is the highest since the programme’s inception in 2009.

School Nurses

School nurses operate in a wide integrated multiagency team context, to promote wellbeing and support early identification and intervention for the universal school aged population, vulnerable children/families, and those at risk of significant harm. By employing strength-based models of support, school nurses aim to reduce health inequalities by improving access to appropriate interventions and responding to the needs of hard-to-reach children and families. Effective deployment of the school nursing workforce is key to reducing Adverse Childhood Experiences, minimising the impact of health inequalities, and maintaining a comprehensive approach to promoting the health and wellbeing of Aberdeenshire’s children and young people. The Scottish Government set out a refocussed qualified school nurse role in Public Health Nursing Services: Future Focus (CEL 13), which has provided a clear distinction between the school nurse remit and that of the wider school health team. The school nurse role will focus on work with children, young people and families with additional needs in a number of priority areas: care experienced children, mental health and wellbeing, substance misuse, domestic abuse, youth justice, young carers, homelessness, transitions, sexual health and child protection. The wider school health team (which may include healthcare support workers, community paediatric nurses and other registered nurses) will lead on provision of interventions and services such as immunisations, health zones; height and weight.

This refocused role is developing at different stages across Scotland, and in the three Grampian Health and Social Care Partnerships of Grampian. In early 2019, the Scottish Government’s Children and Families Directorate announced their intention to develop school nursing nationally, by increasing numbers of qualified school nurses (by 250) by the end of 2020. Proposals include development and expansion of the refocussed school nursing workforce, and NHS Grampian have completed a survey to establish their current workforce position. Aberdeenshire’s School Nursing Team have continued to deliver child vaccinations over 2018/19, which includes new immunisations incorporated into the standard annual programme. A new HPV vaccine for boys is being introduced from January 2020.

Healthy Lifestyles

Whole-school approaches to health and wellbeing include a specific focus on child healthy weight, healthy eating, and active living. Five Aberdeenshire schools were awarded Food for Thought Funding from Education Scotland in 2018/19. The funding aims to improve practitioner confidence in providing progressive, high quality and skills-based learning experiences, which embed food education into the ethos of a school establishment. This also provides an opportunity to plan and implement learning experiences which build sustainability and capacity for future development. Involved schools have developed projects with a particular focus on equity and closing the attainment gap, outdoor learning and food education, developing the young workforce, and parent and community education. Schools benefitting from this funding were Elrick, Logie Durno, Rathen and St Cyrus Primary Schools, and Meldrum Academy.

The Grow Well Choices toolkits and resources have been developed in conjunction with NHS Grampian and are available for Early Years establishments and Primary Schools across

Aberdeenshire. They support children to adopt healthy lifestyles and to maintain a health weight, in line with national health and wellbeing outcomes. Active Schools Aberdeenshire Active Schools provision complements the Curriculum for Excellence and Health Promoting Schools25.

Llife Life Aberdeenshire’s Active Schools Team works across primary and secondary schools, to coordinate activities which encourage children and young people to

build physical activity into their daily lives and take part in a sport. Over 2018/19, oopportunities have been made available in all 17 school clusters. 83

Photo Credit: Live Life Aberdeenshire

Development of Active Schools provision, is informed by information held on the Education Seemis recording system, with a range of performance improvements seen over 2018/19:

 95% of activities are delivered by volunteers (6% higher than the national average and an increase on 2017/18).  5 Gold and 3 Silver School Sport Awards have been achieved  7% increase in Club Links made (a 6% increase on 2017/18)

 14% participation rate by children from low income families (SIMD 1 & 2) (up from 9.6%)  An increase from (13.5% to 16%) in Looked After children As well as the recognised benefits to childrenattending and young Active people’s Schools mentalactivities health and wellbeing from participation in physical activity; Active 21% Sports participation Team directly rate by contributchildren withed to a improv disabilityed (2041 outcomes for particular groups of children in Aberdeenshire, in line with priorities of the Local children) (no 2017/18 comparator)

As well as recognised benefits to children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing from taking part in physical activity; Active Sports directly contributes to improved outcomes for particular groups of children, in line with strategic priorities of the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan (Tackling Child Poverty), and Children’s Services Plan (Children with a Disability, Early Years, Corporate Parenting). An example of targeted support provided by Active Schools for children with additional support needs, is Pathway clubs such as the Judo Club. Children can sample Judo and try out basic moves in a relaxed setting, which provides an opportunity to foster confidence and participation in a smaller group size. The aim is to build further on this and support children to transition into their local mainstream club. As these sessions were delivered at New Pitsligo School (which is a SIMD area experiencing higher than average levels of Child Poverty), the Active Schools service funded payment for the coach. Working alongside The Henry Stories utilised by NHS Grampian; Active Schools have blended one of their activity sessions into a children’s story which forms part of this series. In addition to providing physical activity and an awareness of their extra-curricular programme, Active Schools have also contributed to ongoing work of the Early Years Strategic Group, specifically around Aberdeenshire’s Play Policy.

The second year of Active Schools Transition Junior focused on Primary 1 transitions in Inverurie.

This saw the programme align more closely to formal school transition processes and with a more direct link to Inverurie Early Years Forum, and work delivered by NHS Grampian.

From July 2019 the set of four books which make up The

Henry Stories, will be available as part of a reading challenge at Inverurie Library. Photo Credit: Live Life Aberdeen

2 Sports Leadership I Can Lead Courses aimed at academy-aged young people were organised by the Active Sports Team over 2018/2019. This 2-day course provided an opportunity for interested young people to develop leadership skills as they took part in workshops exploring fair play, communication skills, qualities of a leader, planning/reviewing sports sessions, healthy lifestyles, competition formats, and the role of officials in sport. Young people were required to complete 5 hours of post-course volunteering with Active Schools to gain this award, which was delivered in partnership with local schools and PE Departments. The majority of volunteering took place in local primary schools, with young people delivering physical activity sessions to younger pupils which supported primary to secondary school transitions, and positively impacted on pupil’s health and wellbeing.

Swim Aberdeenshire’s programme provided over 365,000 swimming lessons to children and young people in 2018/19, in 13 venues across Aberdeenshire. This included:  39,292 Adult & Child Lessons: For children aged 3+ months, these teach adults how to help their child develop water confidence and basic water skills, so they can progress together outwith classes.  38,651 Pre-school Lessons: These are a stage beyond adult and child classes, these introduce the child to learning in the water without their parent/carer  281,734 Junior Lessons: Blocks of lessons for school-age children during term-time, with additional intensive week-long courses during the school holidays.  4742 Rookie Lifesavers Lessons: These introducing survival and basic rescue skills to learners.  821 individual lessons were offered to those children and young people who have struggled to learn in a group situation. These aim to support them in overcoming specific hurdles, so they can re-engage with mainstream swimming lessons.  3773 children and young people took part in Live Life Aberdeenshire Holiday Programmes, with activities run at sports facilities during the Easter, Summer, and October holidays.

The Swimming Pools at Portlethen & Stonehaven ran specific classes for children with addition support needs this year, which

received hugely supportive feedback from parents/carers

Junior Sports Activities: A further 15,905 attendances were recorded, and included Active Early Years, and Pre-school gymnastics. 85

Smoking Cessation

Discouraging young people from taking up smoking is a key objective of NHS Grampian’s Tobacco Strategic Plan for the North East of Scotland (2019-22). This is aligned with Scottish Government ambitions to make Scotland smoke-free by 2034, and aims to prevent uptake by creating environments where young people do not want to smoke. Children aged over 12 years old can access smoking cessation support (including nicotine-replacement therapy prescription) from either their local Pharmacy or GP. The majority of young people attending services locally chose to visit their pharmacy for support.

A new NHS Grampian Tobacco Strategy is being consulted on in May 2019. This includes a section focussed on young people; with care experienced and vulnerable young people identified as particular priority groups. The strategy demonstrates achievements to date, with key actions to address required improvements:  implement the ASH Scotland training programme for Looked After Children  Improve engagement with smoking cessation services for young people  Explore Healthy Body & Healthy Minds Awards for further/higher education establishments  Support those working with 16-25 year olds to develop Tobacco Free Policies  Support proactive trading standards initiatives to prevent young people purchasing/accessing cigarettes.

The Public Health Healthpoint Team deliver the national Quit Your Way smoking cessation programme for Aberdeenshire. This 12-week programme supports people to stop smoking through behavioural change and provision of free Nicotine Replacement Therapy. Community Pharmacies across Grampian also deliver smoking cessation support, with all ‘quit attempts’ recorded from Healthpoint Advisors and Pharmacies. In 2018/19, there were 88 quit attempts by young people aged between 14 and 21. 21 of these were aged under 18 years old, and 67 were aged 18 to 21.

Number of young people reporting smoking ‘quit attempts’ (Aberdeenshire 2018/19) By Age 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Number recorded 2 7 6 6 10 8 23 26 Total Attempts 21 (under 18) 67 (over 18)

Sexual Health

Sexual Health Services are delivered on a Pan-Grampian basis, with Aberdeenshire clinics delivered in a number of community settings, including Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Banff. Supports provided for young people available over 2018/19 included: provision of contraception and abortion, prevention, treatment and risk reduction for sexually transmitted infections, and advice and support in relation to sexual coercion, and sexual assault. Emergency contraception is provided free of charge in all community pharmacies, with approximately 80 condom distributors in Aberdeenshire.

The most recent data (2017) on young people accessing Sexual Health Services in Grampian, suggests that 968 young people aged under-25 have accessed local clinics. The majority of young people attended the main Aberdeen Sexual Health Service (93%), with 64 young people attending clinics in Aberdeenshire.

National standards suggest a minimum of 2 days per week of integrated local specialist sexual health service provision (within 30 minutes travel time) should be available in any area where the population is over 10,000. A number of localities (including Ellon, Stonehaven, Westhill and Inverurie) have sizeable populations without a current clinical presence. Although these standards are now dated (2008); a review of service delivery across Grampian will be undertaken over the coming year, and clinics may be offered in other areas of Aberdeenshire. At this time it is not known whether young people would prefer to visit local clinics, or to be seen in Aberdeen where many travel for education and/or employment.

Developments for 2019/20 include a new website to increase awareness of local services; which will coincide with the launch of a self-booking system for clinics. Training and education to those working with young people also continues, delivered to clinical and non-clinical staff, including the Third sector, CLD, social work, criminal justice, education, youth workers, mental health staff, and community pharmacies. The service trained 183 people in Aberdeenshire in 2018/19.

Substance Misuse (including Alcohol): As a Strategic Priority in our Plan, progress of the Substance Misuse Multi-Agency Action Plan can be found in Appendix A.

Mental Health and Wellbeing: As a Strategic Priority in our Plan, full details on Year 2 progress of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Multi-Agency Action Plan can be found in Appendix A.

Future Challenges in Health and Wellbeing:

 School nurse delivery of vaccinations has limited progression of the school nursing pathway across Aberdeenshire - plans to progress immunisation teams are underway  Organisational budget pressures continue across public services  Geographical variation across Aberdeenshire and differing community needs  Refinement of data and intelligence continues, to inform local strategic needs assessment and maximise joint resourcing opportunities

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Learning and Education

Availability of lifelong learning experiences has remained at the heart of Aberdeenshire’s education service over 2018/19. An inclusive culture continues to support the development of resilient and sustainable communities; helping achieve improved wellbeing for children and young people in a number of ways. This can be seen through the wide range of educational provision and learning opportunities provided to children and young people, families, and adults over the year.

Education remains the largest expenditure for Aberdeenshire Council’s Education and Children’s Services Directorate, with approximately 40,000 children in Pre-school, Primary and Secondary education over 2018/19.

This was delivered through:

 17 School Clusters (a Secondary School together with its feeder Primary Schools)  166 Early Learning and Childcare providers (90 local authority, 76 Third Sector/Funded Providers) with 4922 children registered  150 Primary Schools with 21,022 children enrolled  17 Secondary Schools with 14,609 young people enrolled  4 Special Schools with 203 children and young people enrolled.

Full delivery of the 600 hours Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) entitlement was delivered in 2018 to all eligible two, three, and four year olds in Aberdeenshire. (School Pupil Census Sept 2018 - Table 5.3 and ELC Census Sept 2018 – Tables 1 and 4)

ELC provision supports the best start in life for all children, and improves outcomes through ensuring quality childcare and learning opportunities are available in the crucial early years. This contributes to Aberdeenshire’s efforts to tackle Child Poverty, by increasing opportunities for parents to pursue sustainable work, study, or training; and helps to close the attainment gap through provision of extra support for children experiencing disadvantage. As of 31 March 2019, Aberdeenshire had 4012 children registered at local authority settings, with funded providers 1659 children attending places at funded providers.

The Scottish Government has set out a clear ambition for the number of funded Early Learning and Childcare hours children in Scotland can access to increase to 1140 hours from the year 2020.

Over 2018/19, Aberdeenshire Council’s ELC Service selected 10 settings to set-up and trial extended operating hours as part of its expansion planning process. Settings were selected based on a number of factors such as size, location, children's needs, and potential opening hours. The initial trial period is completed, with the ELC Service using the pilot findings and lessons learned to support further roll-out of extended hours across Aberdeenshire.

There are currently 21 settings (which offer 580 places) providing the 1140 hours across Aberdeenshire. As with the initial trials, these 21 settings cover a wide range of locations based on size and community need, and those settings will be monitored to support improvements and the next phase of roll-out in 2019/20.

Educating Aberdeenshire

Children and young people in Aberdeenshire continue to experience positive educational outcomes. Improved outcomes can be seen for 2018, as reflected in the number of young people achieving awards at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) in comparison to 2017. (2018 ScotXed collection and Aberdeenshire Council ECS ):

In 2018:

 96.3% of young people secured positive post-school destinations in employment, training, volunteering, or further/higher education  53.3% of young people achieved 5+ awards at SCQF level 5 by S4  40.2% of young people achieved 3+ awards at SCQF level 6 by S5  35.7% of young people achieved 5+ awards at SCQF level 6 by S6

In 2017, the Scottish Government required every Education Authority to develop a National Improvement Framework (NIF) Plan which details how educational improvements will be driven forward under four themes. Aberdeenshire’s first annual NIF Report was approved by the Education & Children’s Services Committee in August 2018, and includes examples of supports in place which are contributing to improved outcomes for children and young people in a number of ways.

This include:

Attainment in literacy and numeracy: All Aberdeenshire Schools along with Cluster Leads have taken part in specific training designed to raise pupil attainment. This has provided school leaders with key skills to further develop how data is used in their school, and supports raised attainment through data analysis, and improved lesson design, learning and teaching. School leaders and Cluster Leads have also undertaken in training on the core Quality Indicators (QI) for schools, supported by Aberdeenshire’s Attainment Advisor. Three of Aberdeenshire’s senior school leaders are currently working with The Northern Alliance to develop key literacy and numeracy workstreams across all 8 Authorities.

Improving employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations: was achieved by building further on the existing range of work placement opportunities for Aberdeenshire’s young people, a total of 2556 placements were arranged for young people over 2018. Of these, 650 were extended/flexible placements.

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Closing the gap between the most and least disadvantaged children: Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) is provided directly to eligible schools via the Attainment Scotland Fund, with an aim of targeting support at those children in greatest need. Aberdeenshire received £2.9 million of PEF in 2018/19 (an increase of £400,000 from 2017). PEF is allocated on the basis of how many children in Primary 1-3 are registered for free school meals, and this increase may reflect the early impact of action in Aberdeenshire’s Child Poverty (LOIP) Action Plan to encourage increased uptake of eligible benefits. This was anticipated to positively impact on PEF awards in future years, as a result of increased free-school meal registrations. PEF arrangements have been further improved over 2018/19; enhanced by additional input from colleagues in Aberdeenshire Council’s finance, staffing, procurement, and CLD teams. Schools received training on using and analysing PEF data, and an annual PEF update is provided with revised guidance sent to all Head Teachers. This has helped schools to design their interventions with confidence, and PEF plans are increasingly focussing on wider health and wellbeing aspects of the curriculum to develop pupil self-esteem, confidence, inclusion, ethos and sense of being valued and safe. Some examples of this work can be seen in the PeterDeen Project (see casestudy) and Forest Schools initiatives.

Evidence-informed use of PEF is a development action within the Aberdeenshire NIF Plan. Feedback on use of PEF has highlighted the positive attainment impact of projects such as lunch clubs, mindfulness to improve mental health, and home/school liaison roles.

Forest schools is the concept of an outdoors learning environment where adults and children can access and learn about nature, lead their own learning, take risks in a controlled environment, and benefit from the advantages outdoors activity has on physical and mental wellbeing. Children learn skills such as building and lighting a fire, shelter construction using natural materials, and cooking food. Adult helpers at Forest School facilitates parental involvement with their children’s learning, and draws on local knowledge and expertise available from members of the community.

Forest School (2018/2019)

Johnshaven Primary Dunecht Primary Lairhillock Primary

Included, Involved and Engaged

Data for 2017/18 indicates that high levels of attendance have been broadly maintained across Aberdeenshire as a whole, remaining at over 94%, and slightly above national attendance levels experienced across Scotland.

Summarised School Attendance: Aberdeenshire/Scotland Comparison

2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 Aberdeenshire 94.9% 94.9% 94.4% Scotland n/a 93.3% n/a

Source: 2016/17 Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No. 8: 2017 Edition, Aberdeenshire Council ECS Committee (Feb 2019)

Promoting positive educational outcomes is key to breaking the cycle of Child Poverty, by ensuring prevention and early intervention supports a nurturing school experience for children and young people. The table below shows a reduction in both the number of exclusion incidents, and the number of children/young people excluded from Aberdeenshire schools in 2018.

As strategic priorites of our Children’s Services Plan, a continued focus on reducing exclusions of care experienced children and young people, those affected by substance misuse (including alcohol), or disability will maintain particular consideration of the needs of children and young people with additional support needs.

Aberdeenshire Exclusions (Summary) 2016/17 2017/18 Number of Number of Number of Number of exclusion children/young exclusion children/young Sector incidents people excluded incidents people excluded Primary 188 108 158 94 Secondary 654 408 613 403 Special <5 <5 <5 <5 Total 846 518 772 498 Source: AAE ScotXed MS Access databases

Levels of attendance, absence and exclusion continue to be subject to close and regular scrutiny. Schools work in partnership with other agencies to engage with children, young people and support parents/carers to minimise the time they are outwith school, and ensure they are receiving an effective educational experience which meets individual needs. 91

Peterdeen Casestudy Delivering Excellence and Equity in Aberdeenshire means recognising that some young people require educational experiences which are different to the usual curricular delivery model. This ethos has led to the development of the PeterDeen Scholarship, which is aimed at young people who were struggling to remain engaged with mainstream education at Peterhead Academy. PeterDeen is an example of an innovative and aspirational education programme offered to students starting S3 at Peterhead Academy. It is a unique and bespoke partnership between Aberdeenshire Council’s Education & Children’s Services Directorate (primarily Peterhead Academy and the Community Learning & Development Service), Live Life Aberdeenshire, NESCOL, Aberdeen Football Club’s award-winning Community Trust, Peterhead Football Club, and is sponsored by a major local employer, Score International Limited. Launched in August 2018, an initial cohort of 18 participants were identified for PeterDeen through a robust assessment process which identified clear benefit in provision of extra support through an alternative and personalised curriculum.

Key aims were identified for PeterDeen students:  To improve attainment and achievement at significant stages of the curriculum  To deliver motivating, innovative and inspirational learning experiences  To enable professional and wider stakeholders to collaborate effectively

PeterDeen has provided a model of creative educational provision which helped to ensure young people developed the skills for learning, life and work, which they might not otherwise have. Tutor-group sizes were set at a maximum of 6 students, and the curriculum is delivered through a mix of coaching sessions, sports, input delivered by Third Sector partners, vocational qualification opportunities, and completion of core subjects (such as English and Maths) in school. Online e-safety and using technology is promoted as a positive part of student learning and wellbeing. PeterDeen provides exceptional levels of pastoral support to students, through daily opportunities for young people to review and reflect on progress, and to consider the information, advice and guidance being offered to them. PeterDeen is an example of the GIRFEC philosophy of early intervention enacted locally. Through providing innovative community-based support which reduces the risk of exclusion and out of authority educational placement, it also represents best value in line with overarching aims of Children’s Services Planning. The project’s success has led to its continuation, with a new cohort of PeterDeen students identified for 2018/19. An expansion of this project in Faserburgh is now underway, with FraserDen students due to begin in August 2019.

Parental Engagement

Parental and community Engagement is a key strand of national education reforms in Scotland. This strengthens the role of the Head Teacher in engaging parents and carers and facilitating their involvement, with increased responsibilities to promote parental, family, and community engagement with children and young people’s learning.

Making a range of information available to parents is an important part of this, such as Right Support, Right Place,

Right Time, for parents of children with additional support needs

Learning Together: Scotland’s National Action Plan on Parental Involvement, Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home (2018-2021) was published in August 2018, and sets out a vision for parental involvement and engagement in Scotland. With 52 national actions identified, Learning Together covers a child’s journey from pre-birth to age 18; and is informed by a national and international evidence-base, and policy and practice expertise from across the Scottish education system. The Parental Engagement Support Hub Aberdeenshire (PESHA) was formed at the end of 2017. Based on approximately 3,500 parent/carer responses to Aberdeenshire’s Big Conversation, four engagement priorities were identified:

In 2018, the Learning Together in Aberdeenshire: Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy and Action Plan (2018-2021) was developed by the PESHA Team in response to the National Action Plan. This demonstrates Aberdeenshire Council’s continued commitment to improve the quality and extent of every parent or carer’s involvement in their child’s learning, and recognises the fundamental role family plays in supporting a child’s education. 93

Extensive consultation on the strategy and action plan took place at the end of 2018. This included: 6 Area Committees, 15 open consultation events across Aberdeenshire, 9 Additional Support Needs events, an online survey, and specific events for a variety of minority parent groups through a targeted communication approach (parents of Gypsy/Traveller children, children with English as an Additional Language, children who are home educated, and parent/carers of Looked after Children). The strategy and 3-year action plan was approved by the Education and Children’s Services Committee in February 2019, and 6-monthly progress updates will be provided.

The PESHA Team created two working groups on the basis of consultation findings:

Working Group Remit

Parental Involvement and To oversee local delivery of the Strategy/Plan Engagement Reference Group

Parental Involvement and To develop the Strategy/Action Plan communication strategy Engagement Communication To develop a Parents Charter Short-life Working Group To update the corporate website’s Parental Involvement section

Aberdeenshire’s parents and carers have been invited to participate in a national Parental Involvement and Engagement Census taking place in May-June 2019. Census findings will provide the Scottish Government and Aberdeenshire Council with evidence to ensure local delivery of key aims.

Innovation, Equity and Excellence, and Quality Improvement

New Regional Improvement Collaboratives such as The Northern Alliance, are helping to provide streamlined and strengthened support for teachers, by drawing on experts from local authorities, partner agencies, and Education Scotland. Building on developments in 2017/18, a consistent approach to Pan-Aberdeenshire school improvement activity has been further embedded in 2018/19; with engagement in the Northern Alliance Schools Improvement workstream continuing to inform and support this work. Every school cluster continues to receive direct input from a Quality Improvement Officer/Manager as the nominated Cluster Lead. Within the context of working towards a self- improving school system over, the authority has developed a support-and-challenge offer to individual schools and clusters over 2018/19 (defined as an academy and its feeder primary schools). Informed by authority-level QA processes and national/local priorities, this 3-staged approach makes best use of resource by directing this support proportionately:

1. A Universal offer to all schools and clusters

2. A Targeted offer to groups of schools focussed on identified areas of improvement activity from authority-level QA (including pre-inspection support)

3. An Intensive offer to specific schools on identified areas of improvement need (including post-inspection support)

Aberdeenshire Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Offer (QA/QI)

Support and challenge activity on the school-based quality assurance School process, delivered through a range of models co-produced with the school’s Universal Level leadership team. QI /QA Focussed on the management and moderation of school-level quality (4 levels) assurance structures and systems, this activity is led by the school’s leadership team with the participation of the QIM/QIO (Cluster Lead).

Continued offer of Aberdeenshire’s cluster capacity-building programme, Cluster which was developed and implemented in 2018. Level 2019’s programme will incorporate outstanding activity from 2018, with new activity reflecting both key national priorities and local priorities identified through Aberdeenshire’s quality assurance processes/tools. This includes the schools dashboard (monitoring Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) and Achievement of Curricular Levels), analysis of Education Scotland inspection findings, and Standards and Quality Improvement Plan (SQUIP) audit and review.

Area Delivered through a biannual Area Days programme, the focus for 2019 will Level be on a) Data analysis for self-evaluation and improvement, b) Understanding standards: QA of moderation; types of assessment/methodology; building confidence of leaders at all levels

Ongoing development and implementation of the School Improvement Authority Partnerships pilot programme, with participant school trios beginning Year 1 Level of a 3-year Validated Self-Evaluation Cycle.

Targeted  Support on: Pre-inspection, drafting scoping papers, performance data review, staff offer preparation  Post-inspection support: with reference to any improvement areas identified in

action plan/ follow-through visit  Signposting, advice and consultation  Delivery of twilight improvement activity programmes to groups of schools  Leadership development programmes Intensive  Tailored support/challenge programme for an individual school, including QIV and offer action planning development and monitoring/review  Peer support, coaching and mentoring approaches 95

Educational Psychology Service

Over 2018/19, Aberdeenshire’s Educational Psychology Service (EPS) improvement activity over 2018, has focused on contributing to three key outcomes:

 Improved attainment  Equity for all  Improvements in mental health outcomes for children and young people

During this year, the EPS offered a Practitioner Enquiry Approach to School Leaders as a framework for improvement. The approach aims to support school staff to implement practices which have an established evidence-base in relation to raising attainment and / or closing the poverty related attainment gap. Staff are supported to use data to reflect on aspects of learning and teaching in their own context, and to evaluate the impact of their practice on children and young peoples’ learning. The EPS has worked in partnership with Social Work colleagues to develop and pilot a comprehensive professional learning package for Universal and Targeted Nurture Approaches. Universal nurture is key to supporting the social and emotional needs of children and young people, thereby laying the foundations for positive mental health. Targeted nurture interventions build on universal nurture by using evidence-based approaches to support individual children and young people with relationships, emotional regulation and self-esteem. The EPS have also continued to work with schools and multi-agency partners to enhance autism friendly practices across Aberdeenshire. The range of high quality professional learning opportunities for staff was further developed in 2018/19, with an autism-friendly self-evaluation framework for schools now in the process of being developed. Ongoing self-evaluation activity demonstrates that the EPS continues to support positive learning and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people at individual case level, through a consultation model of service delivery. The EPS continues to meet Standards of Customer Service Excellence, with an increase in the number of areas of good practice being identified year-on-year.

Community Learning and Development

The Community Learning and Development Service32 (CLD) has continued to work to provide support which reduces inequalities in Aberdeenshire, by improving life chances for

individuals, families and communities.

The CLD Service provides a thematic service delivery model across Aberdeenshire, with 3 teams focussed on:

 Work with Young People (WWYP)  Work with Adults  Work with Communities

Over 2018/19, the CLD Service delivered 339 different projects, involving 2989 young people. 7232 participation awards were achieved. 189 young people achieved accredited awards, such as Dynamic Youth and Youth Achievement Awards. Current CLD supports include 68 projects in the Bridging the Gap strand (primary to secondary transition) and 73 projects in the Move on Up theme (senior phase to work, learning or other positive destination). CLD teams often contribute to packages of tailored Flexible Learning support for young people in secondary education.

2018 was national Year of Young People (#YOYP2018) in Scotland. The Work with Young People Team provided support to #YOYP2018 ambassadors and youth participants to co-design and deliver 9 signature events. Events celebrated the amazing young people of Aberdeenshire, their talents, and their contribution to local communities. The biggest of these, Haddo Mash-Up Festival attracted almost 2000 people from all parts of Aberdeenshire. Hundreds of #YOYP2018 Youth Participation Awards were presented to young people for their engagement in co-designing, volunteering, and supporting Year Of Young People.

The Work With Young People Team continues to support platforms which promote local youth participation and engagement across Aberdeenshire and currently facilitate 78 projects involving 1004 young people. This includes Aberdeenshire’s 17 Community Youth Platforms, the Aberdeenshire-wide Youth Forum and Aberdeenshire Youth Council. A Family Learning approach seeks to empower parents as individuals, and within their family unit. Over 2018/19, targeted Family Learning sessions were provided to 881 people, with 52 Family Learning Projects delivered across Aberdeenshire.

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Live Life Aberdeenshire

Live Life Aberdeenshire launched in January 2019. It is an innovative approach to delivering Sports and Cultural Services on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council, where council services and industry experts work collaboratively to provide a range of sporting and

cultural facilities in a responsive and flexible way.

Live Life Aberdeenshire includes Libraries, Museums, Heritage, Arts, Sports, Community Halls, Library and Information Services, and Macduff Acquarium. This provides opportunities and encouragement which support families to live active lifestyles and directly contributes to improved outcomes for children and young people in a number of ways, such as tackling childhood obesity, and improving mental health and wellbeing. Sport and culture are also recognised as playing a key role in raising levels of attainment and achievement for local children and young people.

Over 2018/19, continued close work by Life Life Aberdeenshire with Our Family Firm colleagues has provided creative opportunities for care-experienced young people, and those with additional support needs. This included three work placements, and three youth learning opportunities at Macduff Recording Studio for young people with an interest in putting on live events and keen to learn the technical production side of performance and recording. As part of #YOYP2018 programme development, technical support was provided to a large-scale signature event at Haddo House, led by young people. Further placement opportunities are being developed across Museums, Arts, Performance & Events team and Macduff Marine Aquarium.

Aberdeenshire’s Youth Music Initiative (funded by Creative Scotland) has delivered a comprehensive programme of creative music

projects this year, designed to engage with young people across Aberdeenshire, including those with additional support needs. This

initiative has engaged with 3,753 young people over the past year.

Working with partners such as Feis Rois (who enable participation and access to traditional arts and the Gaelic language), Drake Music Scotland, and individual musicians; projects have ranged from Inclusive Music Making for pupils in Special Schools, to Ceilidh Making and Hip Hop.

Young people have played instruments, written and performed their own songs and music, made sound recordings, and recorded CD’s. Positive outcomes for children and young people taking part have included expanding knowledge and learning, growth in confidence, and developing valuable skills such as team work. Three days of workshops took place rooted in the idea of ‘place,’ were delivered in Peterhead’s Priamry Schools. These explored local children’s concept of their immediate surroundings and involved class teachers, expressive arts staff, professional musicians and other colleagues engaging children through cross-curricular activity. A total of 180 children gained skills in listening to and sharing their own stories and ideas on community culture, and the importance of remembering, and passing on. Children were supported to create their own songs, which reflected their culture and recorded their memories.

The Northern Hub pilot for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Fraserburgh, began in 2018. This aimed to support local talent, by recognising potential and building self-confidence in young people. During this pilot, free workshops took place in a range of art-forms over a 4- month period, and culminated in a celebratory week of events across four northern regeneration towns in August 2018, live pop-up performances by 32 young people, and a showcase event at the Dalrymple Hall & Arts Centre. A Junior Conservatoire programme in Acting began in September 2018, and 14 high quality workshops have taken place at Peterhead, Mintlaw and Banff academies, with 268 young people in work delivered by RCS staff across traditional music, drama and dance. Monthly traditional music sessions have also taken place, with a mobile phone film project launched across Academies. More than 9,500 young people and their families visited our three museums at Mintlaw, Banchory and Peterhead and took part in trails, creative-led activities, and events.

The exhibition programme at the Arbuthnot Museum celebrated two anniversaries in 2018/19: the centenary of the RAF, and 125 years of Arbuthnot Museum; which were particularly popular with school groups. The 125 Exhibition included a Victorian- themed tea party with five local schools

taking part. Photo Credit: The Press and Journal 99

Children engaged with their local heritage by taking part in a creative writing/drawing competition and a Puppet Animation model-making workshop inspired by museum collections. Based on parental feedback, these activities promoted creativity, literacy and learning, and provided fun and memorable experiences for young people which boosted their confidence.

Investing in Future Learning Estates

Construction of new buildings, alongside improvements to existing education facilities has continued over 2018/19 to widen the range of flexible, modernised, and innovative learning environments available in Aberdeenshire. This has included replacement of Kinellar Primary School in Blackburn (right), completion of Learning Plazas at Aboyne and Mintlaw Academies (below left), improvements to Alford Ski Slope, and increased Early Learning and Childcare provision with an extension at Bervie School Nursery (below right).

