Blackpool Children’s Trust Annual Report 2010

Introduction

We are delighted to present the 2010 Annual Report of Blackpool Children’s Trust.

Blackpool Children’s Trust began in 2006 with the aim of bringing together the work of all the agencies and partners in Blackpool who were working to improve outcomes for children and young people. Over the last four years the Trust has been able to demonstrate real improvements both in terms of improved partnership working and also with improved outcomes for children and young people.

This is the first Annual Report since the launch of our second Children and Young People’s Plan in 2009 and much has been achieved already. Our priorities remain the same – our challenge is to realise these in the current climate of shrinking financial resources and the likelihood that this will continue well into the next few years.

Progress made with the ten priorities of the 2009 – 2012 Children and Young People’s Plan is monitored by the Children’s Trust and this Annual Report summarises some of that progress and identifies where we still need to do more to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Cllr Clapham who chaired the Children’s Trust for three years has now become Mayor of Blackpool and we would like to take this opportunity to thank him for his commitment and dedication to the children and young people of Blackpool.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has been involved with the Trust or who has in some way contributed to improving the life and life chances of children and young people in Blackpool.

Contents

Background

Blackpool Children’s Trust aims to improve the lives and life chances of children and young people by breaking down barriers that can get in the way of helping families. The Trust works in partnership to provide integrated, high quality services to children and young people to improve outcomes for all children and young people and to close the gap in outcomes between those who do well and those who do not.

The Children and Young People’s Plan is the key strategic document for the Trust and the Trust monitors progress against the ten priorities of the plan. Priority Lead Officers provide regular updates and are held accountable for their progress.

Page 1 of 14 The Trust Structure

Blackpool Children’s Trust is a sub group of the Local Strategic Partnership. The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people and works in partnership with Blackpool Local Safeguarding Children Board who coordinates and ensures the effectiveness of their members in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.

The Trust Board is responsible for setting the overall direction of the Trust, monitoring its work and are accountable to the Local Strategic Partnership. The Children’s Trust Board is the strategic decision making body within the Trust.

The Trust Executive is where senior officers from different agencies come together to plan and deliver actions in more detail. The Trust Executive is the main vehicle for coordinating the implementation of the Trust Board priorities.

Blackpool’s Light, Blackpool Children’s Trust shadow board, has a scrutiny responsibility for the Children and Young People’s Plan and holds the Priority Lead Officers accountable for the delivery of the ten priorities.

Membership of the Children’s Trust includes:  Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and other Blackpool Council Elected Members  Executive Director of Children’s Services and senior officers from the council’s Children and Young People’s Department and other council departments  Chief Executive of NHS Blackpool, the Director of Public Health and senior officers from the primary care trust  Blackpool Young People’s Council  Lancashire Constabulary  Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service  Lancashire Probation Service  Blackpool Coastal Housing  Representatives from Blackpool Schools (Primary, Secondary and Special) and Post 16 providers  School governors  Sure Start Partnership  Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust  Representatives from the Third Sector  Representatives from the Business Sector  Parents

Statutory Guidance for Children’s Trusts

During December of 2009, a consultation document on the new statutory guidance for Children’s Trusts was launched. This was in response to the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning (ASCL) Act which also came out in 2009. As a result, a sub group of the Trust was set up to respond to this guidance.

Page 2 of 14 The ASCL Act added new statutory ‘relevant partners' to the Children's Trust and put the Children's Trust Board on a statutory footing from April 2010 and gave responsibility for preparing, publishing, reviewing and revising the Children and Young People's Plan to the Board.

Responsibility for implementing the Children and Young People's Plan remained with the individual partners, who are under a duty to have regard to the Plan. The Children's Trust Board is responsible for monitoring the extent to which the partners act in accordance with the Plan and to publish an annual report which sets this out.

The new statutory Children's Trust guidance brought together statutory guidance on Children's Trust co-operation arrangements, and the procedures and functions of the Children's Trust Board (including the Board's role in preparing, reviewing and monitoring the Children and Young People's Plan).

