Cheltenham Locality

Due Regard Statement – Cheltenham Locality

Please use this statement to evidence how ‘due regard to’ the three aims of the public sector equality duty has been made (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) during the development of the ‘policy’.1

 Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the ACT;  Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and  Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic.

Name of the Reshaping Services for Families with Young Children is part of group of projects in the Vulnerable Children’s and Young ‘policy’: People’s Programme. A separate project will reshape targeted services for children and young people from 11-19.

This locality Due Regard indicates the impact of the reshaping the services in the Cheltenham locality.

Person(s) Ruth Lewis – Lead Commissioner for Early Years. responsible for completing this statement

Briefly Reshaping Services for Families with Young Children. describe the activity being The business case proposes to reshape the provision of Targeted Support offered through Children’s Centres services and other services for families with young children in Cheltenham, so that it is customised to level of need and geography across considered the locality maximises the use of resources and achieves savings. Targeted Support will be aligned to a continuum of provision including aims from Early Help Hubs supporting practitioners in universal services to prevent families’ problems from escalating. It also aims to and expected reduce the number of referrals to more specialist provision. outcomes The total current Children’s Centre budget is £8.2M; budget allocations to each locality are based on the number of children

Cheltenham Locality Due Regard Statement v2 –September 2015 2

identified through Indices of Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) in Children’s Centre area as being in greatest deprivation. £2.7m of this budget is funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant as part of the Early years funding Block, the remaining £22.7m of which is allocated to nursery provision for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.

In October 2015 funding for Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) will transfer to local authorities as part of the Public Health grant, this will mean £3.126m additional funding in 2015/16 (£6.252M in full year).

The budget to provide targeted support for children aged 5-11 years of age includes £500K for the Targeted Support Teams and £450k from the Families First programme (This is a payment by results programme funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government).

The proposed budget for children’s centre services in 2016/17 is £8.0m. The consultation process described in this document will inform budget decisions from 2017/18.

The proposed 2016/2017 budget for the Cheltenham locality of children centres is: £1,880,675

Current Service The current Children Centre is provider is Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation and GCC has given written notice that they wish to extend the contract for up to two year from April 2016 to allow the consultation process to take place.

Universal and targeted provision is currently delivered seven Children’s Centres: Hesters Way, Gardners Lane and Oakwood, Rowanfield, Up Hatherley, Charlton Kings and Leckhampton. Up Hatherley and Leckhampton are based in libraries.

There is co-location of partner organisation in two of the largest centres. Gardners Lane is used as a base for Community Midwives, Health Visitors and one Early Education Consultant while Hesters Way Children’s Centre is used as base for Health Visitors.

Early Years Education is provided by the current children’s centre provider at Hesters Way (30 places), Rowanfield (36), Gardners Lane (80) and Oakwood (66).

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The consultation process in Cheltenham will focus on the following two options for the future delivery of service provision:

OPTION 1: Early Years Targeted Family Support (0-5 years)

Targeted Family Support service for families with 0-5 year olds against a shared commissioning outcomes Framework for Early Years in areas of greatest deprivation.

Key elements:

Delivery of universal health visiting and targeted early years provision (0-5) across Cheltenham locality.

Targeted Family Support providing case work and programmes of support to children in need, those on child protection plans.

An integrated targeted service .Reconfiguring children’s centre and Families First Plus staff teams to provide a locality based and integrated family support response from three Children and Family Centres, based in the greatest areas of deprivation, in the following locations: Hesters Way, Gardners Lane and Oakwood.

Children’s Centre buildings used for Early Education and Childcare, community use and bases for professionals who work with families: Rowanfield, Up Hatherley, Charlton Kings and Leckhampton.

The creation of a Locality and Community Support Service to support and advise universal services delivered within Children’s Centre buildings, for example early education delivered by schools and community based services.

OPTION 2: Children’s Centre Plus (0-11 years)

Targeted Family Support service for families with 0-11 year olds against a shared commissioning outcomes Framework for Early Years and Middle Years in areas of greatest deprivation.

Key Elements:

Delivery of universal health visiting and targeted early years provision (0-11) across Cheltenham locality.