Other Learning Estate enhancements delivered by the team over 2018/19 included:

 Upgrades to toilet blocks and school kitchens  Improved accessibility and development of Support for Learning spaces  Reconfiguring library headquarters  Reduced use of temporary accommodation  Refurbishment of nurseries  Enhanced outdoor play environments

The views of children, young people, parents/carers, and local communities remain central to future development of the learning estate, and informs any decision-making. A range of engagement activity took place over the year, which has included consultation on the future of Strachan School, getting views on a relocated new build to support increased capacity at Dales Park Nursery, and engaging with Peterhead residents on their requirements for future culture and sport facilities.

Key projects progressing in 2019/20 are:  Peterhead and Inverurie Community Campuses, including Culture and Sport Facilities  Completion of Banchory Community and Sports Facility (currently underway)  Continued improvements of suitability/condition of buildings in line with national criteria/standards (suitability core fact)

Suitability Rating A B C D Primary Schools 14% 54% 32% - Secondary Schools 41% 35% 24% - Special Schools 25% 75% - -

Condition Rating A B C D Primary Schools 10% 89% 1% - Secondary Schools 29% 59% 12% - Special Schools - 100% - -

All schools in Aberdeenshire will be moderated against new suitability core fact, and reported to the Scottish Government.

Good Practice Casestudy

Pupils from Fraserburgh North and St Andrew’s Schools visited Turriff Primary School (right) to learn more about new build primary schools. The children then presented their views and shared findings with parents and staff.

Future Challenges in Learning and Education:

 Recruitment of teaching staff continues to be challenging across Grampian  Requirements to deliver 1140 ELC provision by 2020, including workforce supply  National school governance reforms  Increased funding pressure on local authorities over the next 3-5 years, with ongoing efforts to mitigate any adverse effects of this on local service provision.  A Continued focus on improved use of data and self-evaluation analysis, to inform robust service planning and improvement activity

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Social Work Services

In spite of an increasingly challenging financial climate, Aberdeenshire’s Social Work Service has continued to deliver a diverse range of high quality services, with continued modernisation of approach in provision of Adult and Children’s services. A range of innovative services, supports and projects ensures the changing needs of local children, young people, families, and individuals is met; and that legislative and policy requirements are fulfilled.

Social Work practitioners within the Health and Social Care Partnership include those supporting adults with difficulties arising from Substance Misuse, Disability, and Criminal Justice. Within the context of Education and Children’s Services, the Children’s Services Social Work Team retains a targeted focus in use of its resource and the supports provided to children, young people and families. This includes risk management and reduction of harm, protective and/or statutory measures, crisis intervention, and support aimed at preventing family breakdown.

Children’s Services Social Work support was provided to over 2400 children and young people across Aberdeenshire in 2018/19. A further 273 young people were supported by the Throughcare/Aftercare Team (as at 31 March 2019).

This support has been provided to a wide age-range (pre-birth until age 26) of children, young people, and their families, including transitions into adult services, where these are required. In partnership with children and families, corporate parents, local communities and services, support is provided to a number of children with particular needs. This has included children in need or at risk, children with disabilities, care experienced children and young people, children on the edges of care; and, through provision of residential care for children and young people living in Aberdeenshire’s Children’s Homes or Supported Accommodation Unit. Recruitment and support to Aberdeenshire’s carers is provided by the Fostering, Adoption, and Kinship Teams

There has been a continued increase in the number of Self-Directed Support packages, which are made available to children and young people with additional support needs and a number of children affected by disability.

At the end of March 2019 there were 262 Self Directed Support packages recorded for children/young people, which is an increase of approximately 142 funded packages of support since the implementation of Self-Directed Support. A focus this year has included the expansion of wrap-around support across Aberdeenshire, to provide the right support to families, at the right time.

Care Inspectorate gradings for Aberdeenshire’s Children’s Homes have remained very positive. Annual reports recognise the meaningful engagement of both current and previously accommodated children and young people in service development. This includes the Wellbeing Survey which is undertaken by young people to assist in planning their individual support.

Aberdeenshire Homes for Children & Young People: Care Inspectorate Quality Gradings (2018/19) Coblehaugh Fernbank Scalloway Park Taizali Care & Support Very Good (5) Very Good (5) Very Good (5) Good (4) Environment Very Good (5) n/a Very Good (5) n/a Staffing n/a n/a n/a n/a Management/Leadership n/a Very Good (5) n/a Good (4)

The continued importance of Third Sector organisations is recognised as part of provision of services for children and families in Aberdeenshire. Safe and flexible, contact between children and their parents is supported through Children’s Services Social Work commissioning services such as Avenue in

Photo Credit: Avenue Peterhead.

Continuous Improvement in Children’s Services

The Social Work Continuous Improvement in Children’s Service Improvement Plan (2017-2019) defines key areas of development and service priority. The 3 priority areas in the plan are:  Improving and modernising service design and delivery  Safeguarding and promoting the wellbeing of children, young people and their families  Developing a confident and competent Children’s Social Work Services workforce

Despite ongoing financial and recruitment challenges in 2018/19, a continued focus on developing the workforce has remained. This has been firmly grounded in the lived experiences of the children, young people and families. This began with seminars held with Team Managers and Review Managers, with reflection on the learning from Significant Case Reviews; and its impact on both continued professional development, and improving and modernising service design and delivery.

Areas of focus in 2018/19 included:  Continuing Care: Continuing Care Agreements were updated on the basis of learning from young people in continuing care placements, their carers, and Children’s Services practitioners, on how best to safeguard and promote their wellbeing.

 Self-Directed Support: Continued development of practitioner confidence in this area was enhanced by the re-introduction of a Practitioner Forum to support planning for individual children. New financial arrangements and Payment Cards were also introduced in early 2019. 103

 C-Change(Parental Capacity to change): Staff confidence and competence is assessing parental capacity to change began through input with Team Managers; utilising the C- Change materials to support supervision discussion and planning for individual children and their families.

 Induction: New materials were created for the service, which supports existing learning and development pathways in place for a range of social work practitioners.

 Children and young people Looked After at Home - Short-life Project: This project aims to ensure that i) All referrals for a Compulsory Supervision Order are appropriate and necessary, and ii) Every child subject to a CSO at home has a SMART Child’s Plan with regular review, to improve outcomes so compulsory measures of supervision are no longer required. The project has involved workforce survey, data analysis and plans to develop practice tools which support positive, timely interventions.

Over 2018/19 there has been a continued focus on improving how data analysis and performance information is used to support quality assurance. An example of this is the duty process audit, which was completed across all Community Support Teams in late 2018. This provided direct feedback to teams on their duty process, and considered how effective their early responses to children and families are.

Children’s views and Rights remain central to the development of services, with a working group looking at how well the views of children and young people are gathered in social work assessments. This has led to further development work on engaging children through direct work, and sharing good practice. This remains a development area in the Improvement Plan, and supports a continued focus on the lived experiences of children and young people who are supported by Children’s Services Social Work in Aberdeenshire. The Chief Social Work Officer’s Report (2018/19) identifies that, “The challenge however remains, that continuing to meet immediate demands across all Social Work functions balanced with developing sustainable and innovative solutions to prevention is a complex process.” An example of this is financial pressure from externally provided residential and care provision. Whilst this varies considerably year to year according to the presenting needs of young people, it is a focus of improvement work across Education and Children’s Services.

The case-studies overleaf reflect examples of how Children’s Services Social Work contribute to partnership working as part of the Team around the Child. Social Workers are often the Lead Professional where a Child’s Plan is in place and a child or young person is experiencing a significant level of risk. These situations demonstrate the importance of relationships and ‘stickability' at the core of Social Work practice, which builds a foundation from which children, young people and families are supported to achieve their desired outcomes and goals.

Good Practice Examples: Positive Outcomes through Relationship-based Support

Emily, Katie, and Tom

Baby Emily* was born in 2018 to young parents with learning difficulties (Tom and Katie*) who both lived at home with their respective parents. Tom and Katie had very poor levels of engagement with services, and following Child Protection procedures, Emily was placed in foster care.

The local Social Work Team worked quickly and closely with Katie and Tom to develop a strong and supportive working relationship. This allowed them to identify Tom and Katie’s own needs in terms of personal independent living skills and parenting skills. As well as providing practical support and parenting advice, the team worked closely with internal and external partners to ensure Emily and her family received the very best 'joined up' service.

This package of support included Community Learning & Development helping Tom and Katie with their numeracy and literacy skills; a local charity supporting improved cooking skills; the Family Nurse Partnership providing parenting skills input; Homestart helping Tom and Katie become involved in their community; and colleagues in Housing who identified suitable local

Authority accommodation for the family.

By working together on a multi-agency basis through Emily’s Child’s Plan, Tom and Katie have been helped to flourish as responsible individuals and as a family unit. While a number of external supports remain involved with the family; ultimately Tom and Katie have shown themselves to be capable parents, and are caring safely for Baby Emily at home.

Rianna

Rianna* is a care experienced young person who’s been supported by Children’s Services Social Work throughout her four-year journey of being looked after. This was initially at home, then Rianna was cared for in a children’s home, moved on to a residential school, and eventually secure accommodation, before transitioning back home. Rianna struggled to work with professionals due to feeling she had no control or say in her life, particularly with regards to risk management measures, and being in residential care.

Through a sustained relationship-based approach which focussed upon stability even in the face of rejection and verbal abuse, and by engaging Rianna’s interests and creatively going beyond

basic expectations, this reaped long-term positive outcomes.

Rianna had a natural practical intelligence, charisma, and ability. With sustained encouragement and creative use of an Activity Agreement (including funding for training and materials), Rianna is currently engaging with a practical skills-based course that will provide her with a positive post-education destination, whilst also developing social and life skills.

Rianna now actively seeks out social work support when she needs this, and recently assisted in a group interview task as part of the recruitment process for children’s services social work post. 105

*Real names not used, and details changed to protect identities

Keeping Communities Safe: Working Together

The importance of local collaboration to improve outcomes for young people who are involved in, or at risk of becoming involved in offending behaviour; is recognised and reflected through Aberdeenshire’s Whole Systems Approach. A multi-agency action plan is coordinated by the Youth Services Strategic Group, and this froms part of Children’s Services Planning arrangements. This group operates with a strong connection to Aberdeenshire’s Community Justice Partnership and Community Safety Partnership through its membership. Year 2 progress of the multi-agency Whole Systems Approach action plan can be found in Appendix A.

Police Scotland, North East Division

Aberdeenshire’s Local Policing Plan (2017-2020) is underpinned by seven Community Policing Plans, which detail more localised activities. Priorities of this plan include:

 Antisocial Behaviour, Violence and Disorder  Road Safety and Road Crime (reducing road casualties, influencing driver/road user behaviour, deterring and detecting criminality on the roads)  Acquisitive Crime (Housebreaking, Vehicle Crime, Shoplifting, Fraud and general Theft)  Protecting People at Risk of Harm (including but not limited to Child Protection, Adult Protection, Serious Sexual Crime, Offender Management, Domestic Abuse, Human Trafficking and Honour Based Violence)

Excessive consumption of alcohol has a link with Antisocial and Violent crimes, and Police Scotland work in close alignment with Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, Community Safety Partnership and the Community Justice Partnership in action taken to address the LOIP Priority ‘Changing Aberdeenshire’s relationship with alcohol’ and are key partners in addressing the ‘Substance Misuse’ strategic priority of Aberdeenshire’s Children’s Services Plan. The number of people killed or seriously injured on Aberdeenshire’s roads continues to follow a general downward trend. The most common group of drivers involved in road collisions in Aberdeenshire remains 17 to 25 year olds. Operation CEDAR (Challenge, Educate, Detect and Reduce) Strategy, which began in Aberdeenshire, has continued as a pan-Divisional approach to Road Safety; and Police Scotland continue to work together with partners in Aberdeenshire Council, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and the local business community to educate young people on the dangers of inappropriate driving and promote safe road-user behaviour.

From an acquisitive crime perspective, Aberdeenshire has seen a continued downturn in recorded crime against the overall five year average. This positively contributes to Aberdeenshire’s reputation as a safe place for families to live. Social media continues to play a significant part in crimes where a number of online and digital platforms are used, and this remains a challenging area of prevention.

Public Protection – Concern Hub With the formal implementation of the national Police Risk and Concern model for processing Police Concern Reports on the interim Vulnerable Person's Database (VPD) in 2016, the Northeast Division Concern Hub has continued to work to the training, triage, research, assessment, quality assurance, and escalation protocol process. This incorporates the National Practice Model Resilience Matrix to aid assessment and decision-making, and provides a consistent process to carry out holistic assessments and share information through the VPD, in relation to Domestic Abuse, Adult Protection Concerns/Protection, Child Protection Concerns/Protection, Youth Offending and Hate Concerns. The Concern Hub maintains close links with the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Coordinator. This serves to identify and respond to potential CSE cases at an early stage to effect early intervention and target perpetrators. The Hub also supports work delivered through the Caledonian Project by identifying relevant instances of domestic abuse, with effective partnership working to reduce reoffending, and protect children.

Public Protection - IRD Desk The creation of the Northeast Division Inter-Agency Referral Discussion (IRD) Desk in 2016, enhanced the IRD process of joint information sharing, assessment and decision making involving risk to children. The IRD desk has developed since this time in conjunction with partners in Aberdeenshire, which now ensures participation from all statutory partners in the IRD process, recognition of additional support mechanisms for children with disabilities, and improvements to the recording and sharing of IRDs. Multi-agency training has also been delivered to staff across the partnership and quality assurance of IRDs is conducted monthly on a multi-agency basis, to ensure continuous improvement and feedback to involved services.

Partnership Coordination Unit: The work of the Partnership Coordination Unit has continued over the last year. This unit contains the Youth Justice Management Unit and Return Home Welfare Interview officers, each of which have very well established multi-agency links. This contributes to work in Aberdeenshire on the Whole Systems Approach and tackling CSE.

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Community Policing Teams: Across Aberdeenshire there are 7 Community Policing Teams. As well as providing a Policing presence and response in local communities the Community Policing Teams work in partnership with local schools and young people, to deliver a range of engagement, prevention and diversionary activities. This work has continued throughout 2018/2019 and ranges from road safety initiatives, visits, and multi-agency response to incidents which involve young people. Wider training and learning is being developed and will be made available to all Northeast Division Officers, to continue to improve awareness and understanding of vulnerability and support effective partnership working through enhancing existing close community ties between schools and local police officers.

Examples of partnership working over 2018/2019: Summer holiday patrols of local communities which involve members of academy staff. This is part of a strategy aimed at reducing youth disorder, anti-social behaviour, and other acts of criminality, and raises awareness with parents and carers to ensure they know where young people are going, and what they are doing. This also supports Academy students to be excellent ambassadors for their school

The Park Smart Campaign has helped to raise awareness of the dangers of parking illegally outside schools. It involves displaying bright banners outside school premises to highlight that dangerous driving behaviour will not be tolerated. Campaigns such as this actively promote engagement and participation of children, (such as pupils at Kellands Primary: left) to encourage parents to park a safe distance away from the school to keep children safe.

Photo Credit: NorthEast Police Division Facebook

Police School Liasion Officers North East Division has 2 School Liaison Officers covering Aberdeenshire. They are responsible for all secondary schools and their primary feeders, in addition to a small number of private and specialist schools. Within primary schools, the focus is on interventions with Primary 6 and 7 year-groups, as pupils become more socially aware and prepare for transition to secondary school. Occasional inputs are provided to younger primary classes and nurseries.

Secondary school input covers all year groups, and are delivered by School Liaison Officers after consultation with the respective Head Teachers. In this way inputs complement delivery of the curriculum within respective schools in a manner and timeframe to suit pupils and their wellbeing needs. Schools in Aberdeenshire also allow co-ordinated intelligence-led requests from police to deliver inputs on a specific topic which may be relevant to a particular school and community at a particular time. Over 2018/19 Schools Liaison Officers in Aberdeenshire have delivered 1129 Wellbeing inputs across North-East Division, with increased delivery of 11 out of the 13 topics. All lessons comply with the Curriculum for Excellence and are delivered in a manner consistent with contemporary teaching.

Aberdeenshire School SLO Inputs by Wellbeing Topic/Sector (2017/2018)

Wellbeing Topic Primary School Secondary Total Delivered Inputs School Inputs Inputs by Topic Emergency 999 4 0 4 Internet Safety 133 171 304 Personal Safety 23 70 98 Roads & the Law 7 34 41 Sex & the Law 0 87 87 Social Media & the Law (Sexting) 1 97 98 Substance Misuse Alcohol) 11 3 14 Substance Misuse (Drugs) 56 148 204 Domestic / Relationship Abuse 0 22 22 Antisocial Behaviour 27 4 31 You and the Law (ASB) 3 52 55 Knife & Other Weapon Crime 3 159 162 Hate Crime 3 5 8 Total Inputs by School Sector 271 858 1129

Police Scotland Youth Volunteers (PSYV) PSYV is a uniformed youth organisation which develops positive interaction between the police, young people, and the rest of the community. PSYV Fraserburgh launched in October 2015, and have been at the forefront of youth volunteering in Aberdeenshire ever since. The group recently changed name to PSYV North Aberdeenshire and currently have 16 youth volunteers.

Youth Volunteers are aged 13 - 18 years old and take part in an extensive training and education programme. It is a requirement of each group

that at least 25% of its youth volunteers have experience of one or more of a broad range of 109 vulnerabilities. The aim of the programme is to develop the key skills of self-confidence, communication, team working and leadership.

The initiative also works to promote an understanding of the importance of communities working together to deliver local projects and initiatives. Youth Volunteers received defibrillator training in 2018, and were part of a group representing the North East at the Year of Young Person Games where they won the ‘Team Spirit’ Award. In 2018/2019, PSYV North Aberdeenshire accumulated approximately 500 volunteering hours at a range of events, supporting various projects and initiatives. They also supported a number of local community events, which included Portsoy Boat Festival, Duff House Memorial, Wild About Aden, Mash up at Haddo and Year of Young Person 2018. The Trauma Teddies Programme was launched in Fraserburgh in August 2018. This is run in partnership with Children 1st, and sees “Trauma Teddies” handed out to children who come into contact with the police in traumatic or upsetting circumstances. Teddies tell children that people care about them, and signpost families to further online and phone support through Parentline. Over 180 the hand knitted/crocheted “Trauma Teddies” were donated and Police Scotland Youth Volunteers helped knit teddies. North East Police Division have made increasing effective use of their Facebook Page over 2018/2019 to promote positive messages about children and young people’s wellbeing. This has included awareness-raising campaigns on a range of topics, including road safety for children on their way to/from school #simplebutsafe, promotion of #careday2019 in February to raise awareness of the importance of Corporate Parenting, and raising awareness of support to prevent suicide, through Choose Life Suicide Prevention. Aberdeenshire’s Community Safety Partnership focuses on early intervention and prevention activities to tackle Antisocial Behaviour, Violence and Disorder and Unintentional Harm. It has an additional focus on reducing youth Antisocial Behaviour, and does this working with partners such as ADP, AFC Communities Trust, Denis Law Legacy Trust, and Community Learning & Development services on diversionary activities.

Aberdeenshire Fire and Rescue Service

Delivery of Aberdeenshire’s Fire and Rescue services is reflected in our Aberdeenshire Fire and Rescue Plan; this is the mechanism through which identified priorities are delivered to meet agreed local need.

This considers factors such as Risk Management and Preparedness, A focus on the Reduction of Accidental Dwelling Fires, Deliberate Fires, Fires in Non-Domestic Property and Secondary Fires; Reduction in Fire Casualties and Fatalities, Casualties from Road Traffic Collisions, Flooding and Reduction of Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals.

Over 2018 the Safe Drive Stay Alive production was

delivered for the area by various partners, with the aim to provide a local effect to this already hard-hitting and popular show. The event was hosted at Aberdeen’s Beach Ballroom, and

more than 6000 pupils (S5 and S6) from across the region attended throughout the 4 days. The aim of the production is to re-enforce a strong road safety message while contributing to educating and informing teenagers of the outcomes of such incidents. The event also focuses on making potential passengers and drivers of motor vehicles recognize their responsibility for wearing seatbelts, complying with current legislation regarding zero tolerance on using mobile phones whilst driving, and to take ownership for their own safety if the driver is travelling at excessive speeds.

Crash Live Crash Live is another popular road safety initiative aimed to warn young drivers about the dangers which exist on the North Easts roads, and the consequences of dangerous and careless driving. Hosted jointly between the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Scottish Ambulance Service and Police Scotland, the 'Crash Live' events have taken place at strategic locations throughout Aberdeenshire where statistics reflect a need for action and education. Several events took place at Aberdeenshire Academies, and are designed for a target audience of 4th year students.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SRFS) in the local area, have invested in the latest technology to assist in reducing the number of accidents on the areas roads.

A Virtual Reality experience places users in the vehicle, and this enables them to experience a 360 encounter of the realisms of a road traffic collision from the front seat passenger’s perspective.

Users experience a full crash scene extraction, which is designed to show drivers the dangers of the roads and what can happen when things go wrong, especially when being distracted or using a mobile phone while driving.

To improve road safety and attempt to reduce vehicle collisions within our area, it is deemed important to invest in educating potential drivers by creating and raising the awareness of the dangers before they even get behind the wheel. Introducing an initiative like virtual reality will enable the Service to engage with new, young and mature drivers in a more realistic and effective way which in turn will hopefully lead to safer drivers on the roads in the future and a reduction in casualties and fatalities.

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Accidental and Deliberate House Fires

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SRFS) continues to work with partners to reduce the number of accidental and deliberate house fires, casualties and fatalities within the area. This continues to have a positive effect and is reflected in the number of incidents that are reported. We believe this can be attributed to the increase of local community activities, resulting in an increase in the number of high risk Home Fire Safety Visits that have been undertaken in Aberdeenshire. This has risen to 1582 visits being completed throughout 2018, up from 2017 (1256 visits) and 2016 (799).

The Community Safety Action Team (CAT) within Aberdeenshire work closely with partners to increase our Home fire safety and referral programme aimed at reducing unintentional harm of vulnerable people within the confines of their home. This team have been upskilled in the Fire Setters Youth Intervention Scheme, and now actively work closely with young people in the area to educate and inform them on the dangers and hazards of wilful fire raising to prevent a re- occurrence of future incidents.

Fire Skills Fire skills is a flexible, diversionary programme run by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, consisting of a suite of sessions based on firefighter drills and activities. These activities have been adapted to provide a unique learning experience for young people. SFRS personnel, who are ideally positioned and well respected in the community, will work closely with partner agencies to identify local needs and select the appropriate sessions to meet those needs. The modules in the course structure include:  Introductory Health and Safety  Drill ground activities  Home fire safety  Search and rescue – practical  Emergency first aid  Road safety and road traffic collisions  Fire related anti-social behaviour

This programme will be run in Aberdeenshire starting in 2019, and SFRS will focus engagement activities in areas where service demand is greatest.

Looking Ahead to 2019/2020

Looking to the year ahead, the service is keen to undertake a broader role in vital preventative work and hopes to further develop their critical role, which includes improved safety in rural communities such as Aberdeenshire, strengthening retained firefighter structures, and dealing with new risks including terrorism, severe weather and emergency medical responses. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service remains prepared and equipped for any risk the country faces now and in the future and relevant to local community needs.

Third Sector Organisations

The Third Sector, comprising of community groups, voluntary organisations, charities, social enterprises, co-operatives and individual volunteers; deliver a range of services in Aberdeenshire for children, young people, parents and carers. Universal and targeted services range from early intervention and prevention, to ongoing and crisis support.

Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action (AVA) is Aberdeenshire’s Third Sector Interface (TSI). At an operational level, AVA has continued to support a Third Sector Forum presence. Through member engagement, consultation and exchange of information and knowledge, the forum aims to enable participating organisations to work together to build third sector capacity and influence strategic decision-making.

Demand for development and strategic support continues, along with raising awareness of policy and practice in the sector, and signposting to funding streams, often via AVA’s funding officer. Specific one-to-one support has been requested by organisations, as well as facilitation of sessions around measuring impact, which AVA have provided and continue to develop.

Future challenges:

In a changing policy and legislative environment, with increasing demand and expectations on services, and budgetary pressures on both public and third sector organisations; the importance of collaborative partnership working and third sector service delivery is required more than ever to meet the needs of Aberdeenshire’s children & families.

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Child Protection: Keeping Aberdeenshire’s Children Safe

The collective responsibilities for Child Protection, are described as the functions of a Committee, and are identified in the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (2014) as:  Continuous Improvement  Strategic Planning  Public Information and Communication

The Child Protection Committee (CPC) has a key role to play in the continuous improvement of child protection policy and practice in Aberdeenshire, with membership drawn from all key public services.

The CPC includes representation from Adult and Children’s Social Work Services, Education, NHS Grampian, Police Scotland, the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration, and Third Sector representation.

By setting out expectations for the strategic planning of services to protect children and young people, the CPC highlights key responsibilities both for individual services and organisations collectively, with clear focus on improving outcomes for children and young people. The Committee is accountable to the Executive Group for Public Protection and operates with strong links to the GIRFEC Strategic Group and supporting subgroups. The CPC is structured and supported via a number of sub-groups which perform evaluative and improvement work related to need as identified by the CPC. The sub-groups can be modified and adapted as required and are underpinned by frontline practitioner knowledge and expertise. Our Multi-Agency Sub-Groups consist of Learning and Development, Significant Case Review, Operations and Practice, and Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

A new Self-Evaluation Sub-Group will be established over 2019/20, with plans underway to develop a Terms of Reference and review the data and intelligence which is provided to the Child Protection Committee.

The Committee responds to National Strategies and Action Plans which address specific circumstances impacting adversely on children, and where required, review and refresh Aberdeenshire responses. This includes updating information and guidance available to the workforce and general public, and adapting the multi-agency Child Protection training calendar accordingly.

The Scottish Government established the Child Protection Improvement Programme (CPIP) in February 2016, which has nine interconnected work strands:

 The Child Protection Systems Review (Initial/Significant Case Reviews, The Child Protection Register, and Case Conferences)  Neglect  Child Sexual Exploitation  Child Trafficking  Child Internet Safety  Children's Hearings  Inspections  Leadership  Data and Evidence

The CPC is a member of CPC Scotland, and has attended this forum over 2018/19 to discuss and share child protection practice and developments on a national basis, and ensure this informs the work of the Committee.

Learning and Development

Training on a single and inter-agency basis helps to develop the core skills needed to support effective inter-disciplinary working both on actual cases of abuse, and on prevention and post- abuse programmes. Multi-agency training is an essential component in building common understanding, and fostering good working relationships which are vital to effective child protection approaches.

Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committees delivers a Child Protection Training Calendar which is overseen and reviewed on a multi-agency basis (training delivery/attendance in 2018 below).

Aberdeenshire CPC Training Calendar 2018

Title of Course Number of Number of Courses Attendees Child Protection Basic Awareness 7 154 Introduction to Multi-Agency Child Protection Practice 6 122 Preparing for Child Protection Case Conferences 4 86 Tackling Child Neglect 4 72 GIRFEC Local Group Events - Risk Assessment Workshops 5 55 Confidence in Risk Assessment 4 44 Under Pressure – Preventing Exploitation in Young 3 37 People’s Relationships Child Protection Trainer Workshop 2 23 Online Safety and Welfare of Children and Young People 3 22 Initial Referral Discussions – Understanding Your Role in 1 16 Child Protection Enquiries Total 39 632 115

Aberdeenshire CPC also developed and ran a series of bespoke events in 2018/19, together with Aberdeen and Moray CPC’s, The Robert Gordon University, and specialist partners. These frontline practitioner events have been focused on cumulative neglect. The table below details attendance of practitioners from Aberdeenshire at these events.

Cumulative Neglect Events (2018/2019) – Aberdeenshire Cohort

Event Date Participants

Cumulative Neglect #1: In Practice and in Theory; What does this 3 Oct 2018 38 look like in the North East? Cumulative Neglect #2: Learning from Local Case Reviews 28 Nov 2018 34 conducted in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray Cumulative Neglect#3: How to Implement Learning from Case 16 Jan 2019 32 Reviews? How do we know we have made a difference?

The Committee’s strong links as part of our Children’s Services Planning arrangements, Aberdeenshire Gender Based Abuse Partnership and Public Protection arrangements, have continued to ensure any areas of overlap are addressed, and provides clarity over which forum is best placed to progress specific activity.

Significant Case Reviews

The work of the Significant Case Review (SCR) Subgroup has also continued to inform key practice developments over 2018/19, including learning from Initial Case Review (ICR’s) findings. An Aberdeenshire Home Environment Assessment Tool has been developed and piloted, with a plan to roll this out and incorporate it as part of the Neglect Training Course.

Operations and Practice An earlier multi-agency review of Aberdeenshire’s Initial Referral Discussion (IRD) process led to adaptation of the process to further enrich health and education information considered within this and supported formal participation of health and education colleagues in dialogue with police and social work staff. Revised IRD guidance, a process-map and recording tools were developed over 2018, and are now operational. In addition to a continued programme of quality assurance of IRD processes over 2018/19, the IRD Group delivered seven Multi-Agency IRD Workshops across Aberdeenshire, with approximately 200 cross-service practitioners taking part.

The Committee has also considered risks posed by the Toxic Trio, with development work progressed to enhance workforce responses to one of these risks: Domestic Abuse. Aberdeenshire Multi-agency Guidance on Domestic Abuse and Child Protection was developed with the involvement of key practitioners across Adult and Children’s Services, and uses the GIRFEC National Practice Model as a framework. The new guidance was launched at an awareness-raising event in September 2018, with 59 practitioners in attendance from a range of agencies. This involved input from key Third Sector partners such as Grampian Women’s Aid.

Companion training was also developed, to further support practitioners to use the new guidance. This also raises awareness of the new Coercive Control & The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018.

Delivered as a 2-part programme, this ensures professionals receive the level of training most relevant to their specific role supporting children and/or their families. All training participants attend Part 1, with Part 2 targeted at practitioners in the Intensive Workforce (who are most likely to undertake direct work and/or assessment with families where domestic abuse may be present).

The Child Protection Committee workplan included actions which have directly contributed to the Substance Misuse priority of our Children’s Services Plan. Further detail of this can be found in the Substance Misuse Multi-agency Action Plan in Appendix A, and 2017/18 Annual Report.

Children and Young People subject to Child Protection Activity

The North East Child Protection Register Management Report provides the basis of statistics and information available on Child Protection in Aberdeenshire. From 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, 557 Child Protection referrals were made in Aberdeenshire, a figure consistent with previous referral numbers. The tables below provide an annual overview of key Child Protection statistics as they relate to child protection registrations and case conference activity )as of 31 March 2019). Overall, statistics for Aberdeenshire reflect Scottish national averages over this same time period.

Number of Children on Aberdeenshire Child Protection Register (CPR) Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Number of Children 73 76 87 67 87 77 117

Number of Children on Aberdeenshire CPR by Gender and Age-Group (as of 31 March) Male Female Total % Unborn 2 3 0-4 years 17 18 35 45 5-10 years 15 12 27 35 11-15 years 9 4 13 17 16+ years 0 0 0 0 Total 41 34 77 100

The National Scottish Child Protection Registrations report acknowledges ‘variability in numbers of children on the child protection register at a local authority level. In many cases, there are no obvious reasons for changes.’ Sibling groups entering or leaving the system can impact these figures, given the relatively low numbers of registrations in Aberdeenshire.

Number of Conferences in Aberdeenshire by Year (to 31 March) Year 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Initial (includes pre-birth) 84 78 96 94 66 Reviews 150 176 141 166 163 Total 234 254 237 260 229

From 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019, there were 130 new child protection registrations and 128 de-registrations. Domestic abuse, parental drug use, parental mental ill-health, emotional abuse and neglect remain the prevalent reasons for Child Protection Registration in Aberdeenshire.

Risk Factors influencing Aberdeenshire CP Registration (as of 31 March) Year 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Domestic Abuse 19% 25.5% 40% 45% 44% 40% Parental Drug Use 29% 25.5% 43% 52% 57% 27% Parental Alcohol Use 9.5% 9% 23% 9% 4% 9% Parental Mental Health 12% 22% 25% 28% 34% 32% Sexual Abuse 0% 0% 0% 0% 2.5% 0% Physical Abuse 14% 15.5% 17% 21% 28% 17% Emotional Abuse 53% 43% 49% 31% 40.5% 43% Non-engaging family 16% 19% 34% 27% 38% 39% Disability* 1% - - - - -

Child Placing Self at Risk 4% 0% 3% 0% 0% 5%

Neglect 27% 37% 37% 33% 35% 44% Forced/Dangerous Labour 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% Young Carer* 0% 0% - - - - Child Sexual Exploitation** - - 0% 0% 0% 0% Trafficking** - - 0% 0% 0% 0% Other Concern 7% 5.5% 11% 1.5% 4% 4%

*Young Carer, Disability - no longer included as risk factors

**Child Sexual Exploitation, Trafficking - newly identified risk factors

Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE)

The Scottish Government updated their National Action Plan to Prevent and Tackle Child Sexual Exploitation in March 2016, and included an update of the national definition of CSE:

“Child sexual exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse in which a person(s), of any age takes advantage of a power imbalance to force or entice a child into engaging in sexual activity in return for something received by the child and/or those perpetrating or facilitating the abuse. As with other forms of child sexual abuse, the presence of perceived consent

does not undermine the abusive nature of the act.”