As Blackpool Children’s Trust was already well established, many of the recommendations within the guidance were already being carried out by the Trust. Increasing representation of schools and the addition of Job Centre Plus to the Children’s Trust were the only real changes that needed to be implemented.

Our Vision

All of the agencies in Blackpool Children’s Trust will work in partnership to provide integrated, high quality services to children and young people. We will work together to improve outcomes for all children and young people and will close the gap in outcomes between those who do well and those who do not.

To achieve this vision we will focus on those outcomes that children themselves have identified as important to them and which the Government has embodied in the Children Act 2004. Be healthy – enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle; Stay safe – being protected from harm and neglect and becoming able to look after themselves; Enjoy and achieve – getting the most out of life and developing necessary skills for adulthood; Make a positive contribution – to the community and to society and not engaging in antisocial or offensive behaviour; Achieve economic well-being – not being prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential in life.

In order to improve these outcomes, all partners will:  Develop a shared sense of responsibility to promote the welfare of children and young people, to safeguard them and protect them from harm.  Focus on prevention and early intervention, preventing problems before they arise and acting early and effectively when they do.  Reconfigure services around the child and family, providing accessible, integrated and jointly commissioned support that is flexible at the point of delivery.

Page 3 of 14  Listen to children, young people and their families and involve them in decision-making about services which affect their lives.  Plan jointly.  Value the diversity of children and young people and ensure that they are not discriminated against.  Promote improved outcomes for parents as well as their children.  Deliver effective systems for the identification, referral and assessment of vulnerable children and young people.  Recognise that schools are uniquely placed to support children, young people and their families.

Blackpool Children’s Trust recognises that to achieve its vision and make the necessary changes to the lives of children and young people we all need to play our part. This Plan will not make the difference it seeks without the support and commitment of all those who work with children and young people.

Our Priorities

The 2009 – 2012 Children and Young People’s Plan contains ten priorities for improving outcomes for children and young people in Blackpool which have been endorsed by Blackpool Children’s Trust. These priorities were developed through needs assessment, joint planning processes and engagement and consultation undertaken with children and young people and people who work with children and young people.

Blackpool Children & Young People’s Plan intends that Blackpool’s children and young people should be enabled to:

Be Healthy 1. Lead healthier lifestyles, particularly by maintaining a healthy weight, resisting substance and alcohol misuse and gaining in resilience through improved emotional well-being 2. Become increasingly mature with regard to sexual relationships, able to protect themselves, avoid teenage pregnancy and to resist exploitation

Stay Safe 3. Be protected from maltreatment, neglect, violence and exploitation with particular reference to that resulting from domestic abuse and substance/alcohol misuse in families 4. Be safe from and choose not to engage in bullying, discrimination, crime and anti- social behaviour, both inside and outside school

Enjoy and Achieve 5. Make good educational progress with a particular emphasis on mathematics and on overall performance for those in the Foundation Stage and in Key Stage 4 6. Overcome any barriers to achievement (especially for Looked After Children and those with complex needs) so as to be able to achieve more in line with their peers 7. Enjoy strong family support for their aspirations and achievement

Page 4 of 14 Make a Positive Contribution 8. Access wider opportunities locally which develop self esteem, self confidence and prepare young people for responsible adulthood

Achieve Economic Well-being 9. Overcome the impact of poverty through effective partnership working which both addresses immediate needs and contributes to the wider economic regeneration of the town 10.Progress to educational achievement at levels 2 and 3, employment and/or training which enables them to become economically self-sufficient as young adults and future parents

The Golden Thread Children and young people are engaged in and influence decision making

Improving Outcomes

Blackpool Children’s Trust has been instrumental in securing improved outcomes for children, young people and their families. Since its inception, we have seen inter-related performance improvements in formerly stubborn indicators such as

 pupil attainment and achievement  school attendance  access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)  school exclusions  young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET)  teenage pregnancy conception rates as well as a significant improvement in the range of extended services and positive activities available to children, young people and their families.