Family Support Service providing case work and programmes of support to children in need, those on child protection plans

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and families identified through Gloucestershire’s Families First Programme.

Children’s Centre buildings used for early education and childcare, community use and bases for professionals who work with families: Rowanfield, Up Hatherley, Charlton Kings and Leckhampton.

Consultation on the Options It is proposed to consult in two phases. Following approval through a Lead Member decision a formal consultation process in July 2015. A pre engagement process will begin on 1st July 2015 until 30th September 2015.

A report to Cabinet in December 2015 will share the results of the first phase of the consultation and will seek approval to undertake a second consultation of 12 weeks. This phase is likely to involve a more detailed engagement at local level and will commence in January 2016 until 31st March 2016.

This will include the development of a Targeted Support solution for each locality based on assessed need, co production of community delivery of universal services with districts, parishes, voluntary organisations and parents and joint commissioning of some targeted provision with education, health and social care to integrate services at the front line.

Following evaluation of the pilots and feedback from the two phases of consultation new specifications will be developed and procured for a targeted support service for families with young children. Internal services may also be restructured.

Preferred Option

The preferred option for the Cheltenham locality as yet to be identified but would need to:  Support improvements in education, social and health outcomes for vulnerable children, young people and families living in the highest areas of need;  Adopt a more integrated approach to the delivery of a targeted service from 0-11;  Increase the involvement of parents and communities in supporting universal service provision;  To ensure County Council services are targeted to those in greatest need in both rural and urban locations (i.e. ensure geographic spread);  To ensure the child, and their families, are listened to and their experiences of services is seamless and integrated;

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 To do what the Council is required to do by legislation, regulation or policy;  To support partners to provide universal services;  To protect the reputation of the Council.

Service information (if applicable) or Needs analysis (if applicable)

Who is Children’s Centres responsible for Since April 2013 Gardners Lane and Oakwood Federation a social enterprise have run Children’s Centre services under contract delivering the for Gloucestershire County Council. There are large centres offering a wide range of services throughout the week and smaller service? ‘bases’ that offer fewer activities and interventions.

 7 centres in Cheltenham in Leckhampton, Charlton Kings library, Hesters Way, Rowanfield, Gardners Lane, Whaddon and Up Hatherley library.

A Children’s Centre is defined by the Childcare Act 2006 as a place or group of places: which is managed by, or on behalf of, the Local Authority to secure that early childhood services are made available in an integrated way. Thus the sufficiency of Children’s Centres is as much about making services available as it is about providing services in particular geographical areas. Early Childhood Services are defined by the Government as:

 Early Years provision (i.e. early education and childcare);  Social Service function of the Local Authority relating to young children, parents and prospective parents;  Health services relating to young children, parents and prospective parents;  Training and employment services to assist parents and prospective parents;  Information and advice services for parents and prospective parents.

Revisions to the statutory guidance for Children’s Centres placed a greater emphasis on working with families in greatest need.

Families First Plus Families First plus teams are located in all seven localities and work within Children’s Safeguarding and Care. A Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Team is based in Edinburgh House, Hesters Way Cheltenham.

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Multi agency – Early Help Partnerships have been established across the County. Families First Plus teams will work with the Cheltenham Localitymulti Due – Regard agency Statement partnerships v2 –September across six 2015 districts in order to improve the way we join up early help and support families. The teams undertake three key functions:

 Build Community capacity – working with partners to support families to help themselves and identify community resources to meet need early;  Supporting Universal Services to ensure that effective advice and guidance is available to support early help work that takes place in a range of local settings including Schools, Health Services, Children’s Centres, Youth Support, Housing, VCS. This will include the role of the community social worker to provide advice and support to practitioners, particularly around managing risk;  Targeted Support – providing a coordinated response in order to provide a whole family approach across a continuum of need. Building on existing good practice the team work with local partners in order to ensure a coordinated response to complex family issues including mental health, substance misuse and domestic violence.

A key role for these teams is to co-ordinate all requests for additional support on behalf of the partnership who then meets to decide which agency is best to respond and provide the appropriate advice, guidance and support.