The Action plan sets out the national ambitions, and Aberdeenshire’s local action plan focuses on key areas to drive forward locally as identified in the Strategy, progressing both single agency and multi-agency actions. Aberdeenshire’s Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Working Group formed in 2015 and reports on an annual basis. It’s governance arrangements changed in April 2018, to report to the Child Protection Committee. This was in acknowledgement that Child Sexual Exploitation is a form of child sexual abuse and the work of the CSE Working Group informs the wider work of the Committee. This multi-agency group has a strong commitment to tackle CSE across Aberdeenshire, and the shared vision of “working together to keep Aberdeenshire’s children and young people safe” drives the local work plan forward.

The local workplan is based on the National Child Sexual Exploitation Working Group’s document, Child Sexual Exploitation: Core Components checklist for Child Protection Committees (2017). In May 2018, Aberdeenshire CSE Working Group agreed to use this Checklist to structure their agenda, and to monitor progress of the local action plan.

Over 2018 the CSE Group has reflected on national issues of Child Trafficking, Missing Children and ‘County Lines’ to build a more local knowledge, and with acknowledgement of key national strategies and action plans.

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National Missing Person’s National Action Plan on Human Trafficking and

Framework (May 2017) Internet Safety for Children Exploitation Strategy (May and Young People (April 2017) 2017)

Collaborative Approaches in Tackling CSE

The group has strong multi-agency representation, with additional partner representation added in 2018 including the Sexual Violence Prevention Worker from Rape Crisis Grampian, and a Review Manager from Children’s Services Throughcare Aftercare Service. Police representation ensures advice on local Policing matters informs the work of the group, and has provided vital information to further local knowledge. An example of this is the work of the Pro-Active Unit – this shares learning and knowledge regarding young people in North Aberdeenshire who have been trafficked both from within Aberdeenshire, and from as far as London and Liverpool. Police colleagues from NE Division also contribute to the national CSE Working Group, helping to make improvements in use of CSE data at a national and local level. Barnardo’s CSE Prevention worker also joined the group in 2018/2019. This is one of 2 posts in Scotland, and the role involves close links with Police Scotland to review Police Concern Reports for Aberdeenshire as part of a wider remit. This knowledge has been crucial to informing strategic planning, and enhancing understanding and analysis of local knowledge and information. Third Sector partners are providing the group with an informed picture of young people’s lived experiences, and the work undertaken within local communities. The CSE Working Group continues with links to other relevant strategic groups, including the Community Safety Partnership and Aberdeenshire Gender Based Abuse Partnership.

The Aberdeenshire Context

Over 2018 further development of data-gathering has been progressed to inform the work of our group. This has included looking at the numbers of children who have been reported missing but also information that is received from Police Concern Reports and Initial Child Protection Investigations.

In the first quarter of 2018, 7 children reported as missing were identified as being at risk of CSE by Police Returning Home Officers. This information is shared with the Barnardo’s CSE Worker along with the Vulnerable Persons Database (VPD) concern reports. Over 2017/2018, there were 17 children identified. Since 2016, there has been one Child Protection Registration for CSE. The group remains alert to particular groups of children, including Looked After Children living in residential units. Local authority staff in Aberdeenshire’s Residential Homes now have CSE as a standing agenda item at team meetings, and continue to share appropriate and proportionate local intelligence with partner agencies.

Progress over 2018/2019:

Guidance

 Aberdeenshire CPC responded to the National Missing Person Framework to ensure consistency in local responses. This was shared across multi-agency partners.

 Recognising good practice in Ayrshire, key themes of ‘Recognise, Respond, Report’ were adopted to inform development of local multi-agency guidance. This is now available on the GIRFEC Website, with a distribution plan agreed for services to promote this.

 Internet safety continues to be an important area of work, with Alcohol & Drugs Action Green Light Project and Barnardo’s CSE worker providing sessions and guidance for communities and services across Aberdeenshire. School guidance documents also make specific mention to internet safety.

 Aberdeenshire’s multi-agency Harmful Sexual Behaviour Guidance has been updated to include the national CSE definition and references to sexting.

 The CSE Working Group chair, CPC Lead Officer and Child Protection Practice Improvement Officer provided a workshop input to Aberdeenshire Council’s Education Committee.

 Involvement of the ThroughCare Aftercare Service resulted in increased promotion of CSE guidance to carers who support young people through the Shared Lives scheme. This supports enhanced awareness of, recognition and response to CSE by carers.

Learning and Development

In collaboration with the National CSE Working Group, a North East Child Protection Partnership, a workshop on CSE

and Trafficking was delivered at 121 Moray College, Elgin in February 2019.

The CSE Group tracks annual delivery of multi-agency and single service learning and development related to CSE over the year. The Child Protection Practice Improvement Officer is a standing member of the CSE Group, which supports identification of opportunities for key messaging and training on CSE, alongside delivery of multi-agency learning and development opportunities. This shows delivery of a range of workforce learning and development has been provided over 2018/2019, to staff from police, education, social work, foster carers, health and on a multi-agency basis.

A Missing Children: Train the Trainer course was attendance by key services, and future delivery planning currently underway.

A range of inputs are also delivered to groups of young people in Aberdeenshire through Third Sector, Police School Liaison Officers, through school curriculum, school nurses, and CLD staff.

Prevention Aberdeenshire’s Corporate Communication Services have assisted in the promotion of several social media campaigns over the year to raise awareness of CSE. These have included Police Scotland’s #notmyfriend, #nationalcseday and NSPCC’s #listentoyourselfie.

Further preventative action over 2018/2019 included:

 Night watch card distribution through adult service and licencing colleagues at the summer agricultural shows and town centre patrols (see good practice example)  Updates to SHARE (Sexual Health Prevention) coursework in secondary schools  8 Aberdeenshire schools delivering Mentors against Violence projects for S1-3 pupils, which early feedback is showing benefits to making peer support available in a school setting.  Health learning and development is continually updated on recognition and response to CSE  Barnardo’s CSE Prevention post has been extended to 2020.  Input from the Sexual Violence Prevention worker (Rape Crisis Grampian) at 8 schools (often linked to MV Programme), community youth groups, and at Aberdeen University. Key topics are consent, social media, and sexting.  The Green Light Project worker post is funded until November 2019. In addition to providing learning and development sessions across Aberdeenshire their role includes direct work, CSE awareness-raising and prevention work. This particularly relates to use of social media including apps and websites.  School liaison sessions delivered by Police School Liaison Officers continue to include inputs on CSE. Liaison Officers link with school nurses to ensure communication and awareness of any relevant issues raised by young people following these inputs.

Recovery  Discussion of this at Children’s Social Work Review Manager meetings has emphasised the need to insure this measure is included in Child’s Plans where appropriate.  The National Trauma Framework has been shared with services, with ongoing consideration of local implementation.  The Green Light Project and Barnardo’s provide direct services to young people in Aberdeenshire. This includes recovery support as part of their remit, with workers part of the Team Around the Child, and linking with Named Persons and allocated Social Workers as required.  Recent Department of Health research on trauma-informed practice has been shared with Aberdeenshire’s Residential Homes to inform practice.

Perpetrators  Operation IRIDIS continues to provide intelligence on perpetrations, and is linked to the Scottish Intelligence database. This is enhanced through local sharing of intelligence/alerting police by the Third Sector.  Full background research on offending partners is shared by Police, where appropriate and necessary.  Harmful Sexual Behaviour guidance has been updated to reflect perpetrators who are young people themselves (peer to peer abuse).

Improvement Activity

Parental Awareness: A Self-Evaluation activity was undertaken with a South Aberdeenshire parent council, exploring their awareness and understanding of CSE. One of the main discussion points was that parents and carers will use internet search engines to find out more information on what CSE is and where to get help. This has helped to inform future work on learning and awareness raising.

Child Protection Investigations: Children’s Services Social Work conducted a self-evaluation activity of all Child Protection investigations in 2017 where the recorded primary concern identified was ‘CSE’, or ‘child placing themselves at risk’. This identified the predominant reason for these categories of child protection referrals were sharing/receiving explicit images, and underage sexual activity, with school and Police as the main referring agencies. Nearly all concerns led to a Joint Investigative Interview being undertaken with the child or young person, which in turn informed appropriate follow up by services. The vulnerability of care experienced young people to exploitation was further highlighted by their over-representation within the data.

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The NSPCC #listentoyourselfie campaign was run in Aberdeenshire and corresponded with the learning from this self-evaluation exercise, which identified the frequency of young people taking and sharing nude images.

Further self-evaluation work is planned by the service to gather information from Team Managers on open casework, where exploitation may be disclosed after the initial reason for referral.

Data Set: The National data set published by Scottish Government is currently being trialled in several local authorities in Scotland. The group discussed the data set for CSE and sought further information from the National CSE group and other CPC’s on what they are currently collating. The National data set focuses on missing children numbers and at present Police do not have a marker system to be able to identify CSE cases directly. Other CPC’s have not collated anything more than our own self-evaluation activity, the information known through the Police Returning Home Officers and Child Protection Register Statistics. We continue to develop our own data set in partnership with our Police Colleagues.

Good Practice Examples

Newtonhill Primary School: At the request of the Deputy Head Teacher the Barnardo’s CSE Advisor gave inputs on social media safety to all P4-P7 pupils and followed this up with a Parents Night event. The school were pro-active in informing and encouraging parents to attend and 66 parents attended which is well in excess of the usual figures for such input. Feedback was also positive.

Night watch cards: Partners in Licensing and adult social work services distributed the Night Watch cards again to staff in the summer agricultural shows across Aberdeenshire. Some anecdotal reports were around the high volume of young people attending the shows (often from out with that area). There were concerns regarding young people drinking before they had arrived and required support in getting home safely. These cards were positively received by staff working there, and enabled further conversations about the awareness of CSE and supports for young people. Anecdotal evidence highlighted large numbers of young people attending the shows and ensuring awareness of staff in safety and well-being of young people. This also highlighted the challenge of our rural setting and getting to events and home safely is a key factor for all our young people living in Aberdeenshire.

Cuckooing: In partnership with Community Learning and Development, work continues in North Aberdeenshire to address exploitation and cuckooing. This collaborative approach includes Police, Criminal Justice Social Work, Health, Education, and Children’s Services. This has raised awareness of the links between exploitation in its widest sense (criminal/labour/sexual) and trafficking.

Areas for Development

 Recovery work will be a focus moving forward, exploring support for young people and their families directly, with the views and experiences of young people and their families a critical factor in this.

 Prevention work which engages children and young people remains a focus of the CSE workplan, with an aim to create an informative resource.

 Data collation and analysis to inform our understanding of and response to CSE, remains a clear priority, and is also being looked at, at a national level. Initial research has considered what other Local Authorities are collecting, and what is achievable within our own systems. Police colleagues have shared that there is no specific ‘marker’ on their crime recording system, but can provide relevant information on missing children numbers, perpetrators and investigations. A specific question on CSE has been included as part of monthly quality assurance audits of IRD’s.

 Self-evaluation to provide further qualitative and quantitative data on CSE in Aberdeenshire is an area for development. Current systems include review of all Police Concern Reports (by the Barnardo’s prevention worker), and initial work by Children’s Services Social Work on Child Protection Investigations and IRD’s. Further work will be done around interventions and use of planning to ensure the right support is provided at the right time. Engagement with Parent Councils has also provided evidence on parent knowledge, and work which could be undertaken on prevention and awareness raising.

 Child Trafficking and national reports of ‘County Lines’ has particular relevance for North Aberdeenshire as an area of development. Multi-agency meetings have been led by Community Learning and Development, and further discussion is required on the remit of the CSE Working Group and support for trafficked and exploited young people.

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Appendix A: Multi-Agency Action Plan Progress

Updates in respect of each Thematic Subgroup Multi-Agency Action Plan are detailed in Appendix A.

This reflects partnership activity progressed over 2018/19; and provides an update on multi-agency action progressed with the aim of supporting improved wellbeing for children and young people against each Strategic Priority:

Children’s Services Plan Strategic Priorities:

 Early Years  Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing  Children with a Disability  Substance Use  Corporate Parenting

Additional Multi-Agency Action Plans:

 Whole Systems Approach/Youth Justice  Young Carers

In addition to general high-level wellbeing indicators and performance measures detailed in the main body of the annual report, additional indicators/measures have been collated for each strategic priority of the Children’s Services Plan (overleaf). Considered together, these help us to review what impact we have each year on improving outcomes for Aberdeenshire’s children and young people.

KEY: Requires improvement Satisfactory or in progress Performing well Developing measure

EARLY YEARS Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

% P1 children at a healthy weight1 77.3% (76.5%) [2017/18]

% eligible children identified as having 1 or more concerns at the 9.12% (27.8%) [2017/18] 27-30 month review2

% Early Years Forums with Active Improvement Plans3 47% [2018/19]

 856 Bookbug Sessions: (10,824 Children/8762 Adults)  57 Bookbug Makaton Sessions: (646 Engagement with Bookbug (Children/Adults attending Bookbug children/432 Adults) Sessions/Bookbug Bags/Bookbug Library Challenge4  4779 Bookbug Baby Bags  4990 Bookbug Toddler Bags

 3074 Bookbug Explorer Bags  Library Challenge: 919 children (2795 visits) [2018/19] Triple P Groupwork Outcomes (engagement, and % children with 133 families | 148 caregivers | 5 an improved SDQ score) 96% improvement [2018]

47 sessions delivered Engagement in Pop-Up Play sessions6 1674 parents/carers [2018/19]

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CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress 35-45% fluctuation over the year Waiting time: NHS Grampian CAMHS Performance against 18 [2017/18] (not currently available for week waiting time target 7 Aberdeenshire specifically)

Data not currently available at local 8 SALSUS: Scottish Adolescent Substance and Lifestyle Survey authority level. Awaiting 2018 SALSUS data [last data 2015]

Number of children and young people with ASN where the reason

9 530 children/young people [2018] recorded for support is ‘mental health problem’

CHILDREN WITH A DISABILITY Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

10 % school leavers with ASN in a positive destination 93.7% (90.5%) [2018]

Number of children in receipt of a Self-Directed Support 11 359 [2018/19] Package

Practitioners registered: 500+ Module evaluations: [2018/19] Engagement and impact of Understanding Sensory Behaviours M1: 100% M2:100%, M3:100% M4:97% ALDO Course12 (% who would recommend the course) Self-reported improvement post-course

in practitioner confidence levels 20%

SUBSTANCE USE Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress 14 per 1000 (14.5 per 1000) Rate of maternities with drug use (per 1000 maternities)13 [2015/16-2017/18] 40 per 100,000 (just over 100 per Rate of drug-related hospital stays for 11-25 year olds14 100,000) [2014/15-2016/17]

Rate of alcohol-related hospital stays for 11-25 year olds15 Under 200 [2014/15-2016/17]

Referral to SCRA where young person’s alcohol/substance misuse is a Alcohol <5 16 factor Substance misuse <5 [2018]

Number of children/young people excluded for reasons related to substance Alcohol 12 17 misuse Not Alcohol 19 [2017/18]

CORPORATE PARENTING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

% attendance/unauthorised absence of looked after children18 Attendance 90.4% Unauthorised absence 3.5% [2017/18] % School-leavers Looked After (for the whole year) achieving 1+ awards at 96% (76%) [2017/18] SCQF level 419

% of looked after school leavers in a positive destination20 80.9% (80.4%) [2018]

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CORPORATE PARENTING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress % of care leavers accessing supported accommodation together via T/C 20% [2018] team21 Number and % of care leavers sustaining their own tenancies engaged with 30 (53%) [2018] the service22

Number of new carers approved for adoption23 8 [2018]

Number of new carers approved for fostering24 15 [2018]

416 children/young people Number and % of looked after children with an allocated social worker25 98.8% [2018]

% of young people leaving care with a plan addressing health needs26 100% [2018]

% of young people leaving care engaged in education and employment27 57% [2018]

Number and % of young people over 17 remaining in their placement28 23% (25 young people) [2018]

Number and % of young people over 18 remaining in their placement29 10% (11 young people) [2018]

% of CEYP actively engaged with the TC/AC Team and who have a Pathways 80% [2018] Plan30 % of looked after young people who can identify their key contact in 100% [2018] school31 % of care experienced young people who have received coaching guidance 95% [2018] (SDS) in S4, 5 & 632 CORPORATE PARENTING Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline (national comparator) Progress

% of Looked After children engaged with SDS prior to leaving school33 96% [2018]

Participation levels of LAAC young people in Active Schools activities34 23.3% [2018]

35 Participation levels of LAAC young people in volunteering activities 5% [2018]

Number of referrals to Our Family Firm36 73 [2018]

Number of Our Family Firm Champions37 11 [2018]

% Care inspectorate quality gradings for Children’s and Young People’s 100% (25% Good/75% Very Good)

Homes at Good or above (Grading 4-6)38 [2018/19] % LAC Reviews where child’s views are clearly available to the Review 80% [2018/19]

Manager39 (12% Child too young/7% other reason) % children who received an initial LAC Health Assessment as a result of 94% [2018] becoming Looked After40

% of initial health assessments taking place within 8 weeks41 47% [2018]

WHOLE SYSTEM APPROACH/YOUTH JUSTICE Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline Progress

Number of young people (aged 8-15/age 16-17) committing crimes42 551/428

Number of offences 1277 offences [2018/19] % Young people who appear on 5 or less crimefiles 95% [2018/19]

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WHOLE SYSTEM APPROACH/YOUTH JUSTICE Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline Progress Young people referred to SCRA on offence grounds, where the reporter made 7 [2018/19] a decision to proceed to a Hearing Young people’s cases remitted from court to Children’s Hearing for <5 (increased) [2018/19] advice/disposal

Young people offered court support 62 (increased) [2018/19]

YOUNG CARERS Wellbeing Indicators Outcome Indicator / Performance Measure Baseline Progress

43 Number of young carers recorded in SEEMiS 148 [2018/19]

Number of young carers supported by Quarriers Young Carers Support 44 208 [2018/19] Service

45 Number of young carers participating in Quarriers events/learning sessions 152 [2018/19]

% of requests for a young carers statement met46 100% (180 young people) [2018/19]

1 ISD Scotland Dec 2018 https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/2018-12-11/2018-12-11-P1-BMI-Statistics-Publication-Report.pdf 2 ISD 2017 https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/data-tables2017.asp?id=2136#2136 3 Early Years Strategic Group 4 Live Life Aberdeenshire Library Service 5 Early Years Strategic Group

6 ECS Early Years’ Service 7 NHS Grampian 8 SALSUS Aberdeenshire http://committees.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=302&meetid=18671 9 Scottish Government Pupil Census Supplementary data 2018 10 Insight 2018 11 Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Social Work 12 Understanding Sensory Behaviours online ALDO course 13 IDS https://www.isdscotland.org/A-to-Z-Index/index.asp 14 IDS https://www.isdscotland.org/A-to-Z-Index/index.asp 15 IDS https://www.isdscotland.org/A-to-Z-Index/index.asp 16 Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA) 17 ECS AAE Return 2016/17, 2017/18 18 ECS AAE Return 2016/17, 2017/18 19 Scottish Government publication https://www.gov.scot/publications/education-outcomes-looked-children-2017-18/pages/3/ 20 Insight, Committee Report Analysis of Attainment 10/10/19 http://committeesinternal.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/committees.aspx?commid=494&meetid=19404 21 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 22 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 23 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 24 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 25 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 26 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 27 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 28 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 29 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 30 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 31 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 32 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 33 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 34 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 35 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 36 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 37 Corporate Parenting Action Plan 2019 38 Care Inspectorate 39 Aberdeenshire Council Children’s Services Social Work 40 NHS Grampian Looked After Child Service 41 NHS Grampian Looked After Child Service 42 Youth Justice Management Unit 2018/19 43 Young Carer Strategy Group (data from SEEMiS) 44 Quarriers Young Carers Support Service, 45 Quarriers Young Carers Support Service 46 Quarriers Young Carers Support Service

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Early Years

Early Years Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles 1 Develop and Support Early Years Forums (EYF’s) to deliver Nurtured, Active, 3, 5, 18, Improvement Plans (IP’s) based on the 5 EYSG Aims Healthy, Achieving, 24, 31 Included 2 By the time children start school, they will have developed Nurtured, Achieving 3, 5, 18 the language and communication skills to support them become confident communicators and successful learners (Building children’s communication and language to close the gap) 3 Families are connected into local support, groups and Healthy, Included, 3, 5, 18, activities within their community to promote their child’s Nurtured, Achieving 27 wellbeing and develop lifelong learning (Community Connectiveness) 4 Parents/Carers are able to develop loving, secure and reliable Healthy, Nurtured, 3, 5, 18, relationships with their children (Parenting Support) Included, Respected 24 5 All children are able to play daily (Play) Healthy, Active, 3, 5, 18, Nurtured 31

The Early Years Strategy Group (EYSG) is a Thematic Subgroup of the GIRFEC Strategic Group, and oversees delivery of the 5 Early Years strategic aims set out in the Children’s Service Plan 2017-2020 Parenting Support, Play, Closing the Early Language & Communication Gap, Connected Communities, and Supporting the Early Years Forums).

The Early Years Strategy Group (EYSG) leads multi-agency action (focussed on pre-birth to 8 years old) which helps to create resilient families. The group provides guidance and support to Early Years practitioners, services and forums, to ensure consistency, evidence-based practice, synergy with strategic aims, and to recognise and share good practice. The EYSG is responsible for continuous improvement and transformational change to improve Early Years outcomes, through delivering on the 5 agreed Early Years Strategic Aims.

The group is currently made up of representatives from:  Health & Social Care Partnership (Public Health, Child Health, Speech & Language)  Education & Children’s Services (Social Work, Early Years, Educational Psychology, Sport & Leisure, Communities & Partnerships)  Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action (AVA)  Early Years Forum Chairs Representatives

At a locality level, there are 17 Early Years Forums across Aberdeenshire, which are aligned to key settlements and the school clusters. The Early Years Forums deliver actions within their local community, focussed on the 5 Early Years strategic aims. Early Years Forums support multi- agency Early Years practitioners to work together to develop and deliver local joint Early Years Improvement Plans. Early Years Forums are open for all practitioners who support families with young children, with membership varied across the forums dependent on local arrangements. The range of practitioners involved across Aberdeenshire includes early years development workers, Primary Head/Depute Head Teachers, Nursery staff, Librarians, Family Support Workers, Health Visitors, Nursery Nurses, Childminders, Homestart, other Third Sector services, Speech & Language Therapists, Playgroup Leaders, and Educational Psychologists.

The group is responsible for continuous improvement and transformational change to improve early years outcomes, by delivering on 5 Early Years Strategic Aims (themes): parenting support, play, early language & communication, connected communities, and supporting 17 Early Years Forums. These have been identified and shaped by national drivers and an evidence base, which shows us that supporting parents to develop positive and loving home environments alongside effective early education, will support children to have the best start in life.

Good parenting and the opportunities for learning and development in those crucial years, alongside family background and parental education, matter more to children than money, in determining whether their potential is realised in adult life (1). There is a critical window in these formative years where interventions will have the greatest impact so it is essential we support all children to build the foundation skills upon which their later learning and development can develop.

The National Context The following national drivers have shaped our approach to improving Early Years outcomes in Aberdeenshire:

The Universal Health Visitor Pathway is central to local implementation of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. It integrates the Named Person role and provides a minimum home visiting programme to promote, support and safeguard the wellbeing of all children from pre-birth to pre-school.

The Early Years Collaborative and The Raising Attainment for All Programme are now collectively known as the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative,. They support public services to be effective and responsive in tackling inequality and

improving children's outcomes and aims to deliver quality improvement throughout a child's journey by adopting the Model for Improvement methodology to improve Early Years outcomes, attainment, and achievement.

Learning Together, Scotland’s National Action Plan on Parental Involvement, Parental Engagement, Family Learning and Learning at Home (2018-2021) sets out a vision that every parent and family should be supported to be involved and engaged in their child’s education, throughout their learning journey. The underpinning principals of this plan are that our priorities and approach should be guided by the needs and interests of the child and their family. Parents are the primary educators of children, and it is only through positive relationships (between families, and those working with children and young people) that we will achieve our aims.

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Locally, the Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2021: Learning Together in Aberdeenshire was developed to deliver on this policy.

Every Child, Every Chance: The Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan (2018) sets out action to address the proportionally higher cost of living for families on low incomes and to support parents into, stay in and progress in work. This is reflected within the Reducing Child Poverty priority of Aberdeenshire’s Local Outcomes Improvement Plan.

A Healthier Future: Scotland's Diet and Healthy Weight Delivery

Plan (2018), and A More Active Scotland: Scotland Physical Activity Delivery Plan (2018) highlight the importance of parents being supported to make

healthier choices for themselves

and their children.

This requires all practitioners who work with families to be armed with the knowledge and skills to be able to talk about being healthy, healthy weight, and encouraging active play.

The National Play Strategy for Scotland (2013) aims to improve play experiences for all children, and address our obligations in

relation to children’s right to play as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Play is an essential part of a happy, healthy childhood, and when children play, their brains develop. Play promotes wellbeing and supports children to achieve their full potential.

The National Parenting Strategy Making a Positive Difference to Children & Young People Through Parenting (2012) sets out to strengthen the support on offer for parents and make this easier to access, so that parents can positively make a difference to their child's development and are fully able to care for their children.

Early Years in Aberdeenshire

National Standardised Assessment Primary 1 (P1) The maps and tables below present 2018 data on early level P1 achievement in terms of literacy, numeracy and reading gathered as part of the national standard assessment process. This is based on the professional judgement of teachers within each school. The percentages are derived from the average per school within each respective cluster (an academy and its feeder primary schools). The maps also highlight the number of schools per cluster that recorded a score of below 75%. (It should be noted that three schools were associated with zero percentage figures. This has the effect of bringing the relevant Cluster average percentage figure down (Alford, Aboyne, Huntly).

Literacy % of P1 Achieving Early Level by School Cluster Fraserburgh: 4 primary schools <75%

Turriff : 2 primary schools <75%

Ellon: 3 primary schools <75%

Literacy % of P1 Achieving Early Level by School Cluster Fraserburgh: 4 primary schools <75%

Peterhead: 5 primary schools <75%

Meldrum: 5 primary schools <75%

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Numeracy % P1 Achieving Early Level By School Cluster Fraserburgh: 3 Primary Schools <75%

Northern Alliance Primary 1 Emerging Literacy Data (2018-2019)

Primary School practitioners from participating schools in Aberdeenshire undertook a Phonological Awareness Screen and Continuum, and the Pre-Handwriting Continuum to identify a baseline of their children’s foundational skills in reading and writing in P1.

The graph overleaf details the outcomes for P1 children, linked to deprivation (using Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD quintiles) information). What this data evidences, is an inequality gap between children from the most deprived and least deprived quintiles in Aberdeenshire across the phonological awareness skill set at the start of primary school. There is a 20% (or greater) gap for listening and attention, auditory discrimination and rhyme awareness and detection. The Northern Alliance has recommended that priority should be given the development of earlier phonological awareness skills through developmentally appropriate play experiences, rhymes, songs and stories. Aberdeenshire’s Early Years Strategy Group will further consider and develop a multi-agency response to ensure families are supported in these areas.

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Pre-writing skills are assessed looking at fine motor skills, scissor skills, and pre-handwriting pencil control. A variance in pre-writing skills can be seen between children from the most deprived and least deprived quintiles, and the table below demonstrates a 10% gap for 3 of the 7 measures.

Child Healthy Weight P1: ISD Body Mass Index Report of P1 Children (2017-18

The graphic below shows the overall proportion of P1 Children in Scotland (2017/2018) assessed as being underweight, at a healthy weight (between the 2nd and 85th BMI centile), or at risk of being overweight/obese. (ISD Scotland Dec 2018)

In 2017-2018, 77.3% of P1 children in Aberdeenshire had a healthy weight. In Aberdeenshire, this figure has fluctuated since the surveillance system was introduced in Grampian in 2009/2010 (ranging from 75.6% to 79.6% during this period). These changes have not been statistically significant however.

Child Health Surveillance Programme Pre-School The Universal health-visiting pathway requires three health and wellbeing reviews for every child (at age 13-15 months, 27-30 months and 4-5yrs). A standardised tool Ages and Stages 3 has now been introduced to assess communication, gross and fine motor skills, problem solving and personal/social skills. However, this tool has only been recently in use in Aberdeenshire and so is not reflected in the figures below. Health Visitors assess if a child has any areas of concern which require early intervention. The table below summarises the percentage of children identified as having one or more concerns (new and previously identified) at their 27-30 Month Review in 2017/2018, with a comparison between Aberdeenshire statistics and the national average.

ISD 27-30 Month Child Health Review Statistics: % of Children identified as having 1 or more concerns (2017/2018) Review Domain Aberdeenshire Scotland All Domains 9.12% 27.79% Social 1.06% 0.86% Emotional/Behavioural 1.16% 5.28% Problem Solving 0.73% 2.36% Vision 0.62% 1.86% Speech, language and communication 3.31% 10.72% Gross Motor 0.72% 2.31% Fine Motor 0.98% 2.88% Speech, language, communication 1.8% 10.8%

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The data shows that in Aberdeenshire, the 3 highest reported areas of identified concerns for young children are for emotional and behavioural concerns, social concerns, and in relation to their speech, language, and communication skills. Caution is needed in comparing Aberdeenshire and Scotland data until the Age and Stages 3 is fully rolled out and there is confidence in completion rates. It is proposed that an investigation into the variances in the data between Aberdeenshire and Scotland will be undertaken on behalf of the Early Years Strategy Group in 2019 to more fully understand these differences.

Year 1 Progress

Aim 1: Develop and Support Early Years Forums to Deliver Improvement Plans based on the Early Years Strategic Group Themes

There have been ongoing challenges throughout 2018/2019 to provide an appropriate level of support and guidance to further develop and strengthen Early Years Forums (EYF). Due to budget pressures, the fixed term Continuous Improvement Officer capacity supporting the 17 Early Years Forums came to an end. This is reflected in the reduction of Early Years Forums with an active Improvement Plan for 2018. Eight Early Years Forums currently have active improvement plans (47%) compared to 88% of Forums the previous year. The graph below shows the Improvement Plan focus for the 8 EYF’s.

Early Years Forums Improvement Plan Themes (2018/2019)

Early Years Priorities in Children's Service Plan 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Parenting Support Community Play Building Language Connectiveness and Communication

Joint meetings have been established, bringing the Early Years Forum Chairs together with the Early Years Strategy Group every quarter as a response to not having dedicated support capacity for the forums. This had an aim of developing a shared agenda bridging the gap between strategic thinking and operational delivery, and to improve communication and ensure multi-agency action on the agreed early years priorities. These meetings have been positive. An Early Years information leaflet was produced, to improve knowledge and understanding of the Early Years groups in Aberdeenshire, the joint Early Years priorities, and agreed actions. A celebration event was hosted in Summer 2018, which shared good practice across the Early Years Forums. This event highlighted the breadth of multi-agency work happening across Aberdeenshire by early years practitioners. Leadership of the forums has continued to be a challenge, and has restricted local progress with improvement plans. This situation is improving with continued commitment from services and the introduction of Early Years Senior Practitioner Posts (to increase Early Learning and Childcare provision), as they take on leadership roles within their local Early Years Forums. Joint work to develop a Learning and Development Programme for the Early Years Forums has been progressing, utilising support from Aberdeenshire’s Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative Improvement Advisor. This programme aims to support forum members to use Improvement methodology to develop and deliver their improvement plans and to enable shared learning across the forums. Capacity issues within the Early Years Strategy Group membership has slowed the implementation of this programme.