The Trust partnership has been instrumental in promoting the more coherent and personalised “no wrong door” family-centered approach for which the town has gained a significant reputation. It has played an important role in championing individual level commissioning, integrated workforce development and the strategic expansion of the voluntary sector. It has also played a key role with regard to the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The partnerships that have been forged under the auspices of the Trust provide a strong basis for the future, where we are led to expect that local authorities will have a much stronger strategic and commissioning role for the health, education and well-being of the population, with a growing range and diversity of providers commissioned to deliver services increasingly shaped by the people who use them.

With the drive to ensure value-for-money across all local services through increased joint commissioning, it could be argued that Blackpool Children’s Trust partnership has some of the most relevant local experience and, with an expanded remit, is best-placed to take a

Page 5 of 14 lead on the shaping of future commissioning arrangements for the children and young people of Blackpool.

Key Achievements 2009 – 2010

The Children’s Trust has supported many policies and initiatives this year including:

 The Play Pathfinder  ‘Challenging homophobic language in Schools’ booklet  Building Schools for the Future  My Place Youth Hub Centre  Budget Holding Lead Practitioner  Pitt Stop  The Non-usage of Mosquito devices  Blackpool’s Light  Children, Young People and Families Forum (Voluntary Sector and Social Enterprise)  Summer Playscheme  Positive Activities  Youth Crime Action Plan  Children’s Charter  One Children’s Workforce  SRE Policy for Looked After Children  Integrated Working

Children’s Trust Commissioning Group

The Children’s Trust Commissioning Group was established in 2009 to provide a separate commissioning arm of the Children’s Trust in recognition of the established Primary Care Trust (PCT) Provider/Commissioner split and the ongoing demarcation of functions within the Council.

The membership of the group included a mix of key stakeholder Commissioners, PCT Non Executive Director and Executive Director, GP and Senior Council officers from a number of Departments across the Council. The group was chaired by the Executive Director of Children’s Services.

Since its inception, a number of initiatives and commissioned services were endorsed and approved by the Children’s Trust Commissioning Group including;

 Implementation of the Your Welcome initiative  Commissioning Intentions and Savings 2010/11 (Child Health & Maternity Services)  Teenage Pregnancy Commissioner/Provider split  Commissioning Support Workshop  Individual level commissioning and analysis  Aiming High  Loss and Bereavement Services

Page 6 of 14  Specialist Weight Management Services  School Health Education Unit Survey 2009/10  MyPlace  Healthy Schools Performance/Development  Speech and Language Therapy Review

The group in its infancy concentrated on child health initially but was in the process of incorporating other areas of the business such as MyPlace, Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), and Individual Level Commissioning. However, due to structural changes in both the PCT and the council this group has now merged with the Adult Commissioning Group in order to replicate the move towards a Children, Adults and Family Services Department.

Being Healthy

It is crucial that at an early age, children develop habits that will ensure they maintain good physical, mental, emotional and sexual health. Children who suffer ill health, physically or emotionally will be less likely to enjoy and achieve and may experience difficulties in making a positive contribution at school, in the community and to society as a whole. Most children are able to enjoy a positive and healthy start in life. However, there are still significant health inequalities amongst children and young people.

Children and young people living in deprived neighbourhoods and low income households are more likely to suffer from poor health both in early and later life. Tackling health inequalities and the underlying causes of poor health is a key challenge for Blackpool, where people experience poorer health compared to the national average, but also significant differences in health experience within the town. The health of children and young people is generally worse than the England average, including the percentage of mothers initiating breast feeding, the percentage of mothers who smoke during pregnancy, tooth decay in children aged 5 years and teenage pregnancy.

Despite the challenges we face, progress has been made in improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

The Difference We Have Made  The Victoria Safeguarding Centre and a bespoke midwifery service have been commissioned to support vulnerable young people  The Family Nurse Partnership has been recognised nationally as an area of good practice supporting vulnerable young mothers  The Family Prescribing Service is the first service in the country to provide specialist prescribing treatment services to vulnerable families within Children’s Centres where substance misuse impacts on parenting  The Arrest Referral Scheme is proving successful in supporting vulnerable young people who become involved with the Criminal Justice System with identified substance misuse issues