Maternity and Health Visiting Services Maternity services are provided by Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which includes a Community Midwifery Programme. Three Maternity Partnership Teams work with vulnerable families in Gloucester City and Cheltenham and are based in a number of Children’s Centres. In Cheltenham this team is located in Hesters Way Children’s Centre.

The Universal Healthy Child Programme for children under five is delivered by Public Health Nursing (PHN).This programme includes a Targeted Support Programme for families requiring additional support delivered by teams of Health Visitors, some based at larger Children’s Centres. In the Cheltenham locality there are Health Visitors Team at Hesters Way and Gardners Lane Children’s Centres.

Commissioning responsibility for PHN transfers to from Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group to GCC in October 2015. 7

Service user Children’s Centres data/Needs Characteristics of children and parents registering at Children’s Centres are recorded in the Estart database held at analysis Gloucestershire County Council. Internal profiling reports are generated to identify a range of vulnerable groups. information As part of the local authority’s performance management of the Children’s Centres, there are a range of targets which must be met and which include the specific focusing upon the inclusion of priority and excluded groups. Children’s Centres report on the qualitative and quantitative data of engaging with the following groups of people:

 Teenage mothers and pregnant teenagers;  Lone parents;  Children in workless households;  Children in black and minority ethnic groups;  Disabled children and children of disabled parents;  Other groups that are vulnerable in the Children’s Centre area such as armed forces families and traveller families.

All contracted organisations have an equality and diversity policy which is held on file by the local authority and against which the Children’s Centres are monitored.

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Age Children’s Centres Characteristics of children and their parents registering at a Children’s Centre are recorded in the Estart database. Internal profiling reports are generated to identify age profiles for individual centres and localities. This includes specific data on young parents who are a priority group for Children’s Centres.

In 2013/2014, 20,544 or 60% children under five were registered at a Children’s Centre out of a population of 34,066 0-4 year olds, broken down by locality. Locality <1 1 2 3 4 Total Cheltenham 2227 993 1127 846 549 5742 Cotswolds 789 347 471 290 219 2116 Forest of Dean 405 348 325 267 173 1518 Gloucester 655 430 505 461 312 2363 North Gloucester 1410 883 757 534 292 3876 South Stroud 747 416 422 409 272 2266 Tewkesbury 1095 543 503 328 194 2663 Total 7328 3960 4110 3135 2011 20544

<1 1 2 3 4 Total Children seen 7328 3960 4110 3135 2011 20,544 Total 6,639 6,955 6,922 6,855 6,891 34,262 population % of total 100% 56% 59% 46% 29% 60% population

The number of 5-11 year olds accessing services during 2014 is 1808.

408 teenage parents received services at a Children’s Centre during 2014.

The majority of 0-4 year olds seen were under two years of age (75%) which is reflected across all seven localities. Services for babies and very young children are co-delivered in Children’s Centre by Health Visitors, Midwives and Children’s Centre staff. Health services are collocated in some of the larger Children’s Centres.

Cheltenham Locality Profile January 2014 – December 2014 In Cheltenham 6344 children are registered with a Children’s Centre. 4325(68.17%) are under five years of age and 2019

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(31.83%) are aged 5-11. However of the 6502 seen at a centre in Cheltenham during 2014 88.31% were fewer than 5 and only 11.69% were aged 5-11.

Table 1 - Children registered with a Children’s Centre by age group and gender during 2014 Name of 0-4 05-11 Centre Female Male Total Female Male Total Grand Total Charlton 142 146 288 34 49 83 371 Kings Gardners 445 487 932 205 197 402 1334 Lane Hesters Way 404 373 777 228 264 492 1269 Leckhampton 253 248 501 60 75 135 636 Oakwood 445 442 887 230 237 467 1354 Rowanfield 200 211 411 132 140 272 683 Up Hatherley 255 274 529 88 80 168 697 Total 2144 2181 4325 977 1042 2019 6344

Table 2 - Children seen at a Children’s Centre by age group during 2014 Name of Centre 0-4 years 5-11 years Total Charlton Kings 306 4 310 Gardners lane 1942 262 2204 Hesters Way 1158 167 1325 Leckhampton 314 11 325 Oakwood 796 168 964 Rowanfield 649 129 778 Up Hatherley 577 19 596 Total 5742 760 6502