Aim 2: Build Children’s Early Communication and Language Skills

Aberdeenshire has continued to participate in the Northern Alliance Literacy Project looking at the communication skills attainment gap in young children beginning school. Through termly network sessions Speech and Language Therapists, Senior Early Years practitioners and Senior Managers from primary schools have implemented a broad range of improvement actions focussed on children’s foundation writing skills and phonological awareness. The Northern Alliance as a whole has reported a closing of the gap in children’s average Phonological Awareness scores between children living in the most deprived areas compared with children living in the medium and least deprived areas by the end of the P1 school year. The average “gaps” in children’s tripod grasp and pencil control skills, which are foundations of handwriting, have been eliminated. Focus on earlier intervention for pre-school children is now a priority to reduce the gaps between children when starting in P1. A range of good practice guidance and training has been made available to Early Years settings. Pupil Equity Funding has been used to purchase high quality intervention programmes from the Speech and Language Therapy Service. 82 early years practitioners from 8 schools have been trained and supported to use Talk Boost. This is a targeted intervention that narrows the gap in identified children with language delay and their peers. It is a 10-week programme delivered by trained teaching assistants that can boost a child’s communication by up to 18 months.

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To ensure consistent advice is available to parents/carers, the Babble to Banter Facebook page was launched by the Speech and Language Therapy Service. This contains high quality advice for parents/carers and professionals on developing speech, language, and communication skills. The Babble to Banter Facebook page now has 1500 followers.

To Support the development of communication and language rich environments; guidance and audit tools have been jointly developed by Speech and Language Therapists and Educational Psychologists. This work is currently on hold at the request of Aberdeenshire Council’s Additional Support Needs Team.

The Scottish Book Trust’s Bookbug Programme continues to be maintained and developed across Aberdeenshire. The aim is to encourage parents/carers to share stories, songs and rhymes with their children to develop a lifelong love of reading.

The programme consists of several strands:

 Bookbug Bags: Free bags of books for children at 4 stages of their development from 6 weeks to P1. The baby and toddler bags are gifted by health visitors; Explorer bags for 3 year olds are gifted at nurseries; and the P1 bags are gifted in schools. Libraries also gift bags to families as required.

 Bookbug Sessions: Free story, song and rhyme sessions run in libraries and other community spaces. This encourages parents to continue to sing, say rhymes and read books to their children at home, to increase literacy and numeracy skills

 Bookbug’s Library Challenge: This initiative encourages parents wito join their children to the library and collect stamps on their Bookbug card to gain certificates. It runs in all Aberdeenshire libraries from January to April each year with an aim of encouraging regular family visits to the library, and book-sharing.

 Scottish Bookbug Trust Training: This provided free to those in early years, health, social work, third sector and library services. It trains staff in gifting the bags, leading Bookbug Sessions and Story times, and methods to successfully introduce Bookbug to vulnerable families.

From April 2018 to March 2019, a total of 4779 Bookbug Baby (and 14 Gaelic Baby), 4990 Toddler (and 4 Gaelic Toddler) and 3074 Explorer (2 Gaelic Explorer) bags were gifted to children in Aberdeenshire.

This is a significant increase in the number of Bookbug Bags gifted to families, when compared to 2017/2018.

138 multi-agency practitioners in Aberdeenshire were trained in Scottish Bookbug Trust Training over 2018/2019.

Bookbug sessions give parents/carers and children the opportunity to participate in groups singing and saying nursery songs and rhymes, refreshing their memories of the traditional ones they may be familiar with, and providing an opportunity to learn new ones. Bookbug Session Leaders read a story aloud, which makes sessions as interactive as possible, modelling ways to engage young children, and suggesting other titles available in libraries, which families might enjoy together.

Attendance at Aberdeenshire Bookbug Sessions have increased year-on-year, as reflected in the table below:

Bookbug Sessions Delivered in Aberdeenshire Year (1 April-31 March) Bookbug Sessions Held Children attending Adults attending 2014/2015 447 6066 4893 2015/2016 630 8927 7290 2016/2017 631 9802 8128 2017/2018 696 10,153 8561 2018/2019 856 10,824 8762

In 2019, 919 children took part in the Bookbug Library Challenge in Aberdeenshire, with 165 new library members, and 2795 library visits by participants. Children had to make 4 visits to the library to complete the Challenge and receive a certificate, with 469 certificates issued indicating that 1876 return visits were made during this period.

An Elphinstone Institute/Aberdeenshire Council partnership project was delivered in 2 rural schools (Drumblade and Cairnie) with a pre-school group and primary pupils. This introduced families to traditional rhymes, songs, and playground games, with some in Doric or Scots and involved parents and children in developing language, literacy and vocal skills.

Bookbug Makaton sessions (which use symbols and signing for children with communication difficulties) were launched as planned over 2018/2019. 57 Bookbug Makaton Sessions were delivered by a volunteer in North Aberdeenshire, with 646 children and 432 adults attending these sessions. These sessions will continue over 2019/2020, and there are plans to offer some signed Bookbug Sessions in other areas of Aberdeenshire, following training of Bookbug Session Leaders.

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Aim 3: Community Connectiveness

The ALISS Programme is funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) as a way to connect people, communities, professionals and organisations, with an online service directory of what services are available in a local area. As a result of work with Aberdeenshire, development of Aberdeenshire Family information Service (AFIS) and ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) has been progressed to newly include Children & Families Services.

Further changes have been made as a result of feedback, and include a search function in relation to distance from a particular postcode, and ability to search a community area (such as Banchory or Peterhead) rather than just by postcode.

Aberdeenshire Family Information Service (AFIS) will continue to use ALISS as a key source of information, when signposting parents/carers to activities or support beyond Childcare (found via families.scot.uk). AFIS have been promoting and delivering training on the purpose and use of ALISS to Early Years Development Workers and Out of School Club Staff to also support them in signposting Parents/Carers where this is appropriate, and to encourage other services to add their information to ALISS, and signpost via AFIS if appropriate. When information or suitable services/ activities are not available, AFIS will highlight this to the relevant person/group and support targeted promotion of ALISS where relevant. AVA (Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action) has also delivered a range of training and support to Third Sector community groups and organisations, to encourage them to add their services and activities to ALISS.

The Family Learning Team have identified four Aberdeenshire schools with which to begin delivery of the Family Learning approach (Johnshaven, Fraserburgh North, New Pitsligo and Meethill in Peterhead).

Schools were identified using criteria based on rural isolation and/or indicators of SIMD, and include a range of school sizes. Initial meetings with each Head Teacher and Parent Council Chair have been followed up with meetings together with the wider parent body in each school community, to define what is meant by Family Learning and identify what support they may need to embed this.

Aim 4: Parenting Support

The Early Years Strategic Group has an aim at implementing a tiered model of evidenced-based locally available parenting support, which ensures the right level of support is provided at the right time. Over the past two years the Early Years Strategy Group has overseen provision of training for Early Years practitioners and delivery of specific parenting programmes, namely Triple P, PEEP and Infant Massage. The funding and support arrangements has been a mixture of time limited national support and funding through the Psychology of Parenting Programme, local partnership capacity, and ad hoc funding. Evaluations have demonstrated positive outcomes for families participating in these programmes.

In recognition of the need to have a sustainable delivery model to continue to provide evidenced based parenting support programmes a scoping exercise is being overseen by the Early Years Strategy Group. To date this work has gathered existing multi-agency service data and qualitative feedback from families to quantify the demand and need across Aberdeenshire, reviewed the effectiveness evidence of current programmes used, and identified delivery models adopted elsewhere in Scotland.

The next stage of scoping is to match identified needs to specific programme outcomes and to propose the delivery model/s to be adopted in Aberdeenshire. It is hoped that the preferred delivery model will be implemented by 2020 – which is when the short term funding secured ceases.

Triple P Groupwork

Over 2018, The Early Years Strategy Group has continued to work with NHS Education Scotland (NES) to provide Triple P Groupwork to families of young children experiencing behavioural difficulties. A standardised tool known as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is used to assess a child’s behaviour pre and post programme, with Triple P group work aimed at children with an SDQ score of 17 or more.

67% of families enrolled in Aberdeenshire Triple P Groups in 2018, presented with an initial SDQ of 17 or over, which is comparable to the national average of (67%). As shown in the table below, 133 families participated in Aberdeenshire Triple P Groups in 2018, with the greatest number of referrals (45%) made by Health Visitors. 148 caregivers (34 male, 114 female) were supported through delivery of the programme, which is an increase of 2.5 times from participant numbers in 2017.

Triple P Groupwork Delivery (Aberdeenshire)

Year Families Participating Caregivers

2017 56 73

2018 133 148

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Of the 133 families enrolled, 75 completed pre and post SDQs. Of this sample, 96% showed an improved SDQ score at the end of Triple P Groupwork intervention, which reflects better outcomes than the national average (81%). Caregivers Post SDQ feedback showed that following completion of Triple P Groupwork, 57 children (76%) had moved out of the high risk category, 36 children 63%) had moved into the normal range, and 13 children (23%) had moved to borderline.

Aberdeenshire Triple P Groupwork Outcomes (2018) Set Size Number % Number of children with improved SDQ score 77 72 96% Out of all children enrolled 133 72 54% Number of children moved out of high risk category by end of 57 49 86% intervention Moved into normal range 57 36 63%

Summary of Aberdeenshire Parenting Support Provision (2017) Type of Support Practitioners trained Parenting Support Delivered Triple P (PoPP) 20 56 Families (73 Caregivers) PEEP 20 61 Caregivers (63 chidlren) Infant Massage 20 214 Families

Aim 5: Play

Development of Aberdeenshire’s Play Policy

A multi-agency Aberdeenshire Play Policy developed by the EYSG was launched in 2018, and is now used across Aberdeenshire to promote high quality play which supports all children in Aberdeenshire to enjoy accessible and inclusive everyday play opportunities. Early Years Development Workers and Early Years Senior Practitioners are supporting Early Years Forums to consider the importance of providing and promoting play opportunities in their local community. There has been a focus on developing a high quality play- based curriculum in Schools, Early Years settings, Playgroups, and with Childminders.

A tracking tool has been developed which enables staff in settings to assess the progress of children within a high quality play based environment. This is due to be trialled in settings over 2019/2020 to provide evidence of the impact on children’s attainment and outcomes, and the extent to which the attainment gap is being narrowed. NESOLG is a formal association of outdoors learning partners with a key objective of advancing education for all, in and through the use of the outdoors. 15 Early Years practitioners have been trained on North East Scotland Outdoor Learning Group’s (NESOLG) Early Years in Nature course over 2018/2019. 8 Principal Teachers/Early Years Senior Practitioners also attended Froebel training at the University of Edinburgh.

This enhanced Early Years skills and knowledge base is now being shared and implemented through practitioner support provided to Schools, which helps them to develop high quality indoor and outdoor play environments. Funding has been agreed to support this as part of a rolling programme of improvements over 2018-2020. PEEP programme/sessions which have been delivered, also support parents to understand their role in supporting high quality play. (2018 data not available). Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement processes are being developed and supported by Principal Teachers and Early years Development Workers in their work across schools, partner providers, Childminders and groups within the community. This ensures increased awareness and understanding both of the importance of providing high quality play environments, and expectations of this being delivered across the partnership.

Pop-Up Play Pop up Play sessions have been provided by partners during school holiday times. These help parents to understand the importance of play and spending time together with children in and outside the home. Sessions promote the importance of speech and language development and time to talk. Participating parents develop an understanding of the importance of giving their time and ideas of low/no cost activities which help children to develop skills in readiness for school. Over 2018/2019 47 Pop-Up Play Sessions were delivered at 46 locations across Aberdeenshire. Participating parents developed an understanding of the importance of giving their time to children, learned about low/no cost activities which help children develop skills in readiness for school.

Aberdeenshire Pop-Up Play Sessions (2018/2019) Number of Sessions Delivered 47 Number of Parents/Carers 1674** **Data based on responses to Facebook Events - Revised attendance recording will be in place for 2019/2020

As part of Family Nurture approaches delivered within Aberdeenshire Schools and Early Years settings, staff and family members have been provided with training, with an increase in Stay and Play sessions provided.

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A training audit is currently being undertaken to support the provision of play-based interventions across Aberdeenshire. A training facility is being developed at Midmill School and this is anticipated to open in 2019/2020. This will include an Early Years play and learning space for practitioners to visit.

Collaborative Working in the Early Years

As a result of discussion with Aberdeenshire Council’s New Syrian Scot Resettlement Team on service delivery improvement for families with young children, a multi-agency event has been planned for June 2019. This seminar will be co-hosted by the Early Years Strategy Group and Resettlement Team and is aimed at Early Years practitioners, educators, health professionals, and New Scot young families themselves, to highlight and discuss a number of ongoing challenges. These are primarily around, language, communication, engaging in early years' activities. The event is intended to co-produce solutions to achieve improved outcomes through these discussions.

Liaison between the Chairs and members of the Early Years Strategy Group and Mental health and Wellbeing Thematic Group acknowledged the benefit of developing a multi- agency position statement and agreed approach towards Adverse Childhood Experiences. Initial scoping work has been initiated and will be overseen by a short -life working group with membership from both Thematic Groups. This builds on previous discussion around joint work to improve multi-agency awareness and approaches to families affected by living with experiences of the ‘Toxic Trio’ (Domestic Abuse, Substance Misuse, Mental Health).

Parental Involvement and Voice of the Child

In 2018 a broad range of parental and family engagement has been undertaken to develop the approach to Family Learning In Aberdeenshire. Discussion sessions have been taken forward in Fraserburgh North Primary, New Pitsligo and Johnshaven. Meethill, and Turriff with representatives of the parent councils, to explore their understanding and experience of family learning. In New Pitsligo and Johnshaven sessions were held with a wider group of parents to look at the same. Sessions with parents from the remaining schools are arranged. A session is also being held in HMP Grampian to understand parent’s expectations of family learning who are in prison.

Families are routinely involved in providing active feedback across our services informing how early years services and programmes are shaped to meet families’ needs. For example Book Bug, parenting programmes, family nuture approaches. Going forward this good practice will be built on to ensure parents and their child’s voice shape early years services, activities and programmes.

Good Practice Examples

 Portlethen Early Years Forum presented work at the Royal College of SLT Speech Sound Disorders Clinical Excellence network on their multi- agency work supporting Phonological awareness.

 Aberdeenshire PoPP continues to deliver high quality parenting support to families with children with behavioural issues. Improvements reported by Aberdeenshire families are better than the national average.

 Following the parenting support subgroup meetings to look at data from different services to inform what parenting programmes we need to deliver, the Educational Psychology Service has now looked at their own data collation across their service regarding reasons for EPS involvement- this was for a broader purpose than early years. However this will now allow for specific data for children under 5 to be collated going forward and this data will become part of the wider multi-agency data set for early years

Areas for Development

Sustaining Early Years Forums: Attendance and leadership of the local Early Years Forums (EYF) has continued to be a challenge. Over the last year the focus has been on building good communication with Forum Chairs, providing clear direction, and shared priorities. Through the provision of the proposed EYF learning and development programme, it is hoped that all forums will develop an improvement plan focussed on the agreed Early Years priorities and develop the skills to measure progress.

Development of Early Phonological Awareness Skills: The Northern Alliance has recommended that priority should be given the development of earlier phonological awareness skills through developmentally appropriate play experiences, rhymes, songs and stories. The Early Years Strategy Group will further consider and develop a multi-agency response to ensure families are supported and to reduce gap between children living in the most deprived and least deprived areas.

Performance Measures and Data: Further support to identify appropriate performance data is required, including further involvement of families in helping to measuring performance, and plan processes.

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Early Years Strategy Group Capacity and Resources: Limited progress has been made on some Early Years Priorities due to limited capacity to lead developments, e.g the play forum. The scale of transformation and change has been limited by access to resources to deliver on the agreed priorities.

Multi-Agency Added Value to the 1140 Hours Expansion: Implications and opportunities associated with the expansion of 1140 hours and enhanced provisions have not been fully appreciated or realised, due to lack of representation/engagement.

Parents and Children Voices inform Service Developments: Building on good practice, further emphasis will be placed on ensuring that parents and children are actively involved in shaping Early Years services and programmes.

Focus for Year 3

Over 2019/2020, the Early Years Strategy group will:

 Improve engagement and participation by key services in the Early Years Strategy Group, and provide leadership on agreed actions including a review and refresh of the Early Years Strategy Group Action Plan

 Provide support for Early Years forum to develop and deliver improvement plans

 Consider and enhance the multi-agency support available to families to develop early phonological skills before their child starts school

 Ensure sustainable model of delivering agreed Parenting support programmes is in place

 Establish the Play Forum to oversee multi-agency actions to support appropriate play experiences for children 0-8yrs

 Consider multi-agency opportunities to support Family Learning for families with young children

 Fully consider the opportunities that the 1140 expansion offers to work together to meet the needs of families with young children

Children & Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing

Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing No Aim Wellbeing Indicators UNCRC Articles 1 Children and young people have a voice in Respected, Responsible 3, 12, 13, improvements that impact on their mental health Included 17 and wellbeing 2 To work in partnership with parents and carers to Healthy, Nurtured, Respected 3, 4, 6, 18, promote positive mental health and wellbeing Included 24, 25 3 There is a culture of Capacity Building and Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, 3, 4, 6, 18, Continuous Professional Development for all those Respected, Responsible 24, 25,39 supporting children and young people in Included promoting positive mental health and wellbeing 4 There is strong and purposeful leadership around Safe, Healthy, Achieving, 3, 4, 6, 18, the development of mental health and wellbeing Active, Responsible Included 19, demonstrated at all levels 24,25,29 5 The culture of self-evaluation is embedded in Safe, Healthy, Nurtured, 3, 4, 5, 12, practice to bring about continuous improvement in Respected Included 18, 19, 25. mental health and wellbeing 6 Appropriate services and supports are available Safe, Healthy, Achieving, 3, 4, 6, 12, through a staged intervention process to promote Nurtured, Active, Respected, 18, 19, 24, positive mental health and wellbeing Responsible Included 25, 31, 39 7 Monitor the impact / outcomes of the actions at Safe, Healthy, Achieving, 3, 4, 6, 12, population level. Nurtured, Active, Respected, 18, 19, 24, Responsible Included 25, 31, 39

The GIRFEC Mental Health Thematic Group reports to the GIRFEC Strategic Group, making recommendations about multi-agency improvement activity designed to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes for children and young people in Aberdeenshire.

Membership of the GIRFEC Mental Health Thematic Group is comprised of representation from Educational Psychology, Primary and Secondary Schools, Community Learning & Development, Children’s Services Social Work, Active Schools, Police, Public Health, CAMHS and the Third Sector. A Local GIRFEC Group chairperson has now joined the GIRFEC Mental Health Thematic Group in order to strengthen the bond between strategic planning and operational practice.

The vision of the Mental Health Group is that: Aberdeenshire’s Children and Young people are mentally flourishing.

The broad aims of the group are outlined in Aberdeenshire’s Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy (2016-2019) and are to:

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 Improve outcomes in all children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing (with particular consideration of the most vulnerable, such as care experienced children)

 Ensure children and young people’s voices are listened to when planning services

 Support increased confidence in the multi-agency workforce, parents and carers, in promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and when supporting children and young people experiencing difficulties

 Improve awareness of mental health and wellbeing provision for children and young people, and how to access this

 Improve outcomes in all children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing (with particular consideration of the most vulnerable, such as care experienced children)

 Ensure children and young people’s voices are listened to when planning services

 Support increased confidence in the multi-agency workforce, parents and carers, in promoting positive mental health and wellbeing, and when supporting children and young people experiencing difficulties

 Improve awareness of mental health and wellbeing provision for children and young people, and how to access this

 Remove and overcome any barriers and stigma encountered by children and young people who experience mental health problems

 Ensure lifelong learning, and engagement at key stages, supports children and young people’s development of skills and knowledge, with increased capacity to face the challenges of life which can impact mental health

The Mental Health Thematic Group recognises that mental health is not simply the absence of mental illness. Rather, it is a wide continuum ranging from optimal wellbeing to poor mental health to diagnosable mental illness, with many states in between which can fluctuate over time.

In 2014, Knapp and Lemmi found that approximately 75% of young people with mental health problems were not in contact with specialist mental health services, and a significant proportion of mental health issues were more likely to come to light through conduct disorder and criminal justice routes. Since that time the pressure on specialist services such as CAMHS has increased further still, with referrals increasing by 22% between 2013 and 2018 (Audit Scotland, 2018). It is therefore unlikely that supply of specialist services will ever meet demand without significant investment in preventative practices that promote good mental health, and targeted early intervention approaches which prevent the need for specialist mental health support. As such, prevention and early intervention is the key focus of the Mental Health Thematic Group.

National Context

The following national drivers provide a context within which our approach to improving mental health and wellbeing outcomes in Aberdeenshire is shaped:

 Getting it Right for Every Child sets out the national policy ambition to improve outcomes and support all children and young people’s wellbeing, doing so through prevention, early intervention, and timely targeted support where extra help is needed

 The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is moving to legislatively secure coordinated support for children and young people through a Child’s Plan, based on assessment of wellbeing

 Education Scotland’s Health and Wellbeing 3-18 Curricular Impact Report (2013) highlights how effective learning supports positive health and wellbeing, and vice versa with the impact of this inter-dependency most acute during the crucial early childhood to adolescent developmental period. It emphasises the role of all staff in early years, schools, and their community partners in working together to tackle health issues and inequalities facing children, young people and their families

 Mental Health Strategy: 2017-2027 outlines the Scottish Government ambition for prevention and treatment of mental health problems to be treated with the same commitment, passion and drive as physical health problems. It focuses on better support for prevention and early intervention services (tiers 1 and 2); increasing the mental health workforce, improved access to treatment and information, and service user voices in planning support. The role of counselling in schools is being reviewed, with a forum of key mental health stakeholders established to help guide implementation of the strategy’s actions over the coming years.

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 Scotland’s Year of Young People #YOYOP2018 identified six key themes, which were developed by young people. One of these themes was Health and Wellbeing with an aim of making sure young people have the chance to lead healthy, active lives and understand the importance of mental health and resilience

 The 2018-19 Programme for Government included a commitment to invest in school counselling support services across education in Scotland, ensuring that every secondary school will be able to access counselling services, with availability to local primary and special schools. This enhances the work schools already do to support children and young people to learn about mental wellbeing as part of health and wellbeing in Curriculum for Excellence.

In June 2018, an independent Children and Young People's Mental Health Taskforce was jointly commissioned by the Scottish Government and COSLA; with an aim that children, young people, their families, and carers, should feel supported in good mental health and able to access services which are local, responsive, and delivered by people with the right skills.

The Taskforce views preventative approaches as central to transformational change, with equal importance placed on a whole systems approach underpinned by Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC).

Key areas of focus and a proposed delivery plan were published in December 2018.

This signalled that improvement and reform of the system of children and young people's mental health services was required through:  Stronger focus on prevention, social support and early intervention;

 A wider range of more generic, less specialist interventions to free up specialist services to see those in most need of them; and

 Better information and understanding for the public, and all agencies and services, of where emotional distress, mental health and mental wellbeing problems are best supported.

The Taskforce’s concluding recommendations to the Scottish Government and COSLA are due to be published in July 2019.

Mental Health and Wellbeing in Aberdeenshire

It is estimated that one in ten children need support or treatment for a mental health condition, ranging from short spells of depression or anxiety through to severe and persistent conditions that are massively disruptive, frightening and life threatening for those who experience them. By age 16, roughly 3 children in every Scottish classroom will have experienced a mental health problem (Gordon & Platt 2017). Mental health outcomes are poorer for those living in less affluent circumstances, and there is a higher prevalence of mental health problems for care experienced young people (Gordon & Platt, 2017). Generally speaking, older boys and girls (S4) have poorer mental health than younger boys and girls (S2) (Gordon & Platt, 2017). Children and young people with emotional and mental health difficulties are more likely to have disrupted education, behavioural issues, school attendance issues, and lower educational attainments and achievements. Mental health problems in childhood can also have significant consequences in later life, including anti-social and criminal behaviour, substance misuse, unemployment, social exclusion, mental health problems and poor quality of life (Knapp & Lemmi, 2014; Department of Health, 2014) Developing a clear picture of the mental health of Aberdeenshire’s children and young people at a population level, is complex and difficult. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) data is only available at Grampian-wide level, and cannot currently be broken down into Aberdeenshire-specific information at this time. Further challenges relate to information-sharing legislation, and organisational governance in relation to sharing population-level information between partner agencies. Currently available data has significant limitations both due to small numbers of data points, which do not support identification of trends, and the most recent Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey SALSUS data is out of date (2015). The Scottish Government commissioned Ipsos MORI to conduct the 2018 wave of SALSUS with fieldwork taking place between November 2018 and January 2019. This collected responses from over 30 000 young people, and will provide both national and local level data once it becomes available.

The Scottish Government national Scottish Schools Health & Wellbeing Census will also support Aberdeenshire to gather, process and analyse its own mental health data to drive improvements.

There will be seven questionnaires undertaken at different school stages (P5/6, P7, S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5/6). Each Local Authority will gather the same information across a broad range of topics, in a consistent, reliable and robust way. This will ensure each Local Authority holds the same local information, which once shared with the Scottish Government will enable them to create a national picture of the health and wellbeing of children and young people across Scotland.

Gathering this evidence at a local level will also allow Local Authorities to identify and drive forward improvement activity where it is needed, and to monitor whether improved outcomes can be seen as a result of this.

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The Census is anticipated to go live from Autumn 2019, with local authorities choosing to carry out their census locally between September 2019 and March 2020. The Scottish Government will expect to receive initial data in June 2020 and aims to publish the first set of national results in December 2020.

Young People’s Views

In spring 2019. Aberdeenshire Youth Forum (AYF) in partnership with the Community Learning and Development (CLD) Service Work With Young People (WWYP) Team, undertook a survey completed by 2401 young people. This represents 16% of all Aberdeenshire secondary school pupils. The survey consisted of 5 questions and sought to find out what young people in Aberdeenshire think about their communities, what they liked, what they were concerned about, and what their interest was in working with others to improve their local communities. As can be seen from the graph below, Mental Health & Wellbeing was identified as an issue in the community by a relatively small proportion of young people in Aberdeenshire (11%).

However, it is important to note that a variety factors known to correlate with poor mental health were identified as areas of concern for young people. For example, substance misuse can lead to long-term mental health problems, and people with poor mental health may use drugs or alcohol to attempt self-medication. Studies have demonstrated that being a victim of bullying is associated with a wide range of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, suicide attempts and substance misuse (Moore et al, 2017). Researchers at the University College London found that heavy use of social media was linked to negative self-image, low self-esteem and depression in young teens. The findings of this study have implications for the future focus of Aberdeenshire’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Thematic Group, and this will be explored further during planned stakeholder consultations in Year 3 of the Plan.

Year 2 Progress

Aims: (4) There is strong and purposeful leadership around the development of mental health and wellbeing demonstrated at all levels; and (1) Children and young people have a voice in improvements that impact on their mental health and wellbeing

Four senior pupils from Inverurie Academy played a key role in the creation of a film that aims to highlight the importance of Leadership in improving mental health outcomes.

Young people were filmed alongside senior leaders from Education and Children’s Services, Police Scotland, NHS Grampian, and the Third Sector, promoting the message that everyone has an important role to play in supporting good mental health. The film will be promoted across Aberdeenshire during 2019/2020.

Young people who are involved in Aberdeenshire’s Pupil Participation Forum, have indicated that they would like to develop mental health resources for young people.

During 2019/2020 the Pupil Participation Forum will be invited to review and provide feedback on the content and format of the Mental Health E-learning Modules being developed as part of the professional learning matrix. These modules will then be made available for the Pupil Participation Forum to adapt and use as they feel appropriate to inform development of their own mental health resources.

Young people from Mearns Youth Forum co-produced a Year of Young People #YOYP218 Signature Event with a theme of Mental Health and Wellbeing Awareness.

This took place as planned at Mearns Community Campus in June 2018.

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Aim 3: There is a culture of Capacity Building and Continuous Professional Development for all staff supporting children and young people in promoting positive mental health and wellbeing

Multi-Agency Mental Health & Wellbeing Professional Learning Matrix

Development of the multi-agency professional learning matrix has continued over Year 2. This will identify minimum levels of mental health training for all adults who come into contact with children and young people as part of their jobs.

The aim is to increase workforce confidence and competence in promoting good mental health and responding appropriately to signs of mental ill-health in children and young people. Drawing on Aberdeenshire’s existing Child Protection Training framework, the multi-agency workforce will be divided into three main categories, each with access to a specified core level of mental health training, as outlined below:

Aberdeenshire Multi-agency Mental Health & Wellbeing Professional Learning Matrix Workforce Description Category

Category 1: Defined as those who are likely to come into contact with children and young General Contact people as part of their everyday job, but do not carry out personal or in- Workforce depth work with them.

Category 2: Defined as those who carry out direct work with children and young people Specific Contact and form more in-depth relationships with them. Category 2 workers will Workforce access a blend of face-to-face and e-learning.

Category 3: Defined as those who have a direct role in carrying out targeted Targeted Contact interventions with children and young people for whom there is a mental Workforce health concern.

Category 1: An online Mental Health & Wellbeing Training Module for the General Contact Workforce is currently in production, and will be launched during 2019/2020.

Category 2: Plans are underway to provide single and multi-agency access to Mental Health First Aid training for the Specific Contact Workforce. This is an NHS-accredited course, which provides a skills-based programme for adults who support young people between the ages of 11 and 17.

A suite of e-learning modules is also being developed to raise awareness of everyday support strategies in the following areas:

 Depression and low mood  Bereavement  Anxiety  Self-harm Category 3: A range of bespoke professional learning opportunities will be developed to enhance skills, knowledge and confidence within the Targeted Contact Workforce to provide targeted mental health support. Category 3 training opportunities will be signposted through Aberdeenshire’s GIRFEC Website.

Participation in Category 3 training will be agreed through appropriate line management and supervision structures, with decisions based on the priorities of individual services. Professionals carrying out targeted mental health assessment and intervention work with children and young people will work within the scope of their job description, professional competency frameworks, professional standards and codes of practice.

Aim 5: The culture of self-evaluation is embedded in practice to bring about continuous improvement in mental health and wellbeing

A presentation on Aberdeenshire’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy and piloting of the self- evaluation tool, was delivered at the Education and Children’s Services Big Picture Day in April 2018. With approximately 250 cross-service managers and leaders in attendance, this helped to raise awareness of the Strategy, the tool, and the wider work of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Thematic Subgroup.

Aim 6: Appropriate services and supports are available through a staged intervention process to promote positive mental health and wellbeing

LIAM Project

During 2018/2019, the main focus of activity has been on the piloting the Let’s Introduce Anxiety Management (LIAM) Project. The aim of LIAM is to develop practitioner skills in supporting children and young people who are experiencing anxiety that does not meet the criteria for a CAMHS referral, by using a Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) informed approach. Research suggests CBT has an approximate 50-60% success rate (CAMHS Matrix, 2015).

LIAM Project training includes an on-line module, and 2 days of face-to-face direct learning delivered by CAMHS. 6-8 individual sessions take place between the practitioner and the child or young person. Follow-up skills coaching and case review sessions are provided by NHSG CAMHS, to support staff to develop the required skills and ensure the intervention is delivered safely and effectively.

To-date, the LIAM Project has been piloted in three areas of Aberdeenshire; Portlethen, Inverurie and Banchory. Each area has adopted a slightly different model based on the needs/requirements of their local area. 44 professionals have been trained in Aberdeenshire, including Pupil Support Workers, Community Learning and Development Workers, School Nurses, Teachers, and Pupil Support Assistants.

Early Aberdeenshire data has provided an indication of the extent to which these pilots have achieved the outcomes set out by the LIAM Project.

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Practitioner Feedback

Feedback from practitioners involved in the Aberdeenshire LIAM Project Pilot reflected:

Successes

 Observations suggested that a number of children who had received the intervention appeared to be less anxious.  Participating practitioners have indicated that the training has been useful and allowed them to provide an intervention the young person may not otherwise have had access to.  LIAM was viewed as being a valuable resource to have available by the majority of practitioners

Challenges

 Some practitioners who were trained in LIAM, had not had time to deliver the intervention to children and young people.  Not all practioners had attended the follow-up coaching sessions with CAMHS, which is an integral part of the training.  Not all referrals for LIAM were appropriate. Further training has been developed to improve understanding of the LIAM criteria and it is intended that further work will be carried out over 2019/2020 to ensure that LIAM interventions are embedded within single or multi- agency Child’s Planning processes.

LIAM Pilot Participation

 24 children/young people completed the programme and returned post-LIAM feedback. A further 10 young people (aprox) have completed the programme (feedback awaited).  13 Secondary School young people completed the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) and Young Person CORE (measuring current global psychological distress), and 11 Primary School children completed the RCADS.