Page 7 of 14  The Emotional Wellbeing in Schools Teams (EWIST) provide prevention and early intervention in schools and forms part of the clinical pathway to specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)  Increased uptake of Chlamydia screening  Improved engagement with young fathers  Increased availability of Young People’s sexual health services through longer opening hours  Performance for both prevalence and coverage of breastfeeding has increased  Blackpool exceeded the national target for the percentage of schools with healthy schools status

What Next?  Implement the Autism Action Strategy  Complete the review of Special School Nursing provision  Ensure all Blackpool schools have achieved the Health Schools standard by March 2011  Develop health services in Further Education settings  Improve access to treatment and prevention services for young people with substance misuse issues  Design and implement consultation tools for young people and parents  Identify commissioning priorities for prevention and support services for Teenage Pregnancy and under 18 sexual health services through the development of a Commissioning Intentions Strategy

Staying Safe

Wanting our children and young people to grow up free from harm, fear and prejudice means ensuring that children and young people are effectively safeguarded from the risk of harm and neglect, reducing the involvement of young people in crime, both as victim and perpetrator, and protecting young people from bullying and harassment.

There are a variety of factors in Blackpool which combine to make safeguarding children and young people in our town particularly challenging. The last twelve months have been a particularly challenging period as nationally public confidence in child protection and safeguarding systems have been thrown in doubt by the high profile and tragic case of baby Peter. Although cohorts of highly-vulnerable children and young people are low compared to the whole population, from April 2009 to April 2010, the number of looked after children rose by over 12%, and the number of children subject to a child protection plan increased by 28%.

Yet despite these challenges progress has been made and this was recognised by the Ofsted Safeguarding and Looked After Children Inspection in October 2009 where Safeguarding Services were judged as adequate and Services for Looked After Children were judged as good.

The Difference We Have Made

Page 8 of 14  Commissioned specialist training for the Catalyst team, Police and Social Workers undertaking section 47 investigations  Development of the Young Carers Strategy  Improved statutory review documentation in partnership with children and young people  Implemented Children Missing from Home & Care protocol and procedures  Delivered Domestic Abuse awareness sessions for children and young people  The percentage of children who have experienced bullying has reduced significantly from 56.3% in 2008/09 to 30.9% in 2009/10 (TellUs Survey)  Restorative Practice is being piloted in Palatine Community Sports College, Revoe Primary School and two Children’s Homes  Blackpool Young People’s Anti-bullying network has been established  Successfully delivered Diversity Fortnight promoting respect for all and the elimination of bullying and discriminatory behaviour

What Next?

 Blackpool Safeguarding Children Board will analyse work with adult and juvenile sex offenders to inform future commissioning decisions  Work with children and young people to enhance participation in child Protection Conferences and Reviews  Develop a robust Transition Strategy  Improve training and awareness raising for elected members in relation to scrutiny of safeguarding policy and practice  Roll out a programme of training and awareness raising on challenging homophobic language  Establish Diversity Fortnight as Diversity 365

Enjoying and Achieving

Education is vital to the regeneration of Blackpool, to equip children, young people and adults with the necessary qualifications and skills to compete in the developing labour market and to improve quality of life and self esteem.

The complex, and sometimes interrelated factors affecting Blackpool children and young people mean that many come to school with barriers to learning. For a significant number, these barriers include poor attendance, gaps in education due to transience, low self esteem, poor basic skills, low aspirations, poor parental engagement with school as well as the widely recognised barriers such as economic disadvantage and special educational needs.

Despite this, in 2009 yet again Blackpool’s children and young people achieved their best ever educational outcomes and we are committed to continued improvements in order to secure the highest educational outcomes for our children and young people, narrowing attainment gaps and creating more good and outstanding schools. We need to ensure the diverse needs of all children and young people in Blackpool are met including those most

Page 9 of 14 vulnerable and that the responsibilities and needs of parents is key to raising achievement and aspirations.

The new government’s emphasis on giving parents and schools greater freedom and control over children’s education, with the option to become academies and form free schools, poses new challenges to how we support schools. A refocus on achieving formal academic qualifications means that the support we give to young people who are more suited to vocational work will be crucial. With the reduction of funding for the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme we will need to find different ways to regenerate all of our secondary schools.

