A7 THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ON FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES – 11 APRIL 2006
JOINT REPORT BY THE CABINET MEMBER FOR FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES AND THE CABINET MEMBER FOR EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES
CABINET MEMBER'S REPORT ON CURRENT ISSUES
The purpose of this report is to inform Members of recent policy and practice developments which are likely to impact on the future work of
the Business Group and to update Members on progress of important
current projects. FOR INFORMATION
1. BACKGROUND
1.1 OSC Members have requested regular updates on important projects and local or national Family and Children’s service developments.
2. CHELSEA ACADEMY
2.1 The design team (led by architects Feilden Clegg Bradley) is working on Stage A/B of the design process. A construction project manager has been appointed.
2.2 RBKC are awaiting a formal response from the DfES regarding RBKC becoming a joint sponsor of the Academy.
2.3 The Ashburnham Centre is being used by English National Ballet, West London Action for Children and the youth and play service.
2.4 Negotiations with the Heatherley’s School of Fine Art concerning its relocation are nearing completion.
3. CHILDREN’S FUND
3.1 Kensington and Chelsea Council held a special showcase event on 17 March to promote some of the projects provided by its Children's Fund to support children in the borough. The Children's Fund is a Government initiative to support both voluntary and local authority projects working to help disadvantaged children aged five to 13 and their families.
3.2 The event saw a special breakfast served in the Small Hall, Kensington Town Hall, to allow attendees to experience what a primary school breakfast club is like. Children from the Avondale Park Primary School Breakfast Club helped with the serving. The event also featured an exhibition and prize-giving for the Children's Fund's photo competition and was attended by the Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, Cllr Warrick Lightfoot and Cllr Shireen Ritchie.
3.3 For the photography competition, children were asked to take pictures based on their life in the borough, following the themes of `LOVE something, HATE something, CHANGE something.' Jessops of Kensington High Street, who were a partner in the project, provided some of the prizes. The winners were awarded the digital cameras they used to take the photos and leather cases and memory cards from Jessops.
4. HOLLAND PARK SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
4.1 The design of the private residential development has been frozen as we have now received favourable comments from CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment). This will enable the planning application to be submitted as planned in May 2006.
4.2 A full report on Stage D of the design is due shortly. A key decision to proceed to Stage E has been approved, so the final design stage will start once the Stage D report has been finalised.
4.3 Plans being developed to involve staff, students and community users during Stage E. All activities will take place during the summer term. A successful presentation at the primary heads’ conference took place in late March.
4.4 An independent report on the refurbishment option will be completed in late April, which will feed into the decision on whether to proceed with the redevelopment after planning permission has been obtained.
5. LAUNCH OF FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES IN KENSINGTON AND CHELSEA
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5.1 The Family and Children’s Services Group was formally launched at an event on 22 March 2006 in the Small Hall, Kensington Town Hall. Partner organisations, members of the community and Councillors and Officers of the Council attended the event.
5.2 Keynote speeches were provided by The Children’s Commissioner, Professor Al Aynsley-Green and Mrs Anne Marie Carrie, Executive Director. Exceptional contributions were also provided by a representative of young people and a representative of parents.
6. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CONFERENCE
6.1 Cllr Ritchie co-chaired a conference on Domestic Violence, on 14 March, at which Catherine Orr Deas (Domestic Violence Trainer and Consultant) spoke about the impact upon children of domestic violence and in particular the disruption to young peoples' education.
6.2 The Head teacher of Oxford Gardens primary school, Liz Rayment- Pickard, presented on domestic violence in schools and referred to the potential for schools to provide children with an alternative non- violent model of relationships and an opportunity for 'recovery.' The role of schools in supporting parents was also subject to discussion.
6.3 The Detective Inspector of the Community Safety Unit presented on the work of the police in responding to domestic violence. Mr Clout, Borough Commander of the Metropolitan Police and Michael Verrier, Co-Chair of the Broken Rainbow Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence Service also presented information to the conference.
7. EXTENDED SCHOOLS CONFERENCE – UK YOUTH
7.1 Cllr Ritchie participated in a UK Youth conference on extended schools, on 14 March. UK Youth is the largest youth work charity in the UK with a network engaging over 750,000 young people via 7,000 youth clubs, projects and groups supported by over 40,000 volunteers. The conference examined three key themes:
• Non-formal learning approaches to school based inclusion programmes; • Engaging young people in decision-making processes; and • Out of classroom learning.
7.2 The conference provided essential advice and practical case studies and debate took place on the latest thinking on extending education provision and new models for out of classroom learning.
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8. CHILDREN’S CENTRES
8.1 Chelsea Open Air, Cheyne and Maxilla Children’s Centres have now been designated by the DfES. This means that they are considered to be delivering the core offer and to have met DfES targets for the creation of childcare places.
8.2 A series of consultation meetings on Phase 2 of the children’s centres programme has been organised during April. The key purpose is to identify providers that may be interested in leading a children’s centre in a specific locality in the borough and to identify other potential partners. A range of providers from the statutory, voluntary, community and private sectors has been invited. Target localities are those within the worst 30% super output areas based on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation that are not yet served by a children’s centre (i.e. St Charles, Colville, Earls Court and Redcliffe wards).