Impact of LIAM Intervention - Pilot Evaluation Data (NHS Grampian)

60 Pre and Post Liam RCADS Anxiety and Depression Scale 50

40 Based on feedback 30 data, the graph (left) 20 shows a reduction in reported anxiety and 10 depression following 0 completion of the Pre Liam Post Liam LIAM Programme.

30 Pre and Post Liam RCADS

25 Anxiety and Depression Scale

20 Feedback indicated 15 anxiety and depression ratings had moved 10 from the moderate- severe, to mild range 5 of symptoms following 0 completion of the Pre Liam Post Liam LIAM Programme.

Participating children and young people were also asked to rate how close they felt to achieving their individual goals (56 goals rated overall).

Pre and Post Liam Goal Achievement

The above graph shows an increase in reported goal achievement following completion of the LIAM Programme.

Next Steps NHS Grampian have indicated they have additional capacity to continue this work, and would be keen to support additional clusters in delivering the LIAM Programme over the 2019/2020 academic year.

The GIRFEC Mental Health and Wellbeing Thematic Group are awaiting the national review of LIAM being completed by NES which will provide further data on its effectiveness.

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Service Mapping

ALISS (A Local Information System for Scotland) is an online programme funded by the Scottish Government and administered by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland. Work is underway to utilise ALISS to ensure that Aberdeenshire families and professionals are able to search for services that promote good mental health, and/or provide support to those who are experiencing poor mental health, within their locality.

During 2019/2020 the GIRFEC Mental Health Group will work in partnership with service providers and ALISS Administrators to map services across one Aberdeenshire locality, with a view to rolling the process out across the remaining 16 localities during 2020-21.

Aim 7: Monitor the impact/outcomes of actions of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Action Plan at the population level.

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Thematic Subgroup continues to explore and establish measures which are meaningful and relevant. As was acknowledged in the 2017/2018 Annual Report, gathering data is an ongoing challenge, as this type of information is not possible to routinely collate as part of the staged intervention approach at present. Data from processes relating to individuals is always subject to limitations including data protection considerations, accuracy of recording, and limitations of organisational recording systems. Information such as the updated SALSUS (2019) results, alongside other measures outlined in the Schools Health and Wellbeing Census should help to build further on this picture over 2019/2020.

Good Practice Example: Aberdeenshire Mental Health & Wellbeing Strategy

Aberdeenshire’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy was highlighted as a case study, by Audit Scotland in the Policy and Strategic Direction section of Audit Scotland’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health Report (September 2018).

Children with a Disability

Children with a Disability No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Articles Indicators 1.1 Increase awareness of key stakeholders around issues of Safe, Nurtured 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, child protection and disability Respected 14, 16, 18, 19, 25, 27, 33, 34, 36 1.2 Strengthen skills of frontline practitioners and managers Safe, Nurtured 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, to identify and respond to concerns of children Respected 16, 18, 19, 25, 27, protection and disability 33, 34 ,36 1.3 Review partnership policy and practice to ensure key Safe, Nurtured 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, principles of child protection and disability are Respected 14, 16, 18, 19, 25, addressed 27, 33, 34, 36 1.4 To ensure the voice of the child and young person with Safe Responsible 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, disabilities is heard in child protection processes Respected 16, 18, 19, 23, 33, Included 34, 36 2.1 To map current identification, diagnostic and Healthy 3, 5, 6, 24. care/support processes and pathways for ASD (at Nurtured individual and systemic levels), identifying commonalities, variations, gaps and changes required 2.2 To develop multi-agency pathway framework for ASD Healthy 3, 5, 6, 23, 24 (at individual and systemic levels): early identification; Nurtured assessment; intervention/support; ongoing monitoring Included and review. 2.3 To develop awareness and capacity of universal and Healthy, 2, 3, 5, 6, 17, 23, 24 targeted/specialist service practitioners to support Nurtured, children and young people with ASD and their families Respected through training and information sharing Included

The Children with a Disability Thematic Subgroup has a focus on actively seeking, promoting and supporting high quality outcomes for disabled children and young people in Aberdeenshire.

It’s 3 aims are:  Child Protection and Disability  Multi-agency Pathways and processes for Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC)  Post-School Transitions for Young People with Disabilities

The group is currently made up of representatives from:  NHS Grampian/ Health & Social Care Partnership (Allied Health Professionals)  Education (ASN Manager, Educational Psychology, Transitions Officer)  Social Work (Social Work Manager, Project Coordinator (Disabilities))

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Thematic Subgroup members are connected with national improvement activity, for example the Child Protection and Disability Network, and the Scottish Government Improvement Team (Autism Improvement Programme).

National Context

The following national drivers have shaped approaches to improving outcomes for children and young people with a disability in Aberdeenshire:

 The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act (2004) (as amended 2009) This Act was structured around the concept of support being needed for any reason, for short or long term periods determined by the individual learning needs of a child or young person. The key duties on education authorities are to identify, make provision for, and review provision for the additional support needs of children and young people for whose education they are responsible.

 The Equality Act (2010) imposed a duty on authority employees to make reasonable adjustments where someone with a disability is at substantial disadvantage compared to someone without a disability, to provide an auxiliary aid if this would reduce the disadvantage, and to take steps to ensure information is presented in an accessible format.

 The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014

 National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland (2014)

Children with a Disability in Aberdeenshire

Children’s Services continue to strengthen approaches in meeting Additional Support Needs in health and education services and beyond, through providing universal, targeted and specialist supports for children and young people. This both delivers on, and is informed by, a number of Aberdeenshire strategic priorities and Plans, including:

 Aberdeenshire Council Priorities

Provide the best life chances for all our children and young people by raising levels of attainment and achievement,

Work with parents and carers to support children through every stage of their development

 National Improvement Framework Plan

 Educational Psychology Service Improvement Plan

 Young Carer Strategy and Adult Carer Strategy

 Social Work Continuous Improvement for Children’s Services Plan

 Aberdeenshire Autism Strategy

Approaches to devolving budgets and resources have continued to be explored over2018/2019, in order to promote local flexibility and responsiveness in meeting Additional Support Needs of children and young people, and to empower school leaders and their partners in strengthening the local service offer available to families. NHS Grampian have continued to work together with school settings over 2018/2019 to develop centres of excellence in total communication, and outreach service models for Specific Language Impairment. The Wrap-Around Care Model is implemented in 5 of the 9 areas of Aberdeenshire. This has improved the range of support available to young people with complex needs in a safe environment. The number of children supported through a Self-Directed Support package has continued to grow, providing flexibility in the way in which families are empowered to access a range of support which meets individual need:

Number of Aberdeenshire Children in receipt of a Self-Directed Support Package

Year Number of Children

2017/2018 259

2018/2019 359

Year 2 Progress against the Children with a Disability Multi-Agency Action Plan

Aim 1: Child Protection and Disability

1.2 Strengthen skills of frontline practitioners and managers to identify and respond to concerns of child protection and disability

This action addresses the concern from Scottish Government concern that children with disabilities are under represented on child protection registers, despite their increased vulnerability. Children with disabilities are more than three times more likely to be abused than their non-disabled peers.

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A multi-agency Child Protection & Children with Disabilities Group was established in September 2017 to progress this work locally. Membership of this group reflected the wide variety of services and groups who support children with disabilities, and Additional Support Needs. Two main strands of work were identified by the group:  The need for greater recognition of the vulnerability of these children/young people  Capacity to improve the resources available to support children with disabilities within the child protection system.

In addition, consideration was given to improving the resources available for parents, in recognition that they can often find the process of Child Protection Investigations an upsetting experience. At the beginning stages of this work, it was thought that workshops could be delivered by staff with expertise in specific communication tools, with electronic learning and other resources also developed. The North East Child Protection Partnership’s Keeping Our Children Safe: Disability and Child Protection Conference held in June 2017, introduced the National Disability Toolkit. This was filmed to make it widely available to all, however it was noted that there was a particular emphasis within that presentation on children with hearing impairment. The initial focus of the group looked at how existing resources used to communicate with children could be developed for use within a child protection situation. It became quickly evident this would be an enormous task, and a renewed focus was agreed on:

 Awareness-raising of the considerations for children with disabilities within Child Protection processes  Development of extra resources for practitioners to use in supporting children and young people through the Child Protection process.

Similarly, it was agreed that rather than the group delivering these workshops, it would be more effective to create a multi-agency resource which could be delivered by individual services through their usual learning and development mechanisms. This would both reach a wider audience, and create a more sustainable approach.

A multi-agency Presentation Raising Awareness of Child Protection with Regard to Children with Disabilities was created. This includes a range of linked resources.

The resource provides information regarding potential underreporting of abuse for children with disabilities, and follows the child protection process from identification of a concern through to the Joint Investigative Interview, including :  The Evidence - Facts and figures  Raising awareness/Recognition of a concern  Reporting/Sharing Child Protection concerns  Supporting children and young people with disabilities through the process  Joint Investigative Interview

Group representatives have shared the presentation with colleagues in their respective services, commissioned service providers, and Third Sector/voluntary groups. It was delivered in every Aberdeenshire school in August 2018, at the start of the academic year. This group worked with strong links to the Initial Referral Discussion (IRD) Working Group, which reports to the Operations and Practice sub group of Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee, and had been tasked with creating a multi-agency pathway for raising Child Protection concerns, and reviewing the IRD Proforma.

Revised IRD Approach The revised IRD form has been operational from September 2018, and there is now consideration of additional needs and disability issues at each stage of the IRD process. More detail is requested in relation to a child or young person’s where these arise from disability and the IRD Proforma is accompanied by the newly developed guidance, such as Support offered by the Speech and Language Service, and points to consider during an investigation where a child or young person has a disability or additional support need. Through subsequent IRD Audit, good practice in relation to children with disabilities has been identified and evidenced. This includes: • Recognition within an IRD teleconference of additional needs and the impact this might have on a child’s ability to take part in a Joint Investigative Interview (JII) • Utilisation of the new guidance and supports for planning investigations for children with disabilities and additional support needs within an IRD • Use of a mock interview with a Speech and Language Therapist and the child’s Personal Assistant to inform decision-making as to whether a child would manage to take part in a JII. Through creation of a multiagency resource which mirrored the child protection process and considered the additional supports needed by children, young people, families and carers a sustainable approach to highlighting awareness and response to the needs of children with a disability within the child protection process has been achieved. The resource created is not only a product of collective knowledge and expertise but of a high level of enthusiasm and commitment from all partners.

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Aim 2: Multi-agency pathways and processes for Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC)

Building Capacity Over 2018/2109, a range of actions have been progressed across partner agencies to promote capacity building in support for children and young people with ASD, within Universal and Targeted/Specialist services. This has included promoting the suite of guidance, policies available for schools, which include support strategies for children and young people, supported by online learning and face-to-face training from NHS Grampian.

Autism Spectrum The Total Communication Policy promotes a whole-school approach supporting both the Disorder and Asperger Syndrome: Guidance child and the school. Delivered in conjunction for teachers and with Education Services, Speech and Language support staff Therapists assess the needs of children and

school staff, in order to tailor their intervention and training accordingly.

Alternative visual communication approaches such as, symbolisation, TEACCH and PECS are commonly used in schools across Aberdeenshire.

 Widgit Symbols are used in all schools, and workforce development is supported by online learning courses.

 Schools can apply for a Bronze Award, for symbolisation of the Environment.

 Aberdeenshire Children and Young People’s Charter has been made widely available in Widget Symbol version.

Learning and Development

Over 2018/2019, some staff have been accessing training on SCERTS. SCERTS® focuses on building competence in Social Communication, Emotional Regulation and Transactional Support as the highest priorities.

This is a research-based educational approach and multidisciplinary framework that directly addresses the core challenges faced by children and young people with ASD and related disabilities, and their families.

Development of a range of ALDO Online Learning and Development Modules has included:

 Understanding Sensory Behaviours (4 modules)  Autism for Pupil Support Assistants  Health and Social Care courses on Autism

A number of staff have enrolled on the Post-Graduate Certificate in Autism and Learning, with regular training provided by the Educational Psychology Services (EPS) at both an individual school and cluster level. This covers aspects of supporting autistic learners and includes training on use of the national Autism Toolbox.

An Educational Psychology Working Group together with colleagues from Speech & Language Therapy, CAMHS and school-based staff, are currently working on a Universal, Targeted and Specialist Professional Learning offer exploring a number of aspects of autism, including anxiety.

Parental engagement is informing development of this Professional learning programme with parent focus groups being set up to consult on the content of this.

Autism Friendly Schools

No two children with autism will have the same experiences and wellbeing needs, and provision of support continues to be based on relationship-based practice. As professionals get to know children and young people as individuals, support is put in place by working alongside children and families to find out ‘what works’ best.

Partner agencies continue to collaborate in taking forward a number of workstreams which support the ongoing development of Autism Friendly Schools in Aberdeenshire.

For example:

 Promoting use of the National Autism Toolbox - a resource developed by the Scottish Government in partnership with Scottish Autism and support from Autism Network Scotland

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 Online and face-to-face autism awareness raising sessions including all probationary teachers attending a one-day workshop  Training opportunities for staff on practical support strategies, such as Visual Timetables and Social Stories  Setting up professional mentoring opportunities, to share good practice and experience  Development of bespoke professional learning opportunities focusing on particular aspects of Autism - for example, Understanding Sensory Behaviours

All new Primary and Secondary Schools being built in Aberdeenshire are fully accessible to all children, including those with a non-physical disability. For example, all new schools include a low sensory stimulation area, and designated sensory spaces.

Within the existing school estate, at least one primary school in each cluster is designated as the location of enhanced provision, and includes the following additional spaces: Sensory Room, Therapy Room, and Life Skills Room.

Crombie Primary Dales Park Peterhead Academy Therapy Room Sensory Room Lifeskills Room

Wrap-around Care: Aberdeenshire Council also provide wrap-around care (afternoon/weekend clubs and respite) which supports Aberdeenshire families where a child has a disability, many of whom have a child with autism.

Out of Authority Placements

An Education and Children’s Services Rapid Improvement Event was held in September 2018, to consider use of Out of Authority placements, including for children with complex health needs and Autism. An audit of cases was undertaken and Project Charters were agreed, to address specific areas of practice and service delivery raised by both the Rapid Improvement Event and subsequent audit. Each Project Charter is being taken forward by Project Groups comprised of key professionals from relevant services and agencies.

The 4 Project Groups are:

 Collaborative Working Children with Disabilities: Strengthen collaborative working

 Framework of Interventions: Develop a core set of intervention approaches and programmes to strengthen the quality and range of targeted support with a view to meeting need locally

 Young People with Disabilities Respite: To expand provision of appropriate and timely overnight respite for children with disabilities/Additional Support Needs within Aberdeenshire

 OOAP Assessment in Crisis Situations: Explore options and evidence benefits of a method of robust assessment in a crisis situation

Aim 3: Post-School Transitions for Young People with Disabilities

Development of the Children’s Services to Adult Services Framework and Post-16 Transitions Framework in 2017, brought together single and multi-agency policies and procedures, to provide an important foundation for future activity. The National Improvement Framework for schools identified “Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people” as one of its key themes. Within this aim, young people in Aberdeenshire are being supported to make decisions regarding post-school destinations, with transitions planning for children with additional support needs identified on an individual basis, and at the earliest opportunity. Supports which have continued to be in place for young people with disabilities include:  Extended Work Experience  Inclusion Project  Confidence to Cook  SQA Assessment Arrangements  Visits to college  Life skills  Peer mentors in class  Several academies with timetabled class support (eg Post-16 ASD Transition Project)

There has been limited further progress against this aim during 2018/2109 due to challenges around service capacity and partner representation on the group.

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Focus for Year 3

The Children with a Disability Thematic Group have identified the following areas of focus for 2019/2020:

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Representation and Engagement: Review and evaluation of group representation has identified a need to target and engage further with the Third Sector, and to address barriers to participation by key agencies for example NHS CAMHS.

Collation of existing ASD resources: to ensure access to a cohesive, user-friendly suite and to make more explicit links between Autism-Friendly Schools and other related areas of work, such as the Total Communication Policy, sensory assessment, and intervention

Longitudinal Training Evaluation: Continued promotion of online ALDO Sensory Training Modules will take place in partnership with the Occupational Therapy Service. A longitudinal evaluation of this training is currently underway, to assess its impact on practice.

Parent Focus Groups: These are being planned in conjunction with Autism Parent Support- Groups, to get their views on what an Autism-Friendly Aberdeenshire School should look like

Autism-Friendly Schools - Self-Assessment Quality Indicators: Establishment of a quality indicator framework will support schools to reflect on how autism-friendly they currently are, and support school improvement planning. A working group which includes Head Teachers has already been established, and this work will progress over 2019/2020.

Explore the Autism and Anxiety interventions research-base: At present young people with autism cannot access some of the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) interventions that CAMHS offer other young people, and the current research-base will help to inform provision of supports.

Views of the Child: Increased focus on engagement of children, young people, around service development and delivery. Engagement with the Social Work Continuous Improvement in Children’s Services Project Group on participation, and with NHS Grampian colleagues through from the Protecting Children Improvement Plan will help to progress this activity.

Explore development of peer-to-peer models of support: Involvement of the Third Sector will support exploration of this type of support for children, young people and parents/carers. It is intended that this will enhance the existing face-to-face and online support available at a local and national level.

Streamlining Autism Diagnostic Pathways: Multi-agency participation in NHS-led improvement activity which aims to streamline Autism Diagnostic Pathways will continue over Year 3.

Aim 3: Post-16 Transitions – This will be an area of renewed focus for the group over 2019/2020

Good Practice Case Study: Understanding Sensory Behaviours ALDO Course

The Understanding Sensory Behaviors online ALDO Course was created to enhance practitioners’ understanding of children and young people with sensory needs, and to raise awareness of how these needs can be supported in education. Since its launch in August 2018, over 500 people have registered for the course, with a range of teaching and non-teaching staff from Early Years, Primary, Secondary, and Cross-sector.

4 Modules in the course move from the Universal Level (helping to develop an understanding of how everyone has sensory needs and preferences) and Adaptation of the Curriculum, through to Targeted Support (focusing on interventions and adaptations which address sensory needs) and considering utilisation of sensory spaces in the learning environment.

Evaluation

Each module was evaluated through a SurveyMonkey questionnaire, which gathered data on immediate feedback, and longer term impact (via a 3 month follow-up). Of those who completed the survey, 61% were from the Primary sector, 25% from Early Years, 14% from the Secondary sector, and 5% cross-sector.

100% of respondents providing feedback following completion of the Universal Support, Targeted Support, and Adapting the Curriculum modules, reported that they would recommend these courses to a colleague.

97% of respondent feedback said they would recommend the Using Sensory Spaces module. Following completion of the course, practitioners reported making changes to physical environments including creation of quiet spaces and sensory pathways, changes to classroom layout (furniture and displays), creation of sensory baskets, and setting up a sensory room in a secondary school.

Evaluation data indicates this course has been valuable in enhancing practioners knowledge and understanding of sensory behaviours, and increased workforce confidence levels in supporting young people with sensory needs. Confidence ratings reported immediately following the course increased by an average of 20% from baselines measures (moving from an average of 5 to 7 out of 10), with reported confidence gains sustained at the 3 month follow-up.

Next Steps

There has been expressed interest in widening the accessibility of the course to Education and NHS colleagues throughout the Northern Alliance and other authorities. The group are exploring how best to share this resource, using different platforms to allow the course to be accessed on a multi-agency and pan-authority basis. Widened access will not only increase workforce awareness, knowledge, and skills in addressing sensory needs, but will help to identify additional good practice examples, through sharing feedback from those who have completed the course.

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Substance Use

Substance Misuse No Aim Wellbeing Indicators UNCRC Articles 1 Enhance our risk assessment practices, particularly through Safe, Respected & 3, 4, 6, 12, 19, informed use of the National Risk Framework (NRF) Nurtured 27, 33, 34, 36, 37 2 Better understand the incidence of and our response where Safe 3, 4, 6,12, 19, domestic abuse, mental distress or drink and drug 27, 33, 34, 36, dependency are prevalent, particularly on the service for 37 infants 3 Increase understanding of the toxic trio* risk factors Safe 3, 4, 6, 12, 19, (domestic violence, mental health, substance misuse) and the 27, 33, 34, 36, interaction between children’s services and those that are 37 now governed within the Integrated Joint Board (IJB) 4 Ensure ADP commissioned services ensure a balance between Safe, Healthy, 3, 5, 6, 18, 19, Prevention/Early Intervention and support and recovery, Achieving, Nurtured, 24, 27, 31, 33, compatible with GIRFEC and the Children’s Services Plan Active, Respected, 34 Responsible & Included 5 Ensure staff possess the knowledge and skills required to Safe, Healthy, 3, 5, 6, 18, 19, work addressing the effects of parental substance misuse, Achieving, Nurtured, 24, 27, 31, 33, and children and young people’s use of substances Active, Respected, 34 Responsible & Included 6 Improve outcomes for Children and Young People whose Safe, Healthy, 3, 5, 6, 18, 19, Wellbeing is affected by alcohol or other drug use by ensuring Achieving, Nurtured, 24, 27, 31, 33, access to services and interventions designed to support and Active, Respected, 34 divert them from harm Responsible & Included 7 Ensure Parents/Carers have access to contemporary Safe, Healthy, 3, 4, 5, 6, 18, evidence-based guidance on how to keep their children safe Achieving, Nurtured, 24, 33, from alcohol and other drugs Active, Respected, Responsible & Included 8 Ensure family inclusive approaches by substance misuse Safe, Healthy, 2, 3, 5, 6, 18, services, identify and minimise risk to children and young Nurtured, Active, 19, 24, 27, 31, people by always considering/ assessing potential Wellbeing Respected, Responsible 33, 34 needs & Included 9 Families affected by substance misuse will be able to access Safe, Healthy, Nurtured 2,3,5,6, support, and have a voice and opportunity to contribute to Active, Respected, 18,19,24 ,27,31, service development Responsible & Included 33,34

Action to address this strategic priority is led by the Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee (CPC), and Substance Misuse Thematic Group, which represents Aberdeenshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership. The Thematic Group leads on development of early intervention and prevention activity to support families and promote children and young people’s wellbeing; with the Child Protection Committee addressing issues of high risk and significant harm as their core remit. Together these 2 forums are progressing a range of action to improve outcomes for children or young people adversely affected by their own or another family member’s substance use.

The Thematic Group is chaired by Aberdeenshire ADP’s Lead Officer, with the Health and Social Care Partnership Service Manager for Substance Misuse and Criminal Justice Social Work as Vicechair. Membership of the group includes Police Scotland, Health Improvement Officer (Alcohol and Drugs), Third Sector (Aberdeenshire Drugs Action and turning Point Scotland) Community Learning and Development, Children’s Services Social Work, and a Specialist Midwife. The Group progresses relevant actions within Aberdeenshire Children’s Services Plan, with an aim of:  Improving supports available to children, young people, and families  Supporting collaboration between adult and children’s services to address the impact of substance use on families  Addressing workforce development needs

National Context

Key legislative drivers over 2018/2019 have included: The new Rights, Respect and Recovery: Scottish Strategy to improve health by preventing and reducing alcohol and drug use, harm and related deaths was published in November 2018, and the views of Aberdeenshire’s Substance Misuse Thematic Group contributed towards its development.

This strategy includes a substantive section on Getting it Right for children, young people and families which will inform development of Aberdeenshire’s Drug and Alcohol Strategy, and future work of the Thematic Group.

The strategy outlines 3 main commitments (below):

 Family inclusive approaches to treatment and support  Access to Statutory/Third Sector service provision, delivered in line with the GIRFEC Approach  Involvement of children, parents, and family members in planning, development and delivery of services

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SIGN 156: Children and young people exposed prenatally to alcohol – A national clinical guidance was published in January 2019 and provides evidence-based recommendations on measurement of alcohol consumption in pregnancy. It makes recommendations on:

 Identification of children at risk of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders (FASD)  Criteria for diagnosis, and use of FASD as a descriptor  Medical assessment and physical examination  Neurodevelopmental assessment  Multidisciplinary assessment teams  Special considerations, management, and follow up of children and young people affected by Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Drug Use Trends The CREW Drugs Trends 2017-18 Report (2019) provides an overview of recent drug trends in Scotland. This report highlighted:  More drugs are in circulation, with higher purity substances available at the same price  Heroin and cocaine remain prevalent amongst street drug-dealers  Increased demand for support to address use of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS)  Less widespread use of NPS, but continued use despite legislative efforts to curb their availability  Social Media, and online availability of MDMA, NPS, and Ecstasy, has had a significant impact on young people in particular  A rise in problematic cocaine use is attributable to users switching from use of NPS  Street benzodiazepine causes considerable concern.  Whilst the majority of Scotland’s illicit Xanax tablets contain alprazolam/etizolam, an emerging European trend has become evident. Xanax tablets are increasingly found to contain flualprazolam (a very potent benzodiazepine with greater risk of overdose).  County lines continues to dominate, selling mainly heroin and crack cocaine

The report concludes that substance use has become, “normal, available, accessible, and cheap.”

Substance Misuse in Aberdeenshire

National trends would be very similar to the experiences and local picture described by individuals, communities, and support services across Aberdeenshire. Changing Aberdeenshire’s Relationship with Alcohol is a priority within Aberdeenshire’s Local Outcomes Improvement Plan; with actions from the Children’s Services Plan helping to deliver on this aim, and vice versa. Publication of new 5-year Licensing Policy from the three Licensing Boards in Aberdeenshire was published in November 2018.

One of the licensing objectives is, ‘protecting children and young people from harm’ and of note in the new policy was the presumption against awarding occasional licenses for events associated with children.

Aberdeenshire’s current Strategy for Alcohol and other Drugs is under revision, and a wide range of public consultation and engagement has been undertaken to inform development of a new strategy. A mind-map has been created which collated key issues around drugs and alcohol, which have been raised as important by children, families, individuals, communities and professionals in Aberdeenshire.

Young People’s Views

In Spring 2019, Aberdeenshire’s Youth Forum Survey developed and conducted a survey with peers. This resulted in responses from 2400 young people across Aberdeenshire, and concluded that drugs and alcohol were in the top 3 issues of concern for young people. Drugs was the top recorded concern (64% of respondents), with alcohol joint second with bullying (38% of respondents).

Aberdeenshire Youth Forum Survey Results (2019)

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2018 saw one of the highest rates of (all ages) drug and alcohol-related deaths recorded in Aberdeenshire (20 deaths and 29 deaths respectively). Drugs appeared as the top concern in all 17 localities which responded to the Youth Forum Survey. This reinforces the importance of partnership working to tackle substance misuse, as a continued strategic priority.

Maternities with Drug Use In considering Scotland-wide data, Aberdeenshire is mid-table for maternities with drug use by local authority area, as shown below. Aberdeenshire is similar to the overall Scottish average.

The graph below shows a steady increase in the rate of Aberdeenshire maternities with drug use, whilst Scotland has seen an overall decline. An increase in maternities with drug use was noted between 2017-2018, which may reflect availability of specialist services, and improved engagement pathways for pregnant women.

Young People and Drug Use

For the previous 15 years, alcohol and drug-use trends in 13 and 15 year olds have showed a decline, as measured by the Scottish Adolescent Lifestyle Substance Use Survey. From 2013, the decline reduced and remained relatively stable. The 2018 SALSUS results are due to be released later in 2019, and will provide more current data on trends in young people’s alcohol and drug use - nationally and for Aberdeenshire. Recent changes in drug supply through ‘County Lines’ and online availability of substances may have influenced this trend, with an associated normalisation of substance use. Country Lines is where criminal gangs set up a drug dealing operation in places outside their usual operating area, moving from big cities such as Manchester and Liverpool to smaller towns, in order to make more money. The Peterhead area has been a focus of concern regarding instances of ‘cuckooing’ (where drug dealers exploit vulnerable individuals and take over their accommodation) and County Lines exploitation of young people. This underpinned Police Scotland’s ‘Operation Corner’ which led to a number of arrests for drug related offences, and supported partnership working which helped to identify vulnerable adults and young people who were in need of support, connecting them with appropriate services.

Hospital Admissions Data: Drugs The average national rate of drug-related hospital stays for 11-25 year olds in Scotland is just over 100 young people per 100,000. The graph below shows that Aberdeenshire has less than half the national rate of drug-related hospital stays for 11-25 year olds (at around 40 young people per 100,000), and the lowest rate of all Scottish local authority areas.

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Looking specifically at Aberdeenshire data over the past decade, the graph below shows an decrease in drug-related hospital admissions of young people aged 11-25 years old between 2008 and 2017. Aberdeenshire has consistently been below the national average for drug- related hospital stays. There was a 5 year decrease in Aberdeenshire between 2011 and 2016, and this plateaued from 2016-2017.

Alcohol: Hospital Admissions Data Out of 32 local authority areas, Aberdeenshire has the 7th lowest rate of alcohol-related hospital stays for 11-25 year olds.

Looking more specifically at the Aberdeenshire data, there is a continuous downwards trend in alcohol-related hospital stays for 11-25 year olds; down from a rate of over 400 in 2008, to under 200 in 2017.

Child Protection and Parental Drug Use An increase in registrations due to parental drug use can be seen over the past 3-4 years in Aberdeenshire.

The number of children registered within Aberdeenshire overall is low, so interpretation of this increase should be made with a note of caution. For example, registration of a family with 4 children can have a significant impact on statistics.

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Child Protection and Parental Alcohol Use

As at 31 March 2019 there were no child protection registrations in Aberdeenshire where parental alcohol misuse was the identified risk factor.

As the number of children registered within Aberdeenshire is low, any interpretation should be done with a note of caution, as registration or de-registration of a family can have a significant impact on statistics. The low rate of child protection due to parental alcohol misuse, may be attributable to effective use of the GIRFEC approach and early intervention, as reflected within annual information from the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration. Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee continues to consider relevant information, and takes action as required to address identified risk of harm to children and young people. Action which continues to raise awareness of the impact of problematic and harmful parental alcohol use will support early identification of any children and young people affected. Planned needs assessment and mapping work will be progressed over 2019/2020 to ensure provision of the right type of support to children and families affected by drugs and/or alcohol use. SCRA Data Data from Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA) data, shows referrals by grounds relating to the last 4 quarters to October each year (table below) with low levels of referrals of young people on grounds of substance or alcohol misuse in Aberdeenshire.

SCRA data notes a continued high conversion rate in Aberdeenshire Referral to SCRA where young person’s (meaning the number of referrals which alcohol/substance misuse has been a factor lead to the Reporter agreeing to Year 2016 2017 2018 convene a Children’s Hearing), at almost Ground of referral double the national average. This k. Misuse of alcohol >5 >5 >5 suggests agencies are well versed on l. Misuse of a drug >5 >5 >5 appropriate referral criteria.

Exclusions due to Substance Use Numbers of young people excluded from Aberdeenshire schools on the basis of Substance Misuse have reduced over 2017/2018, down to levels recorded in 2015/2016. The number of young peopled excluded for alcohol-related reasons fell from 17 to 12, and notably, the number of young people excluded where the reasons was non-alcohol-related (ie substances) fell from 43 to 19.

Number of Children/Young People Excluded in relation to Substance Misuse (exclusion incidents in brackets) School Sector Primary Secondary Special Schools Year All Years 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 All Years Reason Substance misuse: 0 11 (11) 17 (18) 12 (12) 0 for Alcohol exclusion Substance misuse: 0 24 (25) 43 (46) 19 (20) 0 Not Alcohol Total 0 35 (36) 60 (64) 31 (32) 0

We would hope to see this trend continue with further reduction of this figure for 2019/2020, through an approach which delivers prevention and early intervention activity in schools, and supports for young people who need help to address alcohol/drug use, with efforts to maintain their continued engagement in education.

Year 1 Progress against the Substance Misuse Multi-Agency Action Plan

Aims 1 to 3 have been delivered by Aberdeenshire Child Protection Committee, with more detail of this in the Child Protection Section and the 2017/18 Annual Report.

Over 2018/19, a series of multi-agency National Risk Framework (NRF) workshops were delivered across Aberdeenshire, with an aim of increasing practitioner knowledge, skills and confidence in using the NRF tools. These coincided with Grow Your Local Knowledge Drop-In Events delivered via AVA and Local GIRFEC Groups, which aimed to bolster local capacity through Public/Third Sector collaboration.

A National Joint Investigative Interview working group has been established to work on a Joint Investigative Interview Training that is equitable across Scotland with this work having been progressed over 2018/2019 and pilot areas providing initial feedback. Police Scotland and Social Work representation on Aberdeenshire’s Child Protection Committee, remain sighted on any developments. Self-evaluation work by the Child Protection Committee over 2019/2020, will have a focus on experiences of children throughout the child protection process, and will include situations where parental drug and alcohol use is an identified risk factor.