The Difference We Have Made  Targeted implementation of National Strategy intervention programmes including Every Child a Reader, Every Child a Counter, every Child a Writer, and One-to-One tuition  All primary and secondary schools received consultant support in maths  Provided a wide range of opportunities for children and young people to work with the Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool’s Libraries and individual artists and writers coordinated by the schools’ Culture Officer  The authority was the 34th most improved in Key Stage 2 English and Maths and is now performing above the national average. Likewise, Blackpool increased the percentage of pupils making at least 2 national curriculum levels progress between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 English by 2%, putting us within the top 20% performing authorities in England  Performance in secondary schools, as measured by the percentage of pupils attaining 5+ grades A* - C including GCSE English and Maths at GCSE (or equivalent) showed a significant increase of 4.2% on the previous year, almost double the increase experienced nationally  Blackpool has narrowed the gap between the lowest achieving 20% of pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage profile and the remainder of pupils over the past 4 years and in the level of achievement at KS4 between pupils entitled to free school meals (FSM) and those who are not  The attainment gap at KS4 (% attaining 5 or more A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent) between pupils with special educational needs and non-SEN pupils) was 39.6% in 2009/10. This is significantly less than the national average of 46.6%  Eight Blackpool schools achieved the prestigious ICT Mark, representing 20.0% of schools in the borough. Nationally the percentage of schools receiving an award is 3.0%. A Blackpool primary school, in association with the LA ICT Curriculum Team was short listed for the BECTA Excellence in ICT Award in 2009.  Three Blackpool primary schools have been recognised for their outstanding work with parents. They became the first primaries in the country to receive the Gold Award in the Parental Engagement Quality Standard from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT).  Parenting peer support groups have been developed and 65 families have accessed training as part of the Work Focused Services Pilot  There has been an increase in lone parents accessing activities at Blackpool Children’s Centres

Page 10 of 14 What Next?  Continue to address underperformance and minimize the effect of deprivation on pupil achievement  Extend the Every Child Counts programme to a further five schools with a view to rolling out to all schools  Develop Blackpool’s learning networks and build capacity for school improvement  Pilot the Wider Opportunities Programme in our high schools  Share expertise in schools where children from disadvantaged groups are performing better than the Blackpool average at the end of their key stage assessments  Challenge schools where the gap between disadvantaged groups and other pupils is not being narrowed quickly enough  Continue to embed the Virtual School and deliver the multi agency action plan to improve outcomes for looked after children in Blackpool Council Further develop the roles of our three outstanding special schools to include outreach and inreach work  Improve information and advice to parents through parental engagement in schools  Develop locality wide parental involvement and engagement including locality parents and carers forum  Ensure we support more of the hard to reach families in Blackpool Council Continue to strengthen the role of the Children’s Centre at the heart of the community

Making a Positive Contribution

Children and young people represent the next generation of citizens who will help shape the future. It is important that children and young people have the opportunity to be involved in decisions that affect them. This can allow them to be engaged as active citizens.

There are many opportunities for children and young people to play an active part in shaping the communities in which they live and they should be encouraged and supported to enable them to make a positive contribution and be given the opportunity to practice good citizenship.

Consultation with children and young people, their involvement in decision making and the delivery of engagement services is a particular strength in Blackpool and as such has been recognised nationally.

The Difference We Have Made  Delivered a wide range of after school and evening activities including Friday and Saturday evenings  The interactive database of activities (Plings) has seen significant growth in the number of hits on the website with over half a million hits in the year and Blackpool is now recognised as one of the leading pilot authorities in this area of work  Continued development of Southpoint (South Youth Hub) with building work expected to be completed by the end of 2011  Increased Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) provided in schools through a collaborative partnership of schools, the 14-19 team, Blackpool Young People’s Services and CXL

Page 11 of 14  Young People Commissioning Group is in place and are commissioning activities (5% of the Blackpool Young People’s Services budget)  Over 6,500 more participants in the Summer Activities Programme in 2009 compared with 2008  Over 1000 young people have participated in activities provided by the Youth Workers in schools