Table3a - Children seen at a Children’s Centre by age group and gender during 2014 0 to 12 Grand Name of Centre Gender months 1 2 3 4 Total Total Charlton Kings Female 89 27 23 6 1 146 306

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Male 101 20 22 11 6 160 Female 291 195 213 184 81 964 Gardners Lane 1942 Male 307 190 214 161 106 978 Female 262 90 83 84 68 587 Hesters Way 1158 Male 283 83 97 69 39 571 Female 87 17 25 14 6 149 Leckhampton 314 Male 103 20 22 13 7 165 Female 140 69 67 60 50 386 Oakwood 796 Male 146 65 83 59 57 410 Female 67 56 79 69 54 325 Rowanfield 649 Male 66 53 103 60 42 324 Female 134 53 48 27 8 270 Up Hatherley 577 Male 151 55 48 29 24 307 Female 1070 507 538 444 268 2827 Total 5742 Male 1157 486 589 402 281 2915 Grand Total 2227 993 1127 846 549 5742

Table 3b – Children seen at a Children’s Centre as a % of the population based on mid 2013 estimation 0 to 12 months 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Population 1312 1398 1293 1316 1285 1252 1273 1159 1104 1193 1182 1089 Seen 2227 993 1127 846 549 706 71.03 87.16 64.29 42.72 % 169.74% % % % % 8.56%

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Disability Children’s Centres Children’s Centres record of a child’s disability is based on a declaration made by parents/carers on a child’s registration form, this means it does not have to be and in many cases is not a registered disability. In 2014, Gloucestershire’s Children’s Centres had 431 children registered with a disability aged 0-4; this represents 2.0% of all children seen by Children’s Centres during the period. 420 children registered with a disability aged 5-11which represents 23% of children seen of this age.

There are 1857 parents/carers registered with Children’s Centres who identify themselves as having a disability or special need this represents 10% of all adults registered.

Cheltenham Locality Profile January 2014 – December 2014

There are 126 children registered with a Children’s Centre in Cheltenham locality with a disability this represents 1.94% of all children seen during 2014. 27.78% are under 5 and 72.22% aged 5-11.

Table 4a - Children registered at a Children’s Centre with a disability or special needs by age group during 2014

Disability or Special Needs Disability or Special Needs Name of Centre Total Disability or Special Needs

0-4 5-11 Charlton Kings 1 0 1 Gardners Lane 8 10 18 Hesters Way 13 44 57 Leckhampton 1 3 4 Oakwood 7 19 26 Rowanfield 3 8 11 Up Hatherley 2 7 9 Total 35 91 126

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Table 4b – Parents and carers seen at a Children’s Centre by gender and disability or special need during 2014 Carers Seen All Female Male with a Name of Carers Carers Carers Disability or Centre Seen Seen Seen Special Need Charlton Kings 296 287 9 12 Gardners Lane 1832 1636 195 179 Hesters Way 1299 1057 242 150 Leckhampton 300 279 21 19 Oakwood 771 688 83 86 Rowanfield 646 538 108 70 Up Hatherley 528 495 33 32 Total 5672 4980 691 548

548 adults who declared a disability registered with a Children’s Centre in 2014 in the Cheltenham locality which is 9.6% of all adults seen.

Sex Children’s Centres Estart data identifies the gender of both parents/carers and children accessing Children’s Centre services. This also includes the number of fathers which is a priority group for Children’s Centres.

20,257 female adults and 14,403 male adults are registered with a Children’s Centre but only 2831 fathers and 16,103 mothers accessed services with Children’s Centres in 2014. According to the 2011 census there are 13,086 lone parents in Gloucestershire with the majority (89.9%) being lone females. 1708 lone parents were seen at a Children’s Centre during 2014. The gender of lone parents is not recorded on Estart.

Of the 20,544 children seen in 2014 48% were female and 52% were male which is in line with population ratios across the county.

94 pregnant teenagers or teenage mothers were seen in 2014.