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Aim 3 Increase understanding of the toxic trio* risk factors (domestic violence, mental health, substance misuse) and the interaction between children’s services and those that are now governed within the Integrated Joint Board (IJB)

This self-evaluation activity has been completed, as reflected in the 2017/2018 Annual Report. Key updates are shared by Child Protection Committee members with their respective services, and also with the GIRFEC Strategic Group, Integration Joint Board, and Executive Group for Public Protection.

The Child Protection Committee’s Multi-Agency Learning and Development Strategy focuses on development and delivery of Child Protection training, with acknowledgement that continued support for GIRFEC implementation is the foundation for early identification of wellbeing needs. Developments over 2018/2019 have included development of guidance and training to address Violence Against Women.

Aim 4: Ensure ADP-Commissioned Services ensure a balance between Prevention/Early Intervention and Recovery/Support, compatible with GIRFEC and the Children’s Services Plan

Turning Point Scotland are commissioned to provide Third Sector Alcohol & Drugs Services in Aberdeenshire, partnered by Aberdeenshire Drugs Action (ADA). The Gateway Service is available across Aberdeenshire and considers the needs of children and young people within the context of service delivery to adults. Gateway Services will refer to statutory substance misuse services in all situations where wellbeing concerns for a child or young person have been identified through an initial screening assessment. Consideration of Getting It Right requirements will inform ongoing development of commissioned services. This will be progressed over 2019/2020 to further assess what support may be required and ensure services are working to national GIRFEC approaches, and locally agreed Aberdeenshire guidance.

Aim 5: Ensure staff possess the knowledge and skills required to work addressing the effects of parental substance misuse, and children and young people’s use of substances

A variety of training was delivered over 2018/2019, including the two-day: Listening and Responding to children Affected by Substance Use course. This was delivered by the Scottish Drugs Forum 5 times in 2018, and 4 times in 2019 to March 31st. This course supports practitioners working with people who might have, do have, or have had problems with their alcohol or drug use, and explores child protection and wellbeing in relation to substance use in a multi-disciplinary context. It supports use of the child’s change cycle tool, to understand how this relates to the trans-theoretical model of change for substance using adults.

A range of resources and information on alcohol and substance misuse is shared by the Thematic Subgroup via Local GIRFEC Groups; in addition to communication by service representatives on the Thematic Subgroup. This action has been met and will continue for 2019/2020. Development needs are also addressed through embedding local practice through participation in multi-agency hubs. Work is ongoing to develop and deliver a comprehensive training needs analysis of the adult and children’s services workforce, with consideration of use of the GIRFEC approach in tackling Substance Misuse (to include drugs and alcohol). This was initially going to be carried out as part of a wider multi-agency training needs analysis, however on reflection it was felt there was a need to consider workforce learning and development needs specifically related to the impact on families of drug and alcohol use. The Substance Misuse Thematic group established a new sub-group in early 2019, with an aim of progressing the training needs analysis over 2019/2020.

Workforce Knowledge and Skills – Pilot Survey

Peterhead Local GIRFEC Group developed a local knowledge/skills survey on drugs and alcohol, which was conducted with local colleagues in the area across a range of children’s services. This took place in 2019, and had been initiated in light of concerns around substance misuse in the local community, and recognition that frontline workers were typically the first point of contact for young people affected.

The survey aimed to explore local workforce perceptions of their knowledge and understanding of substance misuse, and to identify experiences of training which had supported or increased workforce capacity to identify and respond to the children, young people, and families they support. Members of Peterhead Local GIRFEC Group circulated the survey within their organisation locally, and collated responses to present an overview of the types of learning and development needs identified.

The ability to recognise and respond to signs and symptoms of substance misuse is crucial, to make sure the right type of support is put in place for a child, young person and family.

Survey results emphasised that there is a significant demand for training in this area, to improve the underpinning knowledge and skills of frontline workers in responding to substance misuse.

78% of respondents had received no training on alcohol -related issues in the previous 3 years, and 65% had received no training on drug-related issues over that same time period. 78% of respondents had had no training in prevention approaches to alcohol use, and 90% had no training in drugs prevention approaches (in the last 3 years).

The main source of training was largely informal, or related to administration of oral screening tests.

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Respondents identified that a mix of learning and development opportunities were effective, as shown in the graph (left). The Peterhead survey acted as a valuable pilot activity, and learning from this will inform an update of the survey tool led by the newly established working group. A revised survey will be replicated across Aberdeenshire with the support of Local GIRFEC Groups, providing data to inform an up to date training needs analysis.

Inclusion of Guidance teachers in the survey was recognised as important going forward, alongside ensuring the needs of substance misuse workers in relation to use of the GIRFEC approach in addressing the impact of substance misuse on children and young people’s wellbeing. Survey results for Aberdeenshire as a whole, will help to inform effective future planning to meet workforce learning and development needs.

Drugs in Schools: Prevention and Early Intervention

A review of Aberdeenshire’s School Substance Misuse Policy is currently underway. This will be completed over 2019/2020 and its relaunch will raise awareness of the process for responding to incidents in school where drug and alcohol use has been a factor. This sits alongside a broader aim to support all schools to be safe places, free of the impact of drugs, drug use and drug harms and to use a public health approach to achieve this. A range of interim action and support to be delivered via schools has been developed on a partnership basis, through collaboration between staff in Police Scotland, Education, Drugs Services, Social Work, CLD and Public Health.

The SLIDE: Police Scotland have agreed to support delivery of the SLIDE in schools across Aberdeenshire. This resource raises awareness of the risks of drug use and involvement in Serious and Organised Crime. The programme is delivered by Police Schools Liaison Officers and includes a series of videos. Each video charts a young person’s 'slide' from a promising future to involvement with drugs, and teaching packs support its delivery.

Fearless: Use of the Fearless helpline is being promoted amongst school pupils and parents. Fearless is a new confidential line for children to report information, and is akin to a version of CrimeStoppers. For young people.

Crew 2000: Input from the ADP Development Worker, Education Service Health and Wellbeing officer, and Community Police Officers, has been scheduled for delivery at the Pupil Support/Guidance Teachers Meeting in May 2019. This will raise awareness of CREW, with an aim of promoting education staff attendance at 3 ADP-funded training sessions in North, Central and South Localities over June 2019.

Delivered in partnership with schools, these preventative supports will both inform, and be influenced by findings from the strategic training needs analysis, and drug and alcohol needs assessment. This will also include a review of ALEC interventions, to consider whether ALEC capacity for secondary schools would be better directed towards staff development.

Aim 6 Improve outcomes for Children and Young People whose wellbeing is affected by alcohol or other drug use by ensuring access to services and interventions designed to support and divert them from harm

Guidance and information is readily available to support frontline staff to signpost and/or refer parents to drug and alcohol services. Information literature for alcohol and drugs services has been provided to children’s services social work, and is outlined during training for health visitors and school nurses.

Needs Assessment A draft specification for a Needs Assessment, and mapping available supports, interventions and services for children and families affected by alcohol/drugs in Aberdeenshire, has been developed by the Thematic Subgroup over 2018/2019.

Funds have been provided by the ADP in order to commission this piece of work, with an aim it will be completed over 2019/2020 and inform future service developments.

The need for revision of Aberdeenshire’s existing multi-agency Guidance on Substance Misuse (2014) will be considered by the Thematic Group, and informed by learning and findings from the training needs analysis, needs assessment, and mapping activities.

Aim 7 Ensure Parents/Carers have access to contemporary evidence-based guidance on how to keep their children safe from alcohol and other drugs Community concern is high regarding substance misuse. A well-attended Peterhead ‘Drugs Awareness’ event for parents in Peterhead Academy was held in March 2019, initiated by the Local GIRFEC Group. This event highlighted that parents described and exhibited a desire to address and be involved in being of the solution in addressing substance misuse in their local community.

Further Peterhead GIRFEC Local Group events are planned with support from relevant services, to promote parents awareness of substances, and to explore community led supports. From the March 2019 event, collaboration has occurred between Police Scotland and Peterhead Academy to progress delivery of SLIDE in schools.

Discussion with the senior leadership team at Alford Academy and appointment of the DHT as the new Local GIRFEC Group Chair, resulted in partnership delivery of a parents Substance Misuse Information Session in March 2019. Over 60 parents attended this event with very positive feedback provided.

Various resources have been purchased with ADP funds, including resources from the Alcohol Education Trust and Scottish Families Against Drugs. These have been disseminated in local communities via custom alcohol drug notice boards in public places, and also utilised by Local GIRFEC Groups hosting parent information evenings.

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A review of the range of information and advice offered to parents and carers will be progressed over 2019/2020 and will be taken forward based on the learning from engagement with parents to identify their views on the most appropriate forms of support.

Aim 8 Ensure family inclusive approaches by substance misuse services, identify and minimise risk to children and young people by always considering/ assessing potential Wellbeing needs

An audit of ADP-commissioned service case files, was conducted by the Child Protection Committee, Substance Misuse Services, and Children’s Services Social Work in April 2018. This assessed quality and consistency of case recording to gain assurance that children and young people’s Wellbeing needs are considered in every case.

b. We will review the effectiveness of contraception advice and provision to female substance misuse service users. Two midwives are trained in substance misuse support, with this service now offered to all substance using women and inpatients. Initial feedback indicates this service has been well received. Data on the effectiveness of contraception advice has been newly established and gathered. This will be monitored over time to measure progress and impact.

From January to end March 2019, 12 women with substance misuse delivered babies in Aberdeenshire. Contraception was discussed with 100% of these women, and 67% chose to receive long-acting contraception in the form of the implant which lasts for 3 years.

In 2018/2019 a new vulnerable women’s team at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital was also established. UNITY draws together substance use, public protection and perinatal mental health in a multi-disciplinary health approach. c. We will review the provision of antenatal and postnatal support to women using alcohol or drugs to ensure baby gets the best start in life. A briefing paper is under development to raise the profile of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) across Aberdeenshire. The SMS Thematic Group will ensure this is reflected within revised practice guidance and consider the need for any further recommendations. Information publicising the new SIGN Guidelines on FASD has been shared with services and Local GIRFEC Groups. d. Following introduction of the DAISy (Drug & Alcohol Information System) system, an annual report on the rate of improved outcomes for the Recovery Outcome ‘Children’ will be provided. Nationally, the DAISy project has been delayed until April 2020 implementation. The Recovery Outcome components will be delayed further pending consideration of a new business case. The draft tool is used local to ensure current data recording is as robust as possible.

Aim 9 Families affected by substance misuse will be able to access support, and have a voice and opportunity to contribute to service development

The ADP redesigned website launched in December 2018, with support of local media coverage. This includes a range of national and local support services for families affected by substance use. Development work will be progressed over 2019/2020 to support improved connectivity and consistency across practice guidance, learning and development and the ADP/GIRFEC Websites. b. We will ensure the existence of peer support groups for families affected by alcohol or drug misuse in Aberdeenshire. Following a successful bid for national funds in 2018, Scottish Families Against Alcohol and Drugs (SFAAD) have appointed a new team member to work in Aberdeenshire as a family support development worker. This post will start in July 2019 and is based within Inverurie. They will play a key role in sustaining existing Family Support Groups, and to develop, coordinate, and support peer support networks as part of support for families and significant others affected by a loved one’s alcohol or drug use.

Young People’s Views and Children’s Rights

A survey conducted by the Aberdeenshire Youth Forum gained 2400 responses and concluded that drugs and alcohol are the top two issues of concern for young people in Aberdeenshire. Peer-lead engagement by and with young people, has been an impetus to establish Aberdeenshire Youth Forum’s new Alcohol and Drugs Committee.

Through Aberdeenshire Youth Forum, 22 young people were asked their views on drug and alcohol use in more depth. Feedback highlighted that:

 Young people said alcohol and drug are easily accessible.  Young people think schools could provide more support and education around drug use  Young people expressed a view that parents aren’t always good role models in use of alcohol

The views of young people will directly inform development of Aberdeenshire’s new Alcohol and Drug Strategy.

Article 3 of the UNCRC has been used to good effect, in increasing the status of the statutory licensing objective “protecting children and young people from harm.” It has done this by ensuring this objective has prominence over all other considerations, including commercial imperative, and has resulted in modifications of Aberdeenshire’s Licensing Policy.

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Focus for Year 3

A continued focus on progressing current actions will take place over 2019/2020, alongside consideration of new actions for the 2020-2023 Children’s Services Plan. This will consider how delivery transformation can best be achieved through:  Primary Prevention  Diversion and Early Intervention  Targeted Support  Parental support

Aberdeenshire has a very low rate of child protection with parental alcohol misuse. Improving our collective awareness of the impact of alcohol on child and adolescent wellbeing through changing Aberdeenshire’s relationship with alcohol, will support vigilance and awareness of young people adversely affected by their own, or a parent/carer’s alcohol consumption.

Good Practice Examples:

Co-located Support Services

A Pilot Project has run in Banff Family Centre, where a Community Substance Misuse Worker is co-located at the Family Centre alongside Children’s Services Social Work. This aims to promote engagement with parents who may be reluctant to approach services, or are concerned that involvement with SMS Services will reflect negatively. The pilot aims to encourage parents to engage in activity with children around attendance at SMS or Social Work, with a hope of reducing resistance/avoidance.

Dedicated time has been set aside to promote and to evaluate this pilot over 2019/2020, with a view to considering if this could be extended. Involvement of the Family Nurse Partnership is also being explored.

Parental Engagement The Peterhead Local GIRFEC Group Drugs Awareness Event for parents in March 2019 highlighted high levels of parental concern. This event supported and evidenced a shift in perception from local substance issues being something schools should resolve, to viewing difficulties as a shared responsibility, with parents as a valuable resource in community responses to substance misuse and associated risks.

Further consideration is being given as to how to best utilise support from parents by offering regular awareness raising sessions. Peterhead Local GIRFEC Group are aware that this event raised interest from other areas in Aberdeenshire, who have replicated this approach to good effect.

Corporate Parenting

Corporate Parenting is the responsibility Aberdeenshire Council and other public services have for children and young people who are or have been Looked After by definition of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Corporate Parenting Leads Group, chaired by the Interim Head of Service for Children’s Services, is a Thematic Group of the GIRFEC Strategic Group and is responsible for continuously improving the service experience of looked after children, young people, and care leavers (care experienced young people).

The Leads Group consists of representatives from:  Health  Education & Children’s Services (including Children’s Rights, Social Work, Education, Educational Psychology, and Sport & Leisure)  Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA)  North East Scotland College (NESCOL)  Police Scotland  Skills Development Scotland  Housing  Children’s Hearings Scotland (representing Children’s Panel members)  Grampian Fire & Rescue Service

The group is committed to responding to the challenges faced by care experienced young people to improve outcomes for this particular group. The work is underpinned by the priorities of Getting it Right for Every Child. Being a good Corporate Parent means that the Council and other public bodies will; accept and embrace the responsibility for Aberdeenshire’s care experienced young people, make their needs a priority, and seek for them the same outcomes as any good parent would want for their own children.

Children’s Rights, Engagement & Participation

Children’s Rights, Engagement & Participation themes are woven throughout this report. Our care experienced young people told us that a good corporate parent is;

“When Aberdeenshire Council and people who work there act as our parent and take responsibility for doing everything that a good parent should do, for looked after children and care leavers.” This forms the focus and vision of the Corporate Parenting Leads Group, and in line with the Wellbeing Indicators, the Leads Group work together to achieve the promises Aberdeenshire Council and partner agencies have made to our young people. 68

In January 2017, the Corporate Parenting Leads Group launched a three-year Corporate Parenting Action Plan (2017 -2020) which contains both the promises made to our care experienced young people following consultation on what they needed from their Corporate Parents. This report reflects on the progress made in Year Two.

In 2018/19, meaningful engagement has been further enhanced with our care experienced young people through Twilight Sessions whereby care experienced young people and Corporate Parenting Leads meet to discuss and identify ‘what works well’ and ‘even better if….’ These discussions inform the direction and priority setting in developing Aberdeenshire’s’ Corporate Parenting Plan. The Corporate Parenting Leads Group have listened, responded to and made pledges to our care experienced young people. Our young people then hold the leads accountable for their actions and they are required to report back progress at subsequent meetings.

National Context

On 27 March 2014, the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (the Act) became law. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 detailed which public bodies are considered to be Corporate Parents and defined Corporate Parenting as:

"The formal and local partnerships between all services responsible for working together to meet the needs of looked after children, young people and care leavers".

Part 9 of the Act outlined a range of duties for corporate parents across Scotland. These duties signify that corporate parents should listen to the needs, fears and wishes of children and young people, and be proactive and determined in their collective efforts to address these. These duties are annotated to actions within Aberdeenshire’s Corporate Parenting Action Plan.

The Aberdeenshire Context: Understanding the Data

How Good Are We Now and How Do We Know? The work of the Corporate Parenting Leads group is informed by our own data (qualitative and quantitative) alongside nationally collected data to understand the needs of our care experienced young people, and identify strengths and weaknesses in our partnership approach to meeting our corporate parenting responsibilities. The Leads Group have developed a RAG report (Red, Amber Green) to set targets and measure performance against these. This then informs workstream priorities for the group. The use of this data has informed workstreams on Continuing Care, a Housing Forum for care experienced young people, a celebration event, training and the very recent application for funding for a Virtual Head Teacher for Aberdeenshire’s Looked After young people.

Data on Looked After Children Understanding and benchmarking our data is key to understanding need and capacity. At 31 December 2018, records indicate that there were 432 looked after children in Aberdeenshire. This is a significant increase (of 38 young people) in the number of looked after children over the last year Local Government Benchmarking Framework the rate for 2018 (per 1000 pop 0-17) was 7.2 for Aberdeenshire. This remains significantly less than the comparator average of 11, and less than the Scotland average of 14.3* (* Scottish Government CLAS Returns)

Characteristics There has been no significant change in recent years, to the age and gender profile of looked after children in Aberdeenshire (see tables below).

Looked After Children By Gender Looked After Children By Age (31 March 2019

Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 Year 2016 2017 2018 2019 Boys 228 229 241 237 Under 1 13 11 11 6 Girls 191 179 181 188 1-4 61 66 69 82 Total 419 408 422 425 5-11 154 152 155 145 12-15 132 131 127 133

16-17 49 40 50 52

18 10 4 7 9 19-21 0 1 1 3 Total 419 408 422 425

The majority of Aberdeenshire’s looked after children and young people are successfully supported to live within the community. This is either at home with parents, with friends or relatives (known as kinship care), or in foster placements provided or purchased by the local authority.

Breakdown by Overall Placement Type (As at 31 March 2019) 2016 2017 2018 2019 In the Community 359 347 351 356 Residential 60 61 71 71 Total 419 408 422 425

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Breakdown by type of placement at 31 March 2019 YEAR 2016 2017 2018 2019 In the Community At home with parents 98 73 82 83 With friends/relatives 64 65 81 78 With foster carers 181 177 180 178 With prospective adopters 11 12 14 10 In other community 3 5 4 5 Residential Accommodation In local authority home 13 16 18 16 In voluntary home 12 11 17 15 In residential school 32 36 35 38 In secure accommodation 2 - 1 0 Total Looked After Children 416 394 432 422

Aberdeenshire’s CLAS return (2018) indicates that in the community, 20% of looked after children in Aberdeenshire were living at home with parents, which is an increase of 0.2%-points over the previous year. The percentage of children living at home with parents (20%) is less than both the comparator average (30%), and the estimated national average (26%).

Looked After Children in Foster Care

Over the past three years, the Service has been working hard to reduce the number of children becoming accommodated on an emergency basis and has reduced the percentage from 48 % to 29% in 2018. The momentum to drive this change was firmly based on children’s feedback that the emergency had led to increased trauma and anxiety. We have a good understanding on the composition of new children requiring foster placements as follows, which supports foster carer recruitment campaigns:

Children by Age (at 31/01/2019) Age Range Under 1 1-4 5-11 12-15 16-17 18 19-21 Total Boys 6 37 79 75 35 4 3 239 Girls 4 41 75 54 18 1 0 193 Total 4 41 75 54 18 1 0 193

Looked After Children in Kinship Care A significant rise was noted in relation to the number of young people in kinship care. The Kinship Team have seen a steady rise in requests for kinship support throughout 2018 which may be attributed to greater promotion of the support available following the Children & Young People’s (Scotland) Act 2014 and a focus by the Social Work Service on promoting family-based solutions for children on the edge of care.

Looked After Children at Home Further work is currently being undertaken to understand the needs of Aberdeenshire’s Looked After Children at home, with the view to developing a specific improvement workstream in this area.

Looked After Children with a Disability In 2018, the percentage of Aberdeenshire looked after children recorded as having a disability was 21%, an increase of 2%-points over the previous year. The percentage Aberdeenshire looked after children with a disability (21%) is greater than both the comparator average (12%), and the estimated Scotland average (11%). The recording of ASN/Disability across local authorities, and across Aberdeenshire as an authority, is not consistent. What we do know, is that around 50% of our looked after young people in residential schools are children with complex health and care needs. This equates to around 4.5% of Aberdeenshire’s looked after population. 72

Children and Young people are reported as having an additional support need for a number of reasons, as per table 5 below:

T5: Aberdeenshire’s Looked After Children by Additional Support Needs

ASN Classification Number of Children

No Disability 266

Not Known 62

Autistic Spectrum Disorder 31

Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties 22

Other Chronic Illness/Disabilities 18

Significant learning disabilities 12

Affected by disability of family members 11

Specific Learning Difficulties e.g. Dyslexia 7

Significant physical disabilities/motor impairment 4

Significant hearing impairment 3 ** Total numbers do not Significant language/communication disorder 3 match the total number of Looked After Children, as Mental health problem (Mental Health (Scot) Act84) 1 some children will be reported under more than Total 440** one ASN classification

Further work is required in this area, and the introduction of a Virtual School and Head Teacher for Looked After Children will enable us to explore and respond to this need in a more meaningful manner.

Support through the Children’s Hearing System

Annual data provided by the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA), helps to provide a picture as to the extent and nature of children and young people’s involvement with the Children’s Hearing system locally. Between May 2018 and April 2019, 243 referrals were made to the Children’s Reporter on non- offence grounds, with the main reason for referrals over that period, ground a) ‘Lack of Parental Care’. 137 referrals were made on this basis. There has been an increased number of non-offence referrals to the Children’s Reporter in Aberdeenshire over since 2017, as shown in the table below.

Total number of Non-Offence referrals to SCRA 2009/2010 2013/2014 2015/2016 2016/2017 2017/2018 2018/2019 Referrals 1,124 333 231 190 --- 243

Aberdeenshire’s rate of conversion (meaning referrals which lead to the Reporter convening a Hearing) has increased slightly again to 45.3% (as against a national figure of 24.7%). This remains one of the highest in Scotland.

Information from SCRA also shows a relatively steady number of Compulsory Supervision Orders (CSO’s) in effect over 2018/2019, with 223 children and young people in Aberdeenshire subject to CSO’s as at 31 March 2019. The number of children on a CSO at home in Aberdeenshire has continued to reduce incrementally, falling from 190 children in 2010 to 81 children and young people as of 31 March 2019.

Considered together, these statistics suggest that practitioners in Aberdeenshire are skilled and knowledgeable in using the Children’s Hearings System, with agencies overall making appropriate referrals to the Reporter in line with multi-agency guidance. Through commitment to prevention and early intervention, and effective use of Child’s Plan meetings, support for individual children can often be put in place on a voluntary basis where families engage positively with services. Nevertheless, there will always remain a number of children and young people for whom statutory measures of supervision remain essential to ensure their care and protection.

Year 1 Progress against the Corporate Parenting Multi-Agency Action Plan

Corporate Parenting – Safe & Nurtured No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles 1.1 Looked After Young People will have a safe place to live Safe & 19 Nurtured 1.2 Young people will be supported to move on from care at the right time Safe & 19, 27 to appropriate accommodation which will reduce homelessness and Nurtured offending behaviour and improve opportunities for employment and better health and well-being 1.3 Young people will be cared for by competent, confident skilled carers Safe & 3, 5, 18, 19 who are able to meet their needs Nurtured 1.4 All looked after children and young people will have access to someone Safe & 1, 3, 4, 12 they trust, children’s rights, social worker, teacher etc. Nurtured 1.5 Reduce the number of care leavers experiencing homelessness, poor Safe & 3, 19, 27 health and substance misuse Nurtured 1.6 To enable young people to remain in continuing care arrangements up Safe & 4, 5, 19, 27 until 21 years of age Nurtured 1.7 Care leavers will know how to access support and what will be available Safe & 3, 4 17, 18 to them particularly when they have disengaged from services Nurtured 1.8 Care leavers will have access to After Care support up until 26 years of Safe & 4, 18 age Nurtured

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Aim 1.1: Looked After young people will have a safe place to live

How Good Are We Now and How Do We Know? Aberdeenshire’s Looked After Children are provided with a very safe and supportive place to live. We know this because our young people and their families tell us. Children’s Homes regularly seek feedback from young people, families and professionals whilst the young person is living with them and after they leave. They also work with the young people in relation to a Wellbeing Survey which enables young people to rate how they are feeling against the wellbeing indicators. Across the three Children’s Homes, the average of 88% of young people living there reported to feeling safe. Of the 12% who did not report to feeling safe, this reported to their experiences in the community. Across all three Children’s Homes, the quality of care and support has consistently been graded as ‘Very Good’ by the Care Inspectorate.

Views of Young People and their Families: Our young people and their families have commented as follows:

Parent’s comments:

Safe: ‘I have no concerns’

Nurtured: ‘We know that staff work hard to support (our child)

Do you feel actively involved in the care of your child?

‘Yes, J (keyworker) updates me regularly, no concerns’

‘Yes’

What do you feel about the levels of communication with yourself and staff?

‘No concerns, (key worker) updates me regularly’

‘Very good’

Young People’s comments

‘I feel like I get treated very well and people treat me as my age and i respect that and therefore I am the same back.’

‘I get on well with the other kids and staff, which helps to build up relationship skills and opening up to staff about if there is something that I feel uneasy about.’

Children’s views are used to inform the Children & Young Person’s Assessment Report and Child’s Plan, and appropriate action is taken to address any concerns. All looked After Young people over the last few years have been asked to comment on how safe they feel where they live through the My Voice Tool, which is completed prior to Pathway Reviews, Looked After Child Reviews and Children’s Hearings as per Table 6.

T6: Percentage of children who said they felt safe where they live (My Voice)

Key Performance Measure Achieved Achieved Achieved Achieved 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 1a) Percentage of children 97% 96% 96% N/A who said they felt safe (294 children) (149 children) (45 children) where they live (My Voice)

We have been unable to collect meaningful data for 2018/19 as usage of ‘My Voice’ has rapidly dropped, which provided us with data in previous years. Care experienced young people’s views are still collected and inform their Child’s Plan, but the means to collect this is not sophisticated enough at this time to report on. Further work is required to find alternative ways to capture this information. Foster Carers, Adopters and Kinship Carers are all rigorously assessed in line with legislative requirements. Our Permanence Panel and Fostering, Supported Lodgings and Kinship Panel have independent chairs who provide scrutiny to our assessments and processes. Foster Carers and approved Kinship Carers are also subject to annual reviews and the views of looked after children, their families and the professionals supporting them are gathered to inform the review and identify both strengths of the placement and areas for improvement. Feedback from Foster Carer Reviews also indicate our young people in foster care feel safe and cared for. A suite of accommodation options has been developed to support care leavers in collaboration with their views and assessed needs. This will be further explored in the next section.

Aim 1.2: Young people will be supported to move on from care at the right time to appropriate accommodation, which will reduce homelessness and offending behaviour, and improve opportunities for employment and better health and wellbeing.

How Good Are We Now and How Do We Know?

Young people are very well supported to move on from care. We know this because our young people tell us and we have seen a consistent level of engagement with our Through Care Team and an increase in the number of young people coming back to our Service for help or support when they need it. A Pathways assessment is undertaken with everyone young person to identify their appropriate care plan and support.

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Throughcare 31 March 2019, 80% of young people actively engaged with the Through Care Service and working towards independence had Pathways Plans and reviews in place. Of the 20% (17) who did not have a Pathways Plan, a small number are supported by Adult Services as the lead agency and have a different type of review; other young people choose to dip in and out of the service on a discretionary basis. This flexibility is positive for young people who wish to manage their own lives but recognise that there are times when they do need some support. When a young person is ready to think about leaving care, we provide safe and supportive accommodation and support for young people making the transition from Care to Independence which is a particularly vulnerable time for care experienced young people. One of the ways we support care experienced young people with independent living skills, is through the Through Care Service Taster flat in Peterhead. Our young people have found this to be very helpful, and we have replicated the project in Inverurie.

Homelessness Aberdeenshire Council Housing Service prioritise young people leaving care for accommodation, allocating them the maximum number of points. The Youth Housing Forum to prevent homelessness for care leavers is highly successful and has resulted in careful planning and accommodation allocation. Since 2017, no young person leaving care in Aberdeenshire has been required to register as homeless in order to access accommodation. We have developed a suite of accommodation and support options which include Langstane Supported Tenancies, Supported Lodgings and Taizali, a resource developed in the Fraserburgh area where many of our young people have significant relationships and attachments. The data below confirms that 31% of our CEYP open to the Through Care Team are being supported to manage to a permanent tenancy (table 7). We have also completely eradicated CEYP leaving care and moving into B&B or homeless accommodation in 2018 (in 2017, we had 2 CEYP in B&B accommodation).

Re-engaging Young People When a young person leaves care and makes a choice not to be supported by the Through Care Service, the Through Care Team send a 6 monthly letter reminding them of the Service and support available. This includes details of contact numbers, Facebook details, and signposts young people to Skills Development Scotland. We know this is successful as in 2018, 27 young people came back to the Service: 9 were reallocated a worker, and 18 young people were supported with short term intervention to address a particular need.

Number of Young People open to the Through Care Team by Accommodation Type (as at 31/3/19) Type of Accommodation Number of Young People of YP % Open to Through Care Team Foster Care/Kinship 25 23% Continuing Care 7 6% Supported Lodgings 5 4% Family 14 13% Supported Tenancies 5 4% Supported Acomm* 9 8% Permanent Tenancies 34 31% Temp Accommodation 6 5% B&B 0 0 YOI 2 2% Student Halls 1 1% Sofa Surfing 2 2% Total 110 110% *Supported Accommodation includes Taizali and Foyer accommodation.

Taizali Taizali opened in March 2016, and offers accommodation and support to young people leaving care between the ages of 16-18 with a view to supporting their transition into independence. The accommodation is offered with the expectation that young people will actively participate in an independent living programme. To date, the staff at Taizali have supported 24 young people to access the right supports and move on to independence. (10 in 2016, 8 in 2017, and 6 in 2018/2019). Taizali has had several examples of successfully working with young people to support positive outcomes:

M came to Taizali from foster care, keen to begin living independently but at risk of a negative destination.

M has been supported by Taizali to undertake an

Activity Agreement with a local work placement, which led to her securing paid employment. M is now ready to be move into a supported tenancy, feeling much more ready and equipped to manage this

next stage.

B came to Taizali with low confidence, poor health, and low education outcomes.

Supported by Taizali, B has undertaken a college course, improved their health, and grown significantly in confidence.

B is now at the point where they are ready to begin 78 planning for their future.

Other Accommodation Options

Supported Lodgings: We currently have 8 Supported Lodgings providers in Aberdeenshire, and over the course of 2018, 5 care leavers accessed the Supported Lodgings Scheme prior to moving to live more independently (5 in 2017). There is an ongoing challenge to recruit Supported Lodgings providers within Aberdeenshire’s major settlements. Many of our providers are more rural, which influences a young person’s choice to take up this option, and ongoing recruitment continues.

1.3: Young people will be cared for by competent, confident skilled carers who are able to meet their needs. Children’s Services Social Work is committed to safe recruitment policies, and Aberdeenshire’s Residential Children’s Homes, Fostering Service and Adoption Service are also regulated Services which are regularly inspected by the Scottish Care Inspectorate. Our staff are competent, confident and skilled to meet the needs of our care experienced young people, with a rolling training program ensuring continuous learning opportunities are available to carers and staff. An excellent recruitment strategy and process is essential to being able to ensure young people are care for by competent, confident skilled carers who are able to meet their needs. Children’s Homes Across Aberdeenshire’s Children’s Homes, the workforce is stable and staff remain in the Service for significant periods of time. This provides consistency and a skilled and experienced workforce to meet the needs of some of our most vulnerable young people. The Children’s Homes actively involve their young people and ex-residents in recruitment, and their insight and views have been invaluable to the process.