What Next?  Develop the positive activities commission specification based on the feedback from young people on the needs of older teenagers  Roll out the use of the Wave Card for young people educated outside mainstream schools and in the one remaining secondary school  Appoint a Third Sector lead of a partnership approach to provide Northpoint (a North Youth Hub)  Develop an Outdoor Education offer within the context of an Outdoor Education strategy  Benchmark satisfaction rates of young peoples experience of activities  Commission an additional third sector provider to provide transport to activities for vulnerable young people

Achieving Economic Well-being

In order for children and young people to achieve economic well-being they need to experience the opportunity of living in decent homes and in households where parents and carers are able to enjoy an economically active lifestyle that enables them to be free from poverty.

Children who grow up in poverty face significantly greater risks of not reaching their full potential – including educational underachievement, poor health and unemployment. We must prevent families from falling into worklessness, help those who are out of work to find employment and support those parents who are in work to progress and maximize their incomes.

In the longer term, the best way to challenge child poverty is to ensure that our children grow up to attain skills and qualifications so that they can secure employment for themselves. Ensuring children and young people have access to adequate and appropriate information, training and employment is critical, if they are to secure economic wellbeing and have the confidence to pursue their goals.

The Difference We Have Made  Over 200 hundred parents are actively engaged on the Work Focused Services pilot, and becoming work ready  10 new jobs through future jobs fund starting in Children's Centres  Reduced numbers of weapons sold to young people and the number of Off Licences selling alcohol to Young People

Page 12 of 14  The Rent Bond Scheme helps approximately 600 vulnerable households per year access good quality, affordable accommodation in the private rented sector and plays a vital role in the prevention of homelessness in the town  Cross working between schools, post 16 providers and the National Apprenticeship Service has been increased significantly to resolve the confusion over the value and recognition given to the very wide range of qualifications on offer to young people. This has initially focuses on ICT and Science rolling out across other subject areas in the coming year  The Trust has been successful in increasing the number of funded learner opportunities for young people 16-19 for 2010/11 against a national trend of reductions  Introduced 11 diploma learning opportunities for KS4 learners that include work related learning experiences, giving an increase opportunity for young people to become better prepared for employment and further education.  Increased the number of apprenticeships available across Blackpool  Continue to meet our stretching target to reduce the number of 16-18s Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in spite of a very challenging financial climate

What Next?  Continued delivery of the Parents with Prospects course to young parents and sourcing sustainable funding.  Continuation of work in Test Purchasing / Proxy Sales, Alcohol Confiscation Campaigns, Targeted Enforcement, Diversionary Activities, Domestic Violence and Young People and Media Campaign by BSafe Blackpool  Develop the work of the Youth Accommodation Team to improve the extent to which Blackpool is able to meet the identified housing needs of young people in the town.  Child Poverty Needs assessment to be undertaken and strategy written  Consult young people on the reasons for participation, disengagement and barriers to access education, employment and training  Continue to increase the number of apprenticeships available in Blackpool  Wider rollout of workforce training to ensure learners have access to high quality Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)  Continue to understand the qualification equivalences and provide employer-friendly guidance on interpreting the range of qualifications now available  Develop the recognition of volunteering as part of a young person’s portfolio

Concluding Remarks

We are proud of what we have achieved during the first year of the 2009 – 2012 Children and Young People’s Plan but recognise that more needs to be done in order to improve outcomes for children and young people by delivering effective services that are of high quality and are good value for money. In the years ahead we face numerous challenges, not least of which are the financial pressures that we have to address both now and in the future. Effective performance management will help us to know that what we do works and give us accurate information about the quality and cost of our services.

A change of local and national government and the challenge of providing high quality services in the context of unprecedented public spending cuts has made the realisation of

Page 13 of 14 our vision for children even more important. During the coming year we will build on our successes, learn from our mistakes and move forward together. Now more than ever, the Trust is fundamental in securing improvements to the lives and life chances of Blackpool’s children and young people.

But whatever the challenges, we are committed to turning these into opportunities as new policy and legislation unfolds – and together find better ways to deliver cost effective high quality services.

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