Cheltenham Locality Profile January 2014 – December 2014

See Tables 1, 3a and 4b.

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4960 female carers and 691 male carers were seen at a Cheltenham locality Children’s Centre in 2014.

605 lone parents were seen.

Of the children registered in Cheltenham Centre 3121(49.20%) were female and 3223 (50.80%) were male.

Race Children’s Centres (including e-Start data identifies the number of adults who declares themselves with this protected characteristic on registration with a Gypsy & Children’s Centre However, it is not mandatory for parents to complete the section of the e-Start Children’s Centre registration Traveller) form which relates to ethnicity and so this source may not hold a complete data set.

728 children and 1492 parents or carers have identified themselves as BME on registration.

According to the 2011 census 4.5% of adults described themselves as BME. Of the 11,260 adults who accessed Children’s Centre services 13.3% classified themselves as BME which above the County average. 56.2% of BME families accessing Children’s Centre live in Gloucester or Cheltenham, 13.4% live in the Forest of Dean, 11% in Stroud and Tewkesbury localities and 5.6% in the Cotswolds.

It is thought that the actual numbers are substantially higher as many families (43%) when registering decline to give their ethnicity.

41 service users identified themselves as a Traveller in 2013/2014. The majority of Travellers received services from Gloucester North Children’s Centres.

Estart also records data on families who described themselves as an economic migrant or immigrant 2014 data.

Locality Economic Traveller Immigrant migrant Cheltenham 2 3 143 Cotswolds 1 0 1 Forest of Dean 6 6 0 Gloucester North 58 25 48 Gloucester 13 2 20

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South Stroud 2 2 1 Tewkesbury 5 5 24 Total 119 41 237

Table 5 - BME children registered with a Children’s Centre by age group during 2014 BME BME Name of Centre Total BME 0-4 5-11 Charlton Kings 8 8 16 Gardners Lane 101 75 176 Hesters Way 65 44 109 Leckhampton 24 15 39 Oakwood 58 46 104 Rowanfield 27 30 57 Up Hatherley 23 8 31 Total 306 226 532

Gender Children’s Centres reassignment 1% of the population is estimated to have had gender reassignment. Those registering at Children’s Centres are not asked about their sexual preference. There are no current identified issues regarding access to services. Marriage & Children’s Centres civil 50% of the population is married and 0.3% are registered as being in a civil partnership. Those registering at Children’s Centres partnership are not asked about their marital status. There are no current identified issues regarding access to services.

Pregnancy & Children’s Centres maternity All parents when they access ante-natal services. Children’s Centres have strong links with Midwifery and Health Visiting Services to gain information after health and development reviews on parent and/or child vulnerability, development delay or disability.

The service specification requires Children’s Centres to provide a sustained contact with parents who are identified through

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vulnerability flags from Health Visiting Services within the locality.

Children’s Centres receive live birth data on the new births across their locality. They are monitored against the number of contacts made with new parents and the number of new babies registered with a centre each quarter.

Cheltenham Locality Profile

Table 6 - New births registered with a Children’s Centres during 2014/15 Total Total Number Percentage of Name of Centre Number Births in Reach Birth's Registered Area Registered Hesters Way 144 233 61.80% Rowanfield 83 138 60.14% Gardners Lane 199 281 70.82% Leckhampton 97 185 52.43% Up Hatherley 88 159 55.35% Oakwood 176 267 65.92% Charlton Kings 55 88 62.50%

Religion or Children’s Centres Belief Families registering at a Children’s Centre are not asked about their faith beliefs and so the profile of service users is unknown. Some third party organisations who currently manage Children’s Centres are affiliated to faith groups, e.g. Barnardos. However this does not impact on the day to day running of the centres (including access to services with different beliefs, or the actual services offered). Sexual Children’s Centres Orientation Families registering at a Children’s Centre are not asked about their sexual orientation and so the profile of service users is unknown. However this does not impact on access to services.