Foster Carers Between 1st January 2018 and 31st December 2018, 23 prospective households attended Skills to Foster Training. 20 families proceeded to assessment following the training and applied to foster for Aberdeenshire. These figures reflect the national picture across the UK. Aberdeenshire’s Fostering Panel made recommendations on 15 new applications for approval as foster carers from 1 January to 31 December 2018. This is an increase from 2017 as shown in the table below.

Recommendations for Foster Carer Approval in Aberdeenshire Year 2017 2018

Number recommendations for approval 9 15

All Fostering households are required to complete 30 hours of learning and development annually, which also encompasses e-learning. 100 e-learning modules were completed by Aberdeenshire’s Foster Carers during 2018, which includes foster carers reflecting on what they have learnt, and how this will be put into practice supporting children and young people. Six Skills uplifts were presented to and recommended by the Fostering Panel during the year. 5 fostering households moved from Skills Level 1 to Skills Level 2, and 1 fostering household moved from Skills Level 2 to Skills Level 3. This demonstrates further our commitment to growing foster carers to meet the at times very complex needs of the care experienced young people they care for. Peer support is strongly encouraged, and 233 Foster Carers attended these groups over 2018.

Young People’s Views Feedback from care experienced young people is integral to evaluating services. Some examples of what young people have told us are:

“I want to continue living with my foster carer because I am part of that family.” (12-year-old)

“I feel that my relationship with my foster carers is fully natural. I have enjoyed every second with them as they have provided a safe and stable environment for me over the years. They have never failed to meet my needs as they have ensured that I have had a decent education and a good social life. They have encouraged me to reach the best of my ability.” (17 year old)

“I am Cared about, looked after properly, rules are reasonable. Plenty freedom.” (17-year-old)

“I have a good relationship with my foster carers and like living there because I can tell them about things that worry me.” (14 year old)

“She (foster carer) believed in me when no one did, not even myself.” (15 year old)

Adoption Until around 2015, Aberdeenshire’s Adoption Service received a very high level of interest in Adoption. However, since 2015, the Service has seen a significant drop with 2017 seeing the lowest level of interest in adoption to date. In 2015 we successfully recruited and assessed 13 families, in 2017 4, however we saw an increase in 2018 to 8 families, following a concerted and targeted campaign of recruitment through the media and social media online.

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Between January and December 2018, 9 couples participated in and completed the adoption preparation courses, and 4 progressed onto full assessment and approval. The remaining families withdrew for varying personal reasons. In 2018 the Permanence Panel made recommendations for Adoption Plans in relation to 16 children and 15 children were matched with adoptive families. Adopters are also supported to continue to grow and develop their skills recognising that the needs of a care experienced young person change throughout the age and stages of their lives. A rolling programme of workshops and learning opportunities for adoptive parents continues and the service has taken positive steps forward in 2018 to engage with online media and workshops, that adoptive parents can join in with either individually at home or with a group of other parents in a local venue.

Adoption Support In 2018 the Service received 76 referrals for a range of aspects of Adoption Support. Requests included birth records access and counselling from adopted adults, tracing and reunion support with birth family members, adoption support for families with children of all ages, supporting teenagers, assisting birth family members with Letterbox Scheme letters, and stepparent adoptions. This was an increase on 2017, during which 49 referrals were received.

Feedback collated from Looked After Child Reviews confirmed that throughout 2018/2019, 99 % of placements were agreed to be meeting the child’s individual needs. This is an increase of 2 % from 2017/2018. Where the placement was not meeting a child’s needs, alternative plans were being explored.

1.4: All looked after children and young people will have access to someone they trust, children’s rights, social worker, teacher etc

All care experienced young people have access to someone they trust. We know this because during 2018/2019, 98% of looked after children had an allocated social worker. The 1.5% who didn’t (5 children) were allocated to a Local Area Coordinator/Family Support Worker due to their social worker leaving, and whilst a recruitment process was underway. Further work is required to evaluate the quality of relationships between care experienced young people and their social worker/key professional.

Aberdeenshire Council continue to offer a Children’s Rights Service to care experienced young people by our own Children’s Rights Officers, and by a dedicated Who Cares? Scotland worker.

In 2018/2019, 100 children (age 5+) have used the Children’s Rights Service (an increase of 6 from 2017/2018) . Of those 100, 45 new children accessed the service between January 2018 and 31 March 2019 (45% of all individual children receiving a service). All children and young people receive information about the Children’s Rights Service available to them, when initially accommodated. Care experienced young people told us their views, in a survey undertaken by the Children’s Rights Service in March 2019:

How easy was it to get in contact with the Children’s Rights Officer?

Very easy  Quite easy  Quite hard Very hard

What kind of help did you get? (please tick all the help you got)

Help to give my views at meetings   Help to write down my views    Help to sort out a worry or concern  Help to sort out a problem  Advice on my rights 

A trusting relationship is vital to a young person being able to share their views.

Information on children and young people’s views is also collated from Looked After Child Reviews, as per table 8 below.

T8: Are the Child’s Views clearly available to the Review Manager? Yes 228 80% No, child too young (under 5) 40 12% No, other reason 17 7% Total 285 100%

Where views are not available and the child was over 5 years of age, the main reasons related to the child having complex health/disabilities. However, an audit (July 2018) of Children & Young Person’s Reports indicated that in the sample of cases audited, any issue of disability was considered, and reference made to appropriate materials to gain further understanding of a young person’s views. For example, this included direct reference to communication tools including My Life workbooks to enable the young person to share their views in a more appropriate manner.

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1.6: To enable young people to remain in continuing care arrangements up to 21 years of age. We have been successful in promoting and enabling our young people to remain in continuing care in Aberdeenshire. In 2017, 23 young people were eligible for continuing care and of those 23, 14 remained in their placement i.e. took up this option. However, in 2018 we have seen a significant increase., with 25 young people remaining in placement over 17 years of age, and a further 11 over 18 years of age. The main reason for leaving the placement is the young person’s personal choice and whilst Aberdeenshire has always been committed to the ‘Staying Put’ Agenda, the introduction of continuing care has clearly had a positive impact on our young people and their carers. A significant number of young people over the age of 16 years, do return to their families. Where they don’t, we have developed a suite of accommodation and support options already highlighted in this report, and have in 2018, eradicated young people leaving care and ending up in homeless or B&B accommodation.

1.7: Care leavers will know how to access support and what will be available to them particularly where they have disengaged from services.

We proactively write out to all non-engaged care experienced young people who have left care every 6 months, to 'keep in touch' and signpost them to support as required. This information reminds young people of the service available to them, and provides details of the Facebook Page/Duty Telephone number, together with Skills Development Scotland contact details. During 2018/2019, 31 young people who had left care and previously disengaged from the Service, re-engaged following receipt of the letter informing them that the service remains available to them. This is an increase from 2017/2018 where 17 young people re-engaged.

1.8: Care leavers will have access to After Care support up until 26 years of age Care leavers are offered and can access support up until 26 years of age. We know this is happening through tracking the profile of young people open to the service, and those returning. During 2018, the Through Care and After Care Team were supporting 110 young people, (120 in 2017). In the first quarter of 2018/19, this increased to 114, with 83 young people aged between 15-19 years of age, and 31 young people aged between 20-26 years of age. This has also seen an increase in access to After Care support in the 20-26 age group, up from 26 young people in 2017.

Corporate Parenting - Healthy No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles 2.1 Health needs of looked after children and young people are prioritised Healthy 3, 6, 24

2.2 Mental health needs of LAC are identified and prioritised Healthy 3, 6, 24

2.1 Health needs of looked after children and young people are prioritised In 2018, 141 referrals were made to NHS Grampian’s Looked After Children’s Service. We know that the health needs of looked after children in Aberdeenshire are prioritised, because 94% of those children received an initial health assessment as a result of becoming looked after, which informed support provided as part of their Child’s Plan. Of those 135 children, 47% received an initial health assessment within 8 weeks. This compares to 40% in 2016, and 42% in 2017 – a rise of 7% over the past 2 years. The setting up of a small working group to improve this process has begun to see improvement in this area. The reasons for delay are mixed across Health and Social Work Services, as shown in table 9 below.

T9: Reasons for Delay/Non Completion of Initial Health Assessment for Looked After Children Year 2017 2018 Reason for delay in completion Paperwork - SW 10% 6% Paperwork - NHS 13% 16% Paperwork - NHS & SW 14% 8% LAC (NHS) Team 8% 2% Moved Placement 0% 4% Out of Area 4% 11% Reason for Non-assessment Non-engagement (NHS) 2% 1% No Consent 2% 4% Discharged 4% 1%

Table 9 indicates a 7% increase in the number of children being placed outwith the Grampian area during 2018, which has an impact on timescales, as the Looked After Children Health Team are then required to locate professionals outwith Grampian to complete the health assessment (who may also have different local processes).

Of the 6% of Looked After Children who were not assessed (9 out of 141 children) the main reasons cited were non engagement, non-consent, and discharged from care before the assessment was progressed. Whilst 6% equates to a small number of children, this is an area for improvement, and it is anticipated that development of the School Nurse Pathway (CEL 13) in Aberdeenshire may improve opportunities to better engage families in this process.

In January 2018, Trakcare was introduced to NHS Grampian, to enable Looked After Child Status to be flagged on hospital health records and ensure medical practitioners are better informed of a young person’s circumstances. Within Aberdeenshire, Health Visiting/School Nursing Teams are being encouraged to register with Trakcare, and a briefing for Health will be circulated to practitioners informing them of the agreed processes to be followed when Looked After Children/Young People do not attend health appointments.

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The Aberdeenshire Audit of Child Protection in General Practice Report (January 19) showed that 90% (28 out of 31) of GP practices use Read coding for Looked After Children.

Dental services are also changing their registration forms to ensure care experienced/looked after children’s details are added.

2.2 Mental health needs of Looked After Children are identified and prioritised All school-aged children who become Looked After, are offered a mental health assessment (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire or (SDQ)), which is completed with consent. During 2018, 72 % of Aberdeenshire’s looked after children completed this assessment. 12% of young people who completed the SDQs were already attending CAMHS (11 young people) and 6% (5 young people) were referred to CAMHS as a result of the SDQ assessment. Of the 28% who did not have a SDQ completed, the reasons for this included:  Child/young person moved out of area*  refusal  discharged from care prior to completion  7 questionnaires were not returned from school nurses

*14 children were not offered the opportunity to participate in the SDQ because they had moved out with the area, and this requires further exploration. The potential to develop the School Nursing Pathway (CEL 13) in Aberdeenshire, may improve figures for non-completed SDQs. Some health boards across Scotland have elected not to use the SDQ assessments at all.

Corporate Parenting – Achieving No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles 3.1 Looked After Children and Young People will have one key adult in Achieving 4, 18, 28, school who will protect, promote and safeguard their needs 29 3.2 Looked After Children and Young People are aware of the supports Achieving 4, 18, 28, accessible through school in their local area 29 3.3 Regular planning takes place for care experienced young people to Achieving 4, 18, 28, determine whether a CSP is required and to ensure that their 29 educational needs are met 3.4 Key information is prepared and shared at times of transition between Achieving 4, 18, 28, schools for all care experienced young people 29 3.5 High expectation of attendance rates of Looked After Children and Achieving 4, 18, 28, Young People is promoted and safeguarded 29 3.6 Attainment data of care experienced young people is not significantly Achieving 4, 18, 28, different to that of their peers 29 3.7 Care experienced young people will make a successful transition into Achieving 4, 17, 18, post school life 28, 29 3.8 Care leavers will have a wider range of options in accessing learning Achieving 4, 18, 28, institutions that are local to them or that suit their ambitions without 29 compromising on support needs

3.1 Looked After Children and Young People will have one key adult in school who will protect, promote and safeguard their needs All Care experienced young people can identify their key adult in school, and are offered ring- fenced time with that person in school, to build a trusting relationship and ensure that cognisance is taken of their needs and circumstances in planning support. Further work is required to promote specific induction supports for care experienced young people. A Named Person is made available to every child in Aberdeenshire until they reach 18, or 19 where they remain in secondary education. It is acknowledged that a young person’s preferred key adult in school may be someone other than their Named Person.

3.2 Looked After Children and Young People are aware of the supports accessible through school in their local area. We have been unable to collate specific data on this area, and this PI requires reviewing.

3.3 Regular planning takes place for care experienced young people to determine whether a CSP is required, and to ensure that their educational needs are being met. In 2018/2019, 92% of our looked after children had a Child’s Plan that was regularly reviewed, and confirmed that their education needs were currently being met. Plans to address the disparity, were in place for the 8% of care experienced children and young people whose education plan did not meet their needs. This included facilitation of a Flexible Pathway, or for some children the identification of education plan as part of a residential school provision, or alternative day-school provision for some of our children with complex additional support needs.

3.4 Key information is prepared and shared at times of transition between schools for all care experienced young people. At times of transition, we know that partners are committed to facilitating formal and informal meetings with the young people/parents/carers/partners to ensure best practice and that young people and their carers are supported with any transition. Transitions checklists are not being used consistently across schools in Aberdeenshire and further work is required to bring consistency to this approach. Planning support to ensure smooth transitions would be considered as part of a Child’s Plan.

3.5: Looked After Children’s Attendance/Absence in Aberdeenshire Schools Aberdeenshire’s overall attendance rates for looked after children compares well to the national picture.

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Attendance rates for children who are looked after at home are more concerning, and this is being addressed through a particular workstream focusing on improving outcomes for looked after children at home. Attendance figures for Looked After children attending Aberdeenshire Schools in 2016/2017 compared well to ‘all pupils’ attendance, as per Table 3.

Attendance and Absence Rates for Looked After Children (in Aberdeenshire Schools) Year 2016/2017 2017/2018 % Attendance: Looked After Children 93.12% 90.38% % Unauthorised Absence: Looked After Children 2.35% 3.51% % Attendance: All Aberdeenshire Pupils 94.86% 94.44% % Attendance: All pupils (National) 93.30% tbc Sources: Aberdeenshire Council ECS Committee Paper Analysis of Initial school leavers destination 2017/18 report; Educational Outcomes for LAC 2016/2017 (Table 3.4); ScotXed: Attendance/ Absence at Schools

Whilst the figures have dropped slightly for 2017/2018 (by 3%), this relates to a very small number of looked after children. The ScotXed Attendance and Absence at Scottish Schools Return is completed biennially and does not include Looked After Children separately. Aberdeenshire figures in the table above are based on internal data. All looked after children will have a Child’s Plan, where education is a key feature and will include consideration of attendance.

3.6 Attainment data of care experienced young people is not significantly different to that of their peers. Since 2013/2014 school-leavers in Scotland have been classified by identifying the highest Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level at which they achieved one or more passes by the time they leave school. This includes SQA attainment at SCQF levels 3 to 7. 81.8% of Aberdeenshire’s care experienced young people (looked after for the full year by the local authority and who left school during session 2016/2017), achieved one or more qualifications at SCQF level 4. This compared to an average of 78.1% across Scotland (table below).

Aberdeenshire Looked After Children School Leavers Highest Level of Attainment (2016/2017) (young people looked after for the full year by the local authority)

No. of LAC school leavers 11

% of LAC school-leavers with 1+ awards at SCQF level 3 81.82%

National LAC Comparator with 1+ awards at SCQF level 3 86.17%

Aberdeenshire Non-LAC Comparator with 1+ awards at SCQF level 3 98.81%

% of LAC school-leavers with 1+ awards at SCQF level 4 81.82%

National LAC Comparator with 1+ awards at SCQF level 4 78.06%

Non-LAC Comparator with 1+ awards at SCQF level 4 98.28%

Whilst Aberdeenshire compares well against the national average, looked after and care experienced school-leavers are still behind their non-looked after Aberdeenshire peers.

3.7 Positive Post-school Destinations for Looked After Children Over 10% more care experienced young people in Aberdeenshire went on to positive destinations in 2017/2018 compared to 2016/2017 (very similar to the national average), although this is not statistically significant due to the relatively small numbers of pupils. 2018/19 leavers data is due to become available in Insight in February 2020.

Positive Post-school Destinations for Looked After Children Year 2016/2017 2017/2018 No of Aberdeenshire looked after young people who 41 47 left school with a positive destination % of Aberdeenshire looked after young people who left 70.7% 80.9% school with positive destination % of looked after young people who left school with 76.4% 80.4% positive destination (national average) % of all Aberdeenshire pupils who left school with a 95.5% 96.3% positive destination % of all pupils who left school with positive destination 93.7% 94.4% (national figure)

Sources: Aberdeenshire Council ECS Committee Paper Analysis of Initial school leavers destination 2017/18 report and National All-Pupils data: ScotXed Attainment & Initial Leavers 2017/18 Supplementary Data

Corporate Parenting - Active

No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles

4.1 Looked after children and care leavers have access to leisure activities, Active 3, 23, 51 promoting wellbeing and good physical health up until 21 years of age

4.1 Looked after children and care leavers have access to leisure activities, promoting wellbeing and good physical health up until 21 years of age. All Looked after children and young people, including those looked after at home, are eligible to access free sporting activities across all of Aberdeenshire’s local authority’s sport centres. This includes swimming lessons and Active Aberdeenshire Sports Team. In 2018, we also successfully secured free access to Sport & Leisure Facilities for young people leaving care, for up to one year between leaving care and reaching the age of 26 years. Whilst it is too early to collect data on usage, this is something we will use to track the effectiveness of this project, and will report on in future. 88

In establishing participation levels of looked after young people in Active Schools activities, we are able to report that in 2018/19, 57 looked after children attended Active School Activities. Care experienced young people currently make up around 23% of those attending such activities, which is an increase of 10% on the previous year. There has also been a noted increase in the number of care experienced young people volunteering with Active Schools, increasing from 2 young people in 2017/2018, to 5 young people in 2018/19. This equates to 0.02% of the total care experienced young people population in secondary schools, in comparison to 0.07% of non-looked after secondary pupils volunteering. Through information collated at Looked After Child Reviews, 98% of children and young people identified that they were regularly participating in hobbies and interests including active activities.

Corporate Parenting - Respected & Responsible No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles 5.1 Looked after children and care leavers will have their successes Respected 3, 12 celebrated and promoted Responsible 5.2 Looked after children and care leavers will be supported in their Respected, 3, 4, 5, communities by corporate parents who understand their duties and Responsible 12, 18, responsibilities as well as the needs of looked after children 19

5.1 Looked after children and care leavers will have their successes celebrated and promoted Our Corporate Parenting Website was launched spring 2016, and is available to the public via Aberdeenshire’s GIRFEC Website.

This provides further opportunity to raise awareness of corporate parenting duties and responsibilities and celebrate success. Our care experienced young people told us that they wanted their achievement stories acknowledged and celebrated. An Achievement Wall has been included in the website containing anonymous success stories directly from our care experienced young people who have been delighted with the outcome The wall is updated quarterly with new stories, with some of these achievements for 2018/2019 shown below:

Data is also collected from Looked After Child Reviews to inform as to whether reports contain information relating to a looked after young person’s achievement. We collect this information on a quarterly basis, and over the last year have seen a steady increase following the promotion of this across services, from 82% in Quarter-1 to 99% in Quarter-3.

Celebrating Success Awards Ceremony In September 2018, Aberdeenshire held its first ever bespoke awards evening for care experienced young people. This event provided young people with an opportunity to be nominated for a number of categories including:

 Aberdeenshire Volunteering Award  Academic Achievement Award (primary & secondary categories)  Cultural & Sporting Achievement Award  Making a difference for care experienced young people  Personal Development Award  Inspirational Young Person Award

The evening was a resounding success, hosted by Olympic gold Medallist Hannah Miley and attended by nominated young people, their friends, family, social workers and teachers; along with elected members, senior leaders, and Aberdeenshire Council’s Chief Executive

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Aberdeenshire’s care experienced children and young people told us what they thought about Celebrating Success:

“I really liked it and it was exciting but part of me wanted one of the other nominees to win. I really like her and she’s been doing really well.” Winner of the Academic Achievement Award, Primary.

“It is important to give care experienced young people the opportunity to attend an event this like because they may not get the opportunity otherwise. It’s also very important to care experienced young people for our corporate parents to recognise us and be proud! The night was amazing….to be a winner also felt very rewarding as if felt like people recognised what I do and how passionate I am about making a difference.” Winner of Inspirational Young Person Award.

“Being nominated for the award was great even though I was surprised. We were all treated as though we were really special. There was a piper to welcome us and a photographer - it was a bit like being at a wedding. Everybody was nice and I met lots of new people. The meal was pretty cool too, little burgers and mini macaroni pies. I will never forget meeting Hannah Miley, she was so nice and not at all what I expected.” Young Person Nominated for Volunteering Award

It is intended to run the Celebrating Success Awards event every 3 years, to continue to value and nurture our young people, eradicate stigma, and promote our care experienced children and young people’s amazing achievements.

5.2 Looked After children & care leavers will be supported in their communities by corporate parents who understand their duties and responsibilities, as well as the needs of Looked After children.

Our Corporate Parenting Website provides further opportunity to raise awareness of corporate parenting duties and responsibilities and to celebrate success.

Further development work is required on the website to ensure it contains the right information, and this will be progressed over 2019.

Some examples of how we have raised awareness of responsibilities and duties are:

Aberdeenshire Council has now introduced an introduction to Corporate Parenting into the Council’s generic induction programme and is currently developing e-training which will be able to be accessed by all council employees. The Robert Gordon University are also us supporting to develop a short video clip being created by students as part of their project work on a Media Degree.

Police Scotland have recently recruited three Corporate Parenting 'Champions' across NE Division, who are in the process of compiling a NE Division Corporate Parenting Plan. This will tie in at local level, with delivery of Police Scotland's National Corporate Parenting Plan. They are awaiting national training, which it is hoped will roll out later this year to all Officers. Meantime, NE Division officers are continuing to roll out Introductory face-to-face briefings to front-line Officers about Corporate Parenting across the Division to raise awareness about Corporate Parenting. To date the local NE Division Command Team (approximately 20 Officers) have received formal multi-agency training. All officers have received an electronic briefing and face-to-face briefings have been carried out with a further 104 Officers, and 6 civilian members of staff. We believe that by being proactive in delivering corporate parenting training, we will increase awareness and will further aid signposting and support should partners come into contact with care experienced children and young people.

The development of Twilight sessions with the Corporate Parenting Leads group has been a key milestone in direct engagement between care experienced young people and Corporate Parenting Leads across local partnership organisations. This has resulted in a number of pledges being made which will inform next steps in reviewing the Corporate Parenting Plan. Some of these pledges are:

“I pledge to be available, accessible and approachable to the young folk and keep my fellow Councillors informed and involved.” Cllr Anouk Kloppert & Looked After Children Champion

“To work to eliminate the attainment gap between Care Experienced & non- Care Experienced students at NESCoL” Robin McGregor, NESCOL

“To continue to raise the profile of our family firm and create interesting work experience and opportunities.” Jacqueline Dinnes, SDO, Our Family Firm

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“To ensure NHS Grampian employees know what Corporate Parenting is and what being Looked After or Care Experienced means” Linda Gray, LAC Nurse

“I pledge to do all that I and my school can to prevent changes of school unless this is what the young person wants.” Dawn Lynch, Depute Head Teacher

“I will raise awareness about the work within North East division of Police Scotland about Police Officers’ responsibilities and the need to listen to and engage with CEYP.” Sheila McDermott, Police Scotland

Corporate Parenting - Included No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Indicators Articles 6.1 Children and young people help to design services by sharing their own Included 3, 4, 5, experiences of being looked after and what could have been better to 12, 18, ensure they achieved better outcomes for all looked after children and 19 young people in Aberdeenshire 6.2 Key, skilled Champions will promote, advocate for and support workplace Included 3, 4, 6, opportunities within the council 18

Aim 6.1 Children and young people help to design services by sharing their own experiences of being Looked After and what could have been better to ensure they achieved better outcomes for all Looked After children and young people in Aberdeenshire

The YPOC Group have continued to meet over 2018/2019, facilitated by two Children’s Rights Officer and the Who Cares? Scotland young person’s worker. YPOC’s young people are looking at innovative ways to recruit more members to the group over 2019/2020.

Having spent 2016/2017 working on their Don’t Judge, We’re No Different From You campaign, launched in early 2017; YPOC members were asked to present a workshop at the Children in Scotland Conference in Edinburgh in November 2018. This workshop was led by two of Aberdeenshire’s care experienced young people, and supported by Children’s Rights Officers. It was well attended, and the girls were able to answer many questions from the audience. Members of the YPOC Group gave a presentation in September 2018 to Children’s Panel members, where an audience of 40 panel members watched their campaign Don’t Judge, We’re No Different From You DVD and asked lots of questions about their experiences at school and at Children’s Hearings. Panel member feedback was very positive and highlighted that the YPOC Group’s input had made them as Panel Members reflect on how they might do things differently to support care experienced young people. In February 2019, members of the YPOC Group hosted a stall at Meldrum Academy as part of the #YOYP Legacy Event; which was attended by young people, their families, people working across services for children, and invited dignitaries. This ceremony marked an end to Aberdeenshire’s Year of Young People 2018, and showcased young people’s accomplishments with performances and presentations, and include highlighting the contribution of the YPOC Group. The YPOC Group’s next campaign is focussing on what happens when young people first come into care. The group have been working on the guide for their latest campaign, Coming into Care and Moving Placements - Getting it Right. They are also developing a DVD to accompany the Guide, based on a story of two children, and the YPOC Group are looking to film this in early August 2019.

Aims 6.2, 6.3 & 6.4 Key, skilled Champions will promote, advocate for and support workplace opportunities within the council enabling young people to access support and flexibility in bespoke placements.

In October 2018, some young people from the YPOC Group met with members of Aberdeenshire Council’s Human Resources Team, who facilitated interview training. This included assistance with interview skills and some mock interviews, which not only helped the young people develop skills for their own lives, but also provided them with the skills to recruit Aberdeenshire’s new Looked After Children Champion. Councillor Anouk Kloppert was successfully recruited to join Councillor Anne Stirling as Looked After Champion, following Councillor Evison’s successful period in this role.

Launched by the Scottish Government in January 2011 the intention of Our Family Firm is to provide experience of the workplace in order to help ensure that care leavers are better equipped for adulthood. Our Family Firm works closely with the Employability Partnership and Developing the Young Workforce. Aberdeenshire’s Our Family Firm information has been available on the Corporate Parenting pages of Aberdeenshire’s GIRFEC website since 2016, and Our Family Firm training information is available as an e-learn on ALDO.

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Our Family Firm currently has 11 Aberdeenshire Council Service Champions, in the following areas: Business Services (4), Infrastructure Services (2), Education and Children’s services (3) Health and Social Care Partnership (2). We are in the process of sourcing 2 further Champions within Education and Children’s Services.

Referrals to Our Family Firm have Aberdeenshire Our Family Firm Referrals significantly increased since its Year 2015 2016 2017 2018 relaunch in 2016, rising from 5 young Number of 5 37 54* 73 people in 2015, to 73 young people Young People in 2018. *+4 re-referrals

Of the 73 referrals, 71% young people to date have progressed to actual work experience, which varies from one-day-per week, to full weeks for a mutually agreed period of time based on the needs and circumstances of each individual young person. Placements include mechanical engineering, admin, catering, Care, pharmacy, landscape services, beauty therapy, animal care, facilities, ICT, construction, nursing, sport and leisure and Media.

Towards the end of 2016, Aberdeenshire Council funded a pilot project offering two care experienced young people paid work experience, and support with navigating the workplace and applying for jobs. The pilot came to an end in March 2017, and was reported to have been successful with one young person offered further work, and the other having gained enough confidence to go on and apply for college.

In October-December 2017 the programme (now named WorkPlus) ran again with five young people. Once again it was reported as successful, with three young people achieving offers of employment and going on to further education. Unfortunately, further funding has not been secured to continue this project. Our care experienced young people have told us that their Family Firm work experience has significantly increased their confidence, and supported them to apply for both part-time and full time employment.

Achievements and Good Practice

The progress of Aberdeenshire’s corporate parenting plan has been highlighted throughout this report, with strong collaboration between local partners continuing to secure improved outcomes for care experienced children and young people.

There have been many successes over 2018/2019, and this has included:

 Young people’s participation in service improvement, recruitment and training  National recognition for materials produced by the YPOC Group  Twilight Sessions involving care experienced young people & Corporate Parenting Leads  The highly successful Celebrating Success Awards Evening  Good inspection outcomes for Residential Homes and Fostering Services  No young people placed in B&B accommodation on leaving care  Increased numbers of young people sustaining their own tenancies  Increased choice through a suite of supportive local accommodation for care leavers  Increased numbers of care leavers returning to access a service, at times support is most needed  Greater awareness and up-take of Continuing Care  A significant increase in Our Family Firm work placements

Celebrating successes is a key role for corporate parents, and whilst some of the success stories are woven throughout this report, feedback from children and young people themselves is particularly vital in evaluating our impact. The following are quotes collated from some of Aberdeenshire’s care experienced young people:

“I am an ambassador for The Year of Young People 2018 for Young Scot.”

“I have gained confidence to consider my own issues with mental health, and have undertaken an additional online course exploring mental health issues with an aim to supporting other young people in the future.”

“I presented the DVD ‘Don’t Judge - we’re no different from you,’ to 2nd-year up to 6th-year of Meldrum Academy in assemblies, with the help of Children’s Rights Officers.”

“I took part in giving a workshop in Glasgow, to a CELCIS conference for residential staff and showed the YPOC’s DVD.”

”It helped visiting the place before moving there, knowing who you’re staying with, understanding what is going on, having people to support you.”

“It helped having met my Social Worker before the move, having my own room, having my teddies, having my own clothes.”

“I was asked to be involved in the 1000 voices campaign. I wanted to do it because I want things to change. It was hard to tell my story but for people to understand what needs to change I had to. It’s not my fault I ended up in care and I understand that now but all that happened made it difficult for me to behave in a way other people understand. I always found school or activities or holidays and even having friends difficult. Being in care doesn't mean I don’t want to be like everybody else, I do! I have done lots of presentations for school year groups and parents and teachers and social workers and cadets to help tell my story and I went to Edinburgh and Glasgow to meet Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, I even spoke on a massive stage in front of hundreds of people, which was terrifying!!

Further examples can be found on the Achievements Wall 96

Focus for Year 3

2018 was year two of a three-year plan. Whilst embedding the progress made by Corporate Parenting Leads, along with our care experienced young people, we have identified the following areas of further improvement.

These are to:

 Improve regularity of Twilight Sessions  Embed some of the Corporate Leads pledges into specific improvement actions  Recruit a Virtual Head Teacher for care experienced young people in education in Aberdeenshire (to improve educational outcomes and help us better understand our care experienced young people with Additional Support Needs).  Adopt key priorities as agreed by our young people from the Stop/Go research undertaken by the national Care Review  Understand what is working well, alongside identifying the barriers to care experienced young people accessing mental health support  Engage with care experienced young people to identify whether their relationships with key professionals are experienced as nurturing and helpful

The Corporate Parenting Leads group are a highly committed group of representatives who have created an aspirational plan, and have been dedicated in enabling their service/agency to contribute towards the aims and ambitions reported on within this annual report.

It highlights both key achievements and challenges experienced by corporate parents throughout the past three years. Of significant importance is the day-to-day work all partners undertake to build relationships with, support, and enhance opportunities for looked after children and young people across Aberdeenshire – It is this commitment which makes a direct difference to children’s lives.

Improving Life Chances for Children & Young People: Preventing Offending

Whole System Approach/Youth Justice No Aim Wellbeing UNCRC Articles Indicators 1 To work with youth justice partners (in both Children’s and Safe, 2, 3, 5, 6, 37, 40, 42 Related Services) to raise awareness and support staff skills Nurtured, around WSA, wellbeing and preventative approaches to Included, youth justice in line with the national strategy for Community Respected Justice and early effective intervention to children and young people involved with or at risk of offending behavior. 2 To keep children and young people out of the criminal justice Included, 1, 3, 9, 17, 18, 37, system where possible Responsible 40, 42 3 Increase positive destinations post-school for young people Achieving, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 15, 17, involved in youth offending Included 28, 29, 30, 32, 40,42 4 Continued implementation and advancement of the Whole Included, 2, 3, 5, 6, 37, 40, 42 System Approach in Aberdeenshire to reduce reoffending Nurtured, Responsible 5 Increase opportunities for children & young people to Included, 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 12, 13, express views on service planning and provision Respected 14, 18, 26, 40, 42

The Youth Services Strategic Group (YSSG) has a core membership, with members who have been dedicated to and involved in the Group for a significant number of years. YSSG originated with a Youth Justice emphasis in around 2000, and has continued to meet regularly since that time. Its name changed to broaden the approach to Youth Services in recognition of GIRFEC approaches, and becoming the group leading on Whole Systems Approach in 2012, keeping a multi-agency emphasis on youth offending within the Children’s Services Plan.