8.3 Following this initial round of meetings, there will be further consultation with stakeholders, and particularly with parents, on possible locations, lead providers and services to be offered. Once the location of the six additional Phase 2 centres have been agreed, local partnerships will be established to drive forward their development and to ensure that centre services complement those of other local providers.
9. DEVELOPMENTS IN FOSTERING
9.1 Foster carers are a crucial to helping achieve good outcomes for Looked After Children and a key target for Family and Children’s Services is to increase the number of in house foster carers and reduce reliance on those employed by Independent Fostering Agencies. Within the context of a very competitive recruitment market, the fostering service has been working on a new recruitment strategy with the aim of securing an additional 25 foster carers over the next 3 years.
9.2 This is being undertaken alongside work to provide enhanced support to current foster carers to enable them to broaden the range of children they are able to care for and ensure the continuation of what is currently a good retention rate for existing carers.
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9.3 The launch of this major foster carer recruitment campaign was held on Wednesday 29 March and Louis Emerick, actor in television shows "Casualty" and "Brookside," released 250 balloons from near to Chelsea Old Town Hall. The event was attended by Cllr Ritchie, alongside foster carers and members of the fostering team. The 250 balloons represented the number of children currently looked after by the Council and the urgent need for more foster carers in and around the borough.
9.4 Louis is endorsing the campaign because he appreciates the tremendous benefits offered to children whose parents can not look after them, having himself been adopted through the Royal Borough as a young child. Reporting of the event in the local press is to be followed up by a targeted advertising campaign leading up to Fostering Fortnight in May, when a specific recruitment event for prospective foster carers is planned.
10. INTERNET RESOURCES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE AND FAMILIES
10.1 www.rbkc.gov.uk/kccentral/general/ is a website for young people in Kensington and Chelsea. “Kccentral” has competitions, advice, help, guidance, events and information.
10.2 www.centrallondonconnexions.org.uk/ is an information, advice and guidance service for all 13-19 year-olds offering help and support with a wide range of issues including education, careers, health, housing, personal issues and life choices.
10.3 www.connexions-direct.com/ can offer information and advice for young people to make the decisions and choices in their lives.
10.4 www.csd.rbkc.gov.uk/ accesses the Children's Service Directory. This is to help those working with children and young people find services and activities available locally.
11. COMMON ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK AND INFORMATION SHARING INDEX UPDATE
CAF Update
11.1 In July 2005, project initiation documents were written for the development of the common assessment framework and information sharing across the Borough. The CAF has been piloted in the Surestart area in North Kensington and amongst three primary schools in the South of the Borough. An information sharing protocol has been circulated and is in the process of being signed off at Executive Director level or equivalent across frontline services (both voluntary and statutory) in the Royal Borough.
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11.2 Three single agency meetings were held in December 2005 involving Education, the PCT and the Voluntary Sector. At these meetings the purpose of the CAF was explained in some detail and three principles for how the CAF is to work were agreed. These are as follows: • The CAF will be used as the universal assessment tool for all frontline staff working with children and young people and their families • The CAF will form the core of interagency referrals from universal frontline staff • A copy of the completed CAF will be held centrally by the CAF Coordinator.
11.3 A steering group has been established with a wide representation both from the voluntary and statutory sectors. Terms of reference for the steering group have been agreed. Work of the steering group is supported by six work streams: • Communication • Participation • Practice and procedures • Ecaf, to look at the interface with ICS, DfES requirements (in terms of an IT solution for the CAF) and providing a database to record participation in the training events • Training • Coordination
11.4 A working draft of a practitioners handbook has been completed. Leaflets for professionals/parents and/or carers and how to complain have been drafted and art work and a design to front CAF literature has been completed.
11.5 A three tiered approach to training has been agreed to engage the estimated 2000-2500 frontline workers in contact with children young people and their families. Participants will need to complete the first stage of training before they embark upon the next stage. The three tiers are:
• Information sharing and awareness of the CAF (2000-2500 attendees) • Completing a CAF (400-600 attendees) • Role of lead professional (200-400 attendees)
11.6 It is intended that all front line staff will attend at least the first course on information sharing and awareness of the CAF. This will be a prerequisite to attending the second course and this course will be a prerequisite for those who go on to complete the role of the lead professional.
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Information Sharing Index Update
11.7 RBKC has been a Trailblazer and is now part of the Local Authority Reference Group working with the DfES on the development of a national IS Index. The DfES plan to roll out the index nationally by the end of 2008, funded by Central Government. Local Authorities are being asked to start preparation work from April 2006.
11.8 Additionally the Council is taking part in a data migration trial involving passing data from our current databases involving children and young people i.e. Connexions Person Index, Youth Offending, Pupil Census data to the DfES. The data protection issues have been cleared through Parliament with many regulations to allow for this trial to take place.
FOR INFORMATION
COUNCILLOR SHIREEN RITCHIE CABINET MEMBER FOR FAMILY AND CHILDREN’S SERVICES
COUNCILLOR MARY WEALE CABINET MEMBER FOR EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES
Contact officer: Ian Elliott, Policy and Improvement Officer Tel: 02073613577 E-mail: [email protected]
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