Key Aims are:

 To ensure young people receive the services they need, at the time they need them, and that these services identify and address the support those young people require  To ensure all services work together to support young people and their families, and have clear processes which ensure timely and effective support  To ensure there are robust key processes for young people who are committing more serious offences  To identify any gaps or improvement areas, where we need to work together to ensure young people receive a holistic service  To promote practice consistent with GIRFEC and the Whole Systems Approach  To promoting the development of a skilled, confident workforce, particularly with practitioners delivering services directly to young people and their families

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Over 2018/2019, regular participation in the YSSG came from the following services:

 Youth Justice Management Unit (Police Scotland NE Division)  Criminal Justice Social Work (Health & Social Care Partnership)  Community Justice Partnership  Barnardos  Children’s Social Work Services/Youth Services  Community Learning and Development  Educational Psychology

Membership of YSSG has evolved since the 2017/2018 annual report, as has frequency of the group meeting – with core attendance and engagement with the YSSG Action Plan continuing from a number of services as shown above. Engagement from more Universal Services, particularly health and mainstream education had reduced, with both services finding it incredibly difficult to identify an appropriate key representative to liaise with and cascade relevant information to/from their wider service. SCRA and CAMHS no longer attend the YSSG, however this has not proved problematic to the YSSG, as representatives frequently changed or gave apologies, and arguably it is easier to have a shared understanding in discussions. The Youth Service Strategic Group has continued to share information relevant to the Whole Systems Approach and CARM with Local GIRFEC Groups. Communication has also been maintained to ensure a joined up approach with colleagues from the Opportunities for All Team, and Community Safety Partnership which supports the priority of advancing the Whole System Approach to Youth Justice locally. There is also an established link with the Serious and Organised Crime Unit (Police Scotland).

The Community Justice Partnership and Community Safety Partnership have committed to working with the Aberdeenshire Youth Services Strategic Group to support its priority of Advancing the Whole System Approach to Youth Justice, as set out in our Children’s Services Plan, with regular communication between these groups on progress of actions.

National Context

The Whole Systems Approach (2011): is the Scottish Government’s approach aimed at better addressing the needs of young people involved in offending in a way which makes sure services providing support, put a child and their family at the centre. WSA provides early and effective multi-agency intervention, aiming to divert young people away from statutory measures, court prosecution and custody.

Preventing Offending: Getting it Right for Children and Young People 2015-2020: The Youth Justice Strategy for Scotland (2015) took a strategic focus in advancing the Whole System Approach, improving life chances for young people, and developing capacity and improvement. Partnership working is viewed as integral to delivery of the strategy.

The Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016: prompted a redesign of Community Justice across Scotland during 2017/2018, highlighting the importance of prevention, and early and effective intervention for young people at risk of involvement in the adult criminal justice system. Aberdeenshire’s Community Justice Partnership was formed to develop and lead implementation of the new model for Community Justice Services in Aberdeenshire, as outlined in the local Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan.

The Age of Criminal Responsibility (Scotland) Bill was introduced by the Deputy First Minister in March 2018, and proposed that the Scottish Parliament raise the age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old. The Bill also proposed changes to the law on disclosure of criminal records and information about individuals, and changes to police procedures on taking children to a place of safety, searching children, police interviews, and taking of forensic samples from certain children. Members of the YSSG collectively responded to the national consultation on the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility

Whole Systems Approach in Aberdeenshire

There is a long-running commitment to working together in Aberdeenshire to address youth offending, and to address such issues in a timeous way. The YSSG believe it is important to see young people who offend in their widest context, with needs beyond offending that also require to be assessed and addressed as necessary. At times the national political and media emphasis has focussed on serious offending and criminalising young people, however local culture and practice is to target the earlier end of offending (as an indicator of wider need), and the focus of local shared resourcing would primarily fit with Early and Effective Interventions. This is particularly true for supports offered through Barnardos, Community Learning and Development/Opportunities for All, and Children’s Services Social Work Youth Services Team.

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Services have also been provided for more serious offending, made available through Criminal Justice Social Work, Sexual Behaviour Service, Court Support for young people, and the YSSG take steps to monitor activity and effectiveness of interventions across the board. The aim is that services can deliver time-limited and focused interventions, which result in young people desisting from offending behaviour. All practitioners work hard to provide a service which is young person-focussed, particularly when working with those young people who are at risk of entering the adult Criminal Justice System.

Aberdeenshire Context

Annual data from the Youth Justice Management Unit for 2018/2019 provides an overview of the statistics on children and young people involved in offending behaviour in Aberdeenshire.

** Juveniles in this context refers to children and young people aged 17 or under

The majority of these children and young people (78%) appear on only one CrimeFile, and 95% appear on 3 or less CrimeFiles. This shows that in Aberdeenshire, we mainly encounter young people who have committed 3 or less offences, with numbers of more serious and persistent offenders remaining very low.

The graph overleaf shows that the number of juveniles involved in offending behaviour have decreased year on year for 16 and 17 year olds (excepting a marginal increase in 2017/18). An increase in relation to 8 - 15 year olds can be seen, however these numbers remain low.

Year 2 Progress against the WSA Multi-Agency Action Plan

Aim 1: To work with Youth Justice partners to raise awareness and support staff skills around WSA, wellbeing, and preventative approaches to youth justice in line with the national strategy for Community Justice and early effective intervention to children and young people involved with or at risk of offending behaviour.

Whole Systems Approach familiarisation materials have been available as an e-learn package on ALDO since 2017. Completion data for 2018/2019 shows that this course has been completed by a range of staff across Education and Children’s Services, other Council Services, Health and Social Care Partnership, and Third Sector.

CARM Following successful delivery of CARM workshops in 2017, leaflets were developed via the Sexual Behaviour Services Social Worker which provide information to parents and young people involved with the CARM process. Leaflets explain how services will support families and work to support children and young people displaying harmful sexual behaviours assists through the early identification, assessment, and management of children and young people who display harmful sexual behaviours.

Reconfiguring Services Aberdeenshire’s Criminal Justice Social Work Service has reconfigured over 2018/19 to enable workers to specifically work with young people on their caseload (up to age 25 but with the majority being under 22years).

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This has enabled those workers to develop and increase their knowledge of the needs and issues experienced for that age-group of young people, as well as enabling good connections with other relevant services.

In October 2018, the Scottish Government announced that they would make two awards of funding to support regeneration and expansion of the Whole Systems Approach in Scotland. These awards were £25,000 for 2018/2019, and 2019/2020. The YSSG submitted a proposal detailing how the group would wish to target these monies via the creation of a Strategic Development Officer post:

 Review/refresh current documentation and materials including potential extension of the age of young people to be supported by WSA up to 21 years  Review of training materials used across services to familiarise them with WSA so that we can maintain WSA awareness in Aberdeenshire  Support work around case reviews to enable a multi-agency group to look at where WSA has worked effectively and where practice/process requires improvement  Creation of a prioritised action plan for the duration of the post  Identification of gaps in the support we can offer young people involved in offending and research/progression of ways to address any gaps

However, unfortunately significant difficulties have been experienced in progressing this post as quickly as was hoped. This may now mean the funding is not fully utilised, nor all the above ambitions achieved as originally intended.

Aim 2 To keep children and young people out of the criminal justice system where possible

In 2018, 7 children/young people were referred to SCRA on offence grounds that were not already on a Compulsory Supervision Order where the Reporter made a decision to proceed to a Hearing. Youth Justice Management Unit information for 2018 indicates continued use, and in some areas increased evidence, of Effective and Early Intervention in Aberdeenshire (table below).

Performance Measure 2017/2018 2018/2019 Children/young people referred to SCRA on offence grounds, <5 7 where the reporter made a decision to proceed to a Hearing Young people each quarter Supported by Care & Risk Q1 - 6 (0) Q1 – 8 (3) Management (CARM) Plans* (and Exiting) Q2 - 10 (0) Q2 – 9 (1) Q3 – 12 (1) Q3 – 8 (1) Q4 – 10 (1) Q4 – 7 (2) Young people 16+ receiving Direct Police Measures 140 96 Young people aged 16-17 dealt with by formal adult 85 67 warning/fixed penalty notice Number of yp discussed/ considered for diversion 102 135 Children aged 8-15 dealt with by Police Direct measures 362 290

* Where children and young people display harmful sexual or seriously violent behaviour, the CARM Process identifies safety factors which reduce risk, provides opportunities which support the child or young person, and ensures effective risk management strategies are in place. Young people exit CARM as a result of assessed reduction of potential risk to others. Police Direct Measures for ages 8 to 15 include the following: a restorative Justice letter, restorative justice warning, recorded verbal juvenile warning; or multiagency requests for support agreed with either Social Work, Education, Fire & Rescue Service or Barnardos. Police Direct Measures for 16 and 17 year olds include a Formal Warning, or referral to either Social Work or Barnardos.

Outcomes 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Number of young people Number of young people Number of young people aged 8-15 dealt with by aged 16-17 dealt with by discussed / considered for Police Direct Measures (As Police Direct Measures (As Diversion from Prosecution Above) Above) (DfP)

2017/18 2018/19

The increase in number of young people discussed/ considered for diversion is seen as a positive as young people are offered an alternative to prosecution in the criminal courts. In 2018/2019, 42 children and young people were referred to Barnardo’s BAYI Service by the Police. This supports young people to reduce their risk of offending and anti-social behaviour, through 1:1 intensive support, mentoring, diversionary and preventative activities. Chidlren and families social workers can also refer directly to Barnardos where they are concerned about a young person’s offending behaviour.

Aim 3 Increase positive destinations post-school for young people involved in youth offending

Broader Performance Indicators (PI’s) had been included in our plan such as % of school leavers involved in offending, with a positive post-school destination and number of activity agreements in place. It was unfortunately not possible to gather some of this data, as it required tracking individual young people against the universal population, meaning these indictors were removed. However, what whole population data does tell us, is that Aberdeenshire has higher than average positive post-school leaver destinations and this has continued over 2019. Work to reduce exclusions and provide increased flexible opportunities for engagement with education, learning, and wider achievement is an important aspect of this work. Community Learning and Development (CLD) Teams also engage in wider programmes to support positive transitions with a range of young people who may be involved, or at risk of becoming involved in anti-social behaviour and potential exclusion from school.

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Police Scotland NE Division and the Criminal Justice/Community Safety Partnerships have also been working together to address payday alcohol/substance misuse at weekends, with a view to reducing risk of offending and anti-social behaviour.

Aim 4 Continued implementation and advancement of the Whole System Approach in Aberdeenshire to reduce reoffending

Work continued over 2018/19, to make sure all services consider diversionary and preventative approaches wherever appropriate, to minimise the number of young people going to Hearings or Court for having committed an offence.

In 2018 some of the data gathered against Whole Systems Approach actions was reduced, however a significant number of Performance Indicators remain, which outline key performance information and helps measure the effectiveness of interventions. Information from the Youth Justice Management Unit (YJMU) and Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration (SCRA) further provides an overview of the extent of children and young people’s involvement in offending behaviour in Aberdeenshire.

Youth Justice Management Unit/SCRA Data on Effective & Early Intervention in Aberdeenshire Performance Measure 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 Young people aged 8-15 committing crimes 412 422 524 551 Young people aged 16-17 committing crimes 355 379 455 428 Number of Crimes (Young people aged 8-15) - - 700 658 Number of Crimes (Young people aged 16-17) - - 675 619 Young people offered Court Support 30 34 57 62 Reporter decision to arrange Hearing on offence grounds - - <5 7 Young people’s cases remitted from court to Children’s <5 <5 <5 <5 Hearing for advice/disposal

The reconfiguration of Criminal Justice resources in South Aberdeenshire by the Health And Social Care Partnership has enabled more consistent Court Support to be provided for young people via Aberdeen City Court. There is also a dedicated court support worker in North Aberdeenshire, managed by the Youth Services Team. There has been an increase in the number of young people who have been offered court support in 2018/19 (see table above).

Aim 5 Increase opportunities for children & young people to express views on service planning and provision

Every Aberdeenshire service working with young people collates individual feedback from young people they are involved with. The Youth Services Team routinely gets feedback from the young people involved with any groups they run and will use that to inform practice improvement in their group programmes. However, as there is not have a static population of service users, it is therefore difficult to involve them in for example comprehensive service re-design, as many young people are time- limited rather than ongoing service users. The emphasis is on realising that young people require additional support if they find themselves in criminal justice forums, and that they need to be assessed carefully to provide the right support which helps them towards independent adulthood.

Young people cease receiving services at the point at which it is assessed required work has been completed, and additional support is no longer required by them. The YSSG will continue to keep this approach to engagement in service development under review.

The Youth Services Social Work Team routinely seeks qualitative groupwork feedback from young people and members of the Team Around the Child; using this data to inform practice improvement in developing group programmes. (See Good Practice Casestudy)

Focus for Year 3

Data Some of the original Performance Indicators, have been reviewed to ensure that appropriate monitoring of progress is realistic and meaningful. It is anticipated that new and revised indicators and data-gathering processes will evolve over time, while other indicators may be removed where partnership information systems do not support their collection at present. A small number of young people will find themselves in the adult criminal justice system each year. The YSSG are exploring capacity to reliably record the number of young people on remand and in custody within its data-set, to ensure an awareness of this figure. This is not something that has been previously collated and recorded, thought there is confidence that we would always be aware of these young people through Criminal Justice Social Work, Court Support, and other Social Work involvement.

Audit and Research The YYSG Group also plan to undertake some Audit and Case Review activity over 2019/2020. This will help to explore what is and isn’t currently working in relation to the Whole Systems Approach, and identify any improvement activity required. Some relevant case examples have been identified, with an aim of identifying useful learning across the variety of services supporting young people involved in offending behaviour, and with case review findings informing a follow-up action plan. A further piece of exploratory case research is going to focus on thresholds around use of CARM in Aberdeenshire. As a specialist intervention and risk management framework for those young people who present very high risk behaviours, it is hoped findings from this will inform learning for all services and ensure appropriate use of CARM within that wider continuum of assessment and support provided to children and young people.

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Good Practice Casestudy – Youth Services Climbing Groups

The Youth Services Social Work Team developed and delivered a successful climbing group pilot in July 2018. Funding was secured to purchase climbing equipment, which meant the team could deliver a further climbing group in November 2018. As from 2019, this is a regular part of support provided to young people by the Youth Services Team. Groups were facilitated by a Social Worker and Support Worker from the Youth Services Team. Both hold the National Climbing Wall Award (now known as Climbing Wall Instructors). They maintained regular contact during planning and delivery of the group to support consistency, continuity, and a range of activities. As a targeted/specialist support, the Youth Services team sought referrals from Children and Families Social Work teams in Inverurie, Huntly, Kemnay/Westhill and Deeside, as well as local Residential Children’s Homes. 69% of young people successfully completed all sessions of the group. Sessions were held at Transition Extreme (a public climbing facility located in Aberdeen) as alternative walls were unavailable for use and less cost effective. Transition Extreme provides a wide variety of climbing walls and a bouldering area. Activities included: team challenges, warm-up activities, traversing activities (climbing across a climbing wall), climbing techniques, skills tying knots and safely roping in, and belaying (Where peers hold the rope to keep a fellow climber safe, and halt any falls).

Young People participating in the Climbing Groups developed skills around: . Communication . Commitment . Working with others . Problem solving . Self esteem . Trust building . Responsibility . Goal setting . Sense of achievement . Social skills . Self-worth . Physical wellbeing . Confidence . Mental wellbeing . Practical skills . Attempting something new

Overall the group was another successful programme with there being little changes to the content and delivery required. Climbing is showing to be an effective tool to bring about some change with the clients.

Feedback from participating young people:

What have you enjoyed over the sessions? “Being able to do something I didn’t think I could. I have enjoyed everything” “Climbing and getting to the top and touching the ceiling.”

How do you feel the worker(s) have been with you at the group? “Excellent – really helpful and good to talk to, trustworthy” “Excellent- supporting, fun/funny”

Have you noticed any changes/progress in yourself while attending the group? “More confidence in trying new things” “Thinking about things more”

Examples of Feedback from Professionals: What impact has the group had on your young person? “This young person had been struggling with education and the climbing group has been the highlight of her week for the 6 weeks that she took part. She speaks positively about her time there and has enjoyed learning a new skill in a supported environment.”

“I was able to see that they had the ability to relate to peers, that they behaved in an appropriate manner towards other young people and adults, displayed empathy, able to encourage other young people, form friendships and was a positive group member.”

“They seemed very much to be part of the group and that is something they do not appear to always experience. The young person was very determined to achieve goals set in the group…and participated in all activities”

What were the desired outcomes achieved by the climbing group?

“Being part of a group. Making new friends Following instructions and building trust” “Group members were able to take direction from and develop trust in adults, all within a safe and secure environment.”

“YP appeared to gain so much confidence socially over the time the group ran.”

What one achievement stands out from your young person of their time at the group?

“When a team member was working one to one with a young person to reach the photograph on the climbing wall. He managed to reach and touch the picture, the look on the young man’s face of achievement was amazing.”

The climbing group is now a regular part of services offered to young people in Aberdeenshire. Devising a flyer or leaflet to provide information for referrers and young people for future groups is in progress, with some thought required as to how to improve the referral process, and support future steps/opportunities after the end of the group. Workers are now exploring opportunities for young people to achieve formal qualifications for those young people who show particular aptitude. 109

Young Carers

Young Carers

No Aim Wellbeing Indicators UNCRC Articles 1 To provide a coordinated approach to Young Carers Respected, Included 4, 7, 18 2 To improve identification of Young Carers and enhance Included, Nurtured, 3, 4, 8, 18, service provision to enable statutory services to meet Achieving, Respected 27 their obligations in relation to the Carers Act 3 To ensure the voices of Young Carers are actively engaged Included, Respected, 3, 4, 5, 12, with and heard Achieving 13, 17, 30

In Aberdeenshire, the Young Carers Strategy Group locally implements the Carer (Scotland) Act 2016 and Aberdeenshire Young Carer Strategy, We are young carers, Who cares for Us? (2018- 2020), working in partnership to achieve the best results for our young carers. Through the implementation of this strategy, the group aim to ensure that all young carers receive appropriate information and support to allow them to feel valued and confident in their caring situation and have achievable aspirations which they are supported to work towards and that young carers have a voice. Key aims of the group are to:  Implement Aberdeenshire Young Carers Strategy 2018-2020  Raise awareness of young carers  Increase identification of young carers  Ensure all young carers can access appropriate information, advice and support  Ensure that all young carers who request or accept the offer of a Young Carers Statement are supported to complete one  Ensure that those young carers who require an individual budget to meet their personal outcomes, are supported through the Self Directed Support process  Ensure systems for gathering and collating information on young carers are in place  Provide leadership which supports services to meet Young Carers need  Ensure that young carers have a voice and are involved in shaping services which support them

The group is currently made up of representatives from NHS Grampian, Health and Social Care Partnership, Education and Children’s Services, Quarriers Young Carers Support Service. The Young Carers Strategy Group has links with several groups including the Carers Strategy Outcome Group, Carers Strategy Working Group, Carers Act Implementation Group, and Quarriers Young Carers Service.

110 National Context

The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 was implemented on 1 April 2018. This placed several new duties on all local authorities, including the duty to develop and publish a local Carers Strategy. In Aberdeenshire we decided to develop a separate strategy for Young carers: Aberdeenshire Young Carers Strategy We are young carers, Who Cares for Us? (2018-2020), and this was developed in consultation with young carers. The Act included other duties such as:  Provision of Young Carers Statements  Supporting carers by having local carers eligibility criteria  Providing information and advice  Publishing a Short Breaks Services statement  Involving carers in hospital discharge planning for the people they care for

Young Carers in Aberdeenshire

It can be difficult to get accurate figures which determine the exact number of Young Carers.

However, figures provided by Scottish Government suggest that there are approximately 2000 young carers living in Aberdeenshire. Photo shared with kind permission by an Aberdeenshire young carer and family (2018)

The Aberdeenshire Young Carers Toolkit aims to guide professionals in identifying and supporting young carers to achieve their potential and attend school. In Aberdeenshire, young carers are recorded by schools on the Education SEEMiS system.

Number of Young Carers recorded on SEEMiS

Year 2016 2017 2018

Recorded Young Carers 164 135 148

At the end of March 2019, 148 young carers were recorded on SEEMiS. While this is an increase of 13 on the previous year’s figures, a significant under-reporting of numbers of young carers has been identified in Aberdeenshire.

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In order to support schools to identify and support young carers, a new post has been created within the Quarriers Young Carer Support Service. This post will support work alongside schools on the review, refresh and implementation of the Young Carers Toolkit. Quarriers Young Carer Support Service actively support 208 young carers, an increase of 38 new young carers on 2017/2018. This has been in part due to the change in definition of a young carer within the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016, and the extension of the contract with Quarriers which has enabled them to provide support to all young carers, and not just those with a significant caring role.

Number of Young Carers supported by Quarriers Young Carers Support Service

Year 2016 2017 2018 Number of Young Carers 121 180 208

Quarriers Young Carer Support Service provide young people with regular breaks and support them to have a life alongside their caring role. The service have ensured the support, activities, events and learning opportunities on offer to young carers, meet identified needs and outcomes for those children and young people registered with the service. The Service also supports young carers to feel less isolated and that they are included in their community, having access to concessions/discounts locally e.g. Live Life Aberdeenshire are now providing the ‘carers’ discount to young carers which promotes health and wellbeing.

Year 1 Progress against the Young Carers Multi-Agency Action Plan

Aim 1: To provide a coordinated approach to Young Carers Aberdeenshire’s local Young Carer Strategy was implemented on 01 April 2018, which details the support available to all young carers and how this support can be accessed. A Carer Practitioner has been employed to support those young carers who have a Young Carer Statement where their personal outcomes require an individual budget via Self Directed Support. This post will ensure a consistent and coordinated approach to young carers receiving the support they require in order to meet their personal outcomes.

The Quarriers Aberdeenshire Young Carers Service contract was varied in April 2019 to provide additional funding to provide capacity within the team for the provision of Young Carers Statements and to enable the service to work with all young carers. Previously the service had been commissioned to support those young carers with a significant caring role, however the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 changed the definition of a young carer and the duties placed on local authorities with regards to the provision on Young Carers Statements.

112 Aberdeenshire’s local Young Carers Strategy has been developed with full involvement of young carers and stakeholders, in preparation for the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 on 1 April 2018. A group of young carers were involved in writing the vision statement and aims of Aberdeenshire’s Young Carers Strategy, with Young Carers consulted throughout its development. The strategy was publically consulted on during February 2018, with an aim of being presented to the Education and Children’s Services Committee in March for their endorsement. In June 2017 the Aberdeenshire Unpaid Carers' Information Pack was launched as a downloadable information pack aimed at both adult, and young (under the age of 16) unpaid carers. The pack contains information that unpaid carers in Aberdeenshire and professionals working with them, had fed back would be useful to have in one place.

Aim 2 To improve identification of Young Carers and enhance service provision to enable statutory services to meet their obligations in relation to the Carers Act

A number of service developments and initiatives for young carers have taken place during the last year:

152 young carers have participated in learning opportunities or events facilitated by Quarriers Young Carers Services over 2018, which is an increase of 81 (114%)from the previous year. These sessions have included Creative Cooking, Mindfulness, Tech Fun Build, Retro Gaming, Puppet Making and Bowling. Wellbeing sessions are held during the school holidays, which include fun activity sessions and the opportunity to explore methods of relaxation, meditation and mindfulness.

In line with the needs and preferences of our young carers, a new smart phone App has been developed through consultation with groups of young carers. This App will be launched during Carers Week in June 2019 and will be available to download through the Play Store. The App includes information on emergency first aid, different conditions such as autism and epilepsy, recipes, GP and hospital contact numbers, and stress management and relaxation techniques.

In order to increase awareness of young carers in our schools and local communities as suite of posters and information leaflets are being developed in consultation with young carers.

One young carer is participating in the Career Ready Programme, with support from Quarriers Young Carers Service, which has ensured that any barriers to their attending the programme have been reduced.

Two young carers have been supported to undertake SVQ 2 and one young carer has completed their award during the reporting period.

The Young Carers Strategy Group approached Live Life Aberdeenshire to negotiate a discount to membership costs in line with the discount provided to adult carers who are in receipt of Carers

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Allowance as young carers are not able to claim this benefit and often live in households where financial resources are tight. Live Life Aberdeenshire have agreed to the same discount being applied to young carers membership applications where the young person has identified attending swimming, gym session or other activities would help meet their outcomes.

Aim 3: To ensure the voices of Young Carers are actively engaged with and heard

The Young Carers Focus group continues to meet on a regular basis to discuss services to young carers and highlight any potential areas for development. These meetings are incorporated into the events planned throughout the year to reduce the barriers to young people being able to attend e.g. lack of transport, time away from their cared-for person. Short term groups have also been developed to address the particular needs of small groups of young carers in different locations across Aberdeenshire. In 2018, 12 young carers were supported to attend the Scottish Young Carers Festival, which was a 2-day event run by Carers Trust Scotland. In 2018 the Festival took place in Badaguish, Aviemore and those involved were able to take part in a range of activities.

Young carers have been involved in the development of awareness raising materials and the development of the Young Carers App. This App will be launched during Carers Week in June 2019 and will be available to all young carers in Aberdeenshire.

Young carers have been involved in developing the Young Carer Statement, through consultation via an independent facilitator commissioned by Quarriers and their feedback has been incorporated into the new format.

A group of young carers with an interest in technology and use of social media applications were brought together as a focus group to look at developing an App for young carers. The group were asked to identify the types of information that young people would like to be able to access on the App and they highlighted that information about specific conditions, emergency first aid hints and tips recipes (supported by Confidence to Cook materials) and useful contact information for other support services would be helpful. All these topics have been included on the App along with Mindfulness/de-stressing guidance and local GP and health service contact details.

A Young Carers focus group was established in 2017, and this group now meet on a quarterly basis to discuss services to young carers, and highlight any potential areas for development. Short term young carer groups have also been developed to address the particular needs of small groups of young carers in different locations across Aberdeenshire.

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Young carers have also been involved in a short-film project, with the production of movie-clips which capture young carers stories, as part of a DVD. The DVD is now completed and is a resource which can be used as part of any Young Carer awareness-raising events being held across Aberdeenshire. The Quarriers Young Carers Support Service in both Aberdeenshire and Moray, are working together with young carers and their families to develop their approach to use of the How Good Is Our Carers Service? Self-evaluation tool, across both these areas.

Achievements in Year 2

The Young Carers Strategy Group has worked hard to ensure that the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 has been implemented consistently across Aberdeenshire and in accordance with guidance provided by the Scottish Government. This has involved testing out and revising the Young Carer Statement in response to feedback from young people and included the development tools to support young carers in the completion of their Young Carer Statement. The original format had been viewed as too formal and did not take account of the varying roles undertaken by young carers or how they really felt about their caring role. The review of the Young Carer Statement and provision of tools has led to more young carers meeting the eligibility criteria for a budget via the 4 Options of Self Directed Support. This has been a very busy year in terms of young carers with the implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 being the main focus of the work undertaken by the Young Carers Strategy Group and the Quarriers Aberdeenshire Young Carers Support Service. Quarriers Aberdeenshire Young Carer Support Service has achieved the provision of a Young Carer Statement to all 180 young carers who were previously registered with the service. In addition, all new young carers requesting a Young Carer Statement have been supported to develop one.

Focus for Year 3

 Review and refresh the Young Carers Toolkit to reflect implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016

 Pilot a Respitality Project for adult and young carers in Central Aberdeenshire

 Develop a range of awareness raising materials for schools and local communities

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Good Practice Case Study

Partnership project with Quest - Realise your Potential

Young carers from across Scotland were invited to take part in a range of programmes and activities as part of the Realise your Potential Project. This Project is supported by The Community Interest Company, which is funded by Transforming Self-Management in Scotland Fund and works in partnership with Carers Trust Scotland. The aim of the Project is to inspire, support and enable children and young people to realise their own unique potential social development.

It’s a creative, inspiring and flexible programme of self-management training and activities aimed at Young Carers and Young Adult Carers who are needing support with identifying where they feel they are presently at in life:

 What skills, talents and qualities they have;  What they would like to do and how to get there;  Overcoming challenges and obstacles that may be in the way.

Quarriers organised for Young Carers to go along and attend a residential event as part of the project which took place in Edzell, at the Burn, where they spent 2 days and one night together with other young carers. Feedback from the young people who attended has been very inspiring and continues to support the ongoing development and expansion of delivering self- management skills to as many Young Adult Carers as possible.

A Quarriers Family Wellbeing Worker facilitated a session, to look at theory of multiple intelligences with a view to the young people recognising that there are different areas in which you can be smart, not just the academics amongst us.

They will be looking at their aspirations/goals for the future & the practicalities of how to break that down into achievable chunks, this will be supported by their Family Wellbeing Worker.

The young carers created a vision board writing around their Hand on the piece of paper. The idea was to discuss and write down ideas and prioritise goals, values & intentions………keeping in mind through discussion this was at times drawn out of the young people. Feedback from Young Adult Carers who have participated so far include:

“More confident in dealing with hardship” “Helped me feel more excited for the future” “It has helped me to come out of my shell and more willing to challenge myself” “Increased my confidence and like YES…I want to live” “Experiencing the world in a way I never thought I would” “After engaging with the group, I feel more independent: I am now able to take the bus by myself which has proven to be an immense convenience to myself and my family” “I am now very confident and active and have lots of new friends”

116 Key Contacts

Executive Group for Public Protection

Jim Savege (Chair) Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Council Campbell Thomson Chief Superintendent, North East Division, Police Scotland Amanda Croft Chief Executive, NHS Grampian Susan Webb Director of Public Health, NHS Grampian Laurence Findlay Director of Education and Children’s Services, Aberdeenshire Council Dan Shaw Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action Ritchie Johnson Director Business Services Angie Wood Chief Officer, Aberdeenshire Health and Social Care Partnership (AHSCP) Ian Findlay Area Manager for Aberdeenshire & Moray, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Leigh Jolly Interim Head of Service, Children’s Services Social Work, Aberdeenshire Council, Vincent Docherty Head of Education, Aberdeenshire Council Sheena Gault Independent Chair, Adult Support and Protection Committee/Child Protection Committee Iain Ramsay Chief Social Work Officer, Aberdeenshire

GIRFEC Strategic Group

Laurence Findlay (Chair) Director of Education and Children’s Services, Aberdeenshire Council Vincent Docherty Head of Education, Aberdeenshire Council Leigh Jolly Interim Head of Service, Children’s Services Social Work Mike Ogg Strategy & Business Services Partnership Manager, Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership Kate Stephen Superintendent Operations, North East Division, Police Scotland Avril Nicol Interim Head of Service – Life Life Aberdeenshire Carron Douglas Principal Educational Psychologist, Aberdeenshire Council Audrey Hendry Lead Officer, Primary Education, Aberdeenshire Council Kim Penman Health and Wellbeing Lead, Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership Dr Simon Hilton Consultant in Public Health, NHS Grampian Dan Shaw Chief Executive, Aberdeenshire Voluntary Action (AVA) Bryony Revell Service Transformation Officer (GIRFEC) Aberdeenshire Council

Chairperson/Thematic Lead

Dr Simon Hilton Consultant in Public Health, NHS Grampian Intelligence, Data and Planning Group Mike Ogg Strategy & Business Services Partnership Manager, Co-ordination and Support Hub Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership Emma Toner Lead Officer & Learning and Development Subgroup Child Protection Committee Bryony Revell Service Transformation Officer (GIRFEC) GIRFEC L&D Group Aberdeenshire Council Leigh Jolly Interim Head of Service, Children’s Services Social Work Corporate Parenting Wayne Gault Lead Officer, Aberdeenshire Alcohol & Drugs Partnership Substance Misuse Carron Douglas Principal Educational Psychologist, Aberdeenshire Council Mental Health & Wellbeing Kim Penman Health and Wellbeing Lead, AHSCP Early Years Anne Marie Davies Quality Improvement Manager ASN, Aberdeenshire Council Children with a Disability Kirsty Theodoreson Social Work Manager, Aberdeenshire Council Youth Services/Whole Systems Approach Sharon Napier Project Coordinator, Children’s Services Social Work Young Carers 117

www.girfec-aberdeenshire.org

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