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Other information

Children’s Centres There are 953 early education places offered through 22 Children’s Centres and children are monitored for progress against the Early Years foundation developmental stages. Children’s Centres are also expected to support other Early Years providers within the locality to provide effective support, advice and training which is improves the quality of linked Early Years provision.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile – records the % of children making a good levels of development at the end of first year of school. A child is considered to have a ‘good level of development’ if they have achieved at least the expected level in the Early Learning Goals in all aspects of PSE, Physical development, Communication and language, Literacy and Mathematics. Data is available according to gender; children on the SEN code of practice, children eligible for free school meals and ethnicity.

Summer 2014

Locality Number of Good level of Girls Boys FSM SEN EAL childcare places development offered through All a Children’s Centre Cheltenham 212 58.3% 67.9% 49.8% 32.7% 9.4% 50.7% Cotswolds 26 60.9% 66.9% 55.2% 31.9% 10.2% 72.4% Forest of Dean 84 53.2% 59.6% 46.7% 28.6% 6.8% 45.3%% Gloucester North 298 55.% 31.3% 46.9% 36.3% 5.4% 46.5% Gloucester South 95

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Tewkesbury 62 60.7% 67% 55% 33.3% 13.3% 55.1% Stroud 176 57.4% 66.5% 48.1% 39.5% 13.3% 51.6% Gloucestershire 953 57% 64.7% 49.7% 33.9% 10.0% 49.7%

Take up of free early education by 2, 3 and 4 year olds is monitored by Children’s Centre reach. Every 3 and 4 year olds is entitled to 15 hours free nursery education, whilst the 2 year olds offer is accessible to children who meet the eligibility criteria this includes children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities. 2 year olds with SEN and/or disabilities are referred by a professional and may take up a place at an Early Years setting registered to offer free nursery education, which includes 22 Children’s Centres.

Children’s Centres also collect data on families with ‘hard to reach’ or ‘greatest need’ characteristics. Some but not all of these of these categories include those children and adults with protected characteristic. Other categories include social isolation, families on benefits, families experiencing substance, alcohol misuse or domestic violence and children on a child protection plan. The proportion of families with these characteristics varies according to locality.

Workforce data

Please document details of GCC staff only if they will be affected by the proposed activity. This could include GCC staff transferring under TUPE to a new service provider, relocating, employment at risk. GCC Workforce diversity reports are available on our website.

If the proposed activity does not affect GCC staff, please state ‘Not affected below’.

Total number GCC Staff of GCC staff Families First Plus staff 38 posts across three areas a) Cheltenham/Tewkesbury, b) Gloucester/Cotswolds and c) affected Forest/Stroud.

Non GCC Staff 453 staff are employed in delivering Children’s Centre services

Cheltenham 100 staff covering all Cheltenham cluster

Cotswolds 15 FT & PT Staff in Cotswold Cluster

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Forest of Dean 52 FT & PT staff across FOD Cluster Gloucester North 63 FT & PT staff in North Gloucester

Gloucester South 75 FT & PT staff across Gloucester South Cluster Stroud 101 FT & PT Staff in Stroud Cluster

Tewkesbury 46 FT & PT staff across all Tewkesbury cluster

Age The most recent Children’s Centre staff survey has provided anonomised staffing data and indicates (June 2015).

Locality 20-30 31-40 41-50 50+ Range Total Cheltenham 19 26 34 20 22-66 100 Cotswolds 2 4 7 2 22-59 15 FOD 11 12 15 19 22-65 52 Gloucester 21 18 14 10 20-57 63 North Gloucester 24 16 15 20 20-65 75 South Stroud 22 25 32 22 17-64 101 Tewkesbury 6 10 12 18 23-67 46 Disability Of the 1266 employees whose statistics were returned during the most recent EY workforce audit (March 2010). No respondents stating having a disability.

Sex Of the 453 staff working in a Children’s Centre 14 are male which 3% of the total is.

Race No data is available. (including Gypsy & Traveller)

Gender No data is available. reassignment

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Marriage & No data is available. civil partnership

Pregnancy & No data is available. maternity

Religion or No data is available. Belief

Sexual No data is available. Orientation

Consultation and engagement

List all types of consultation that has taken place during the development of this activity. Include on-line consultations, events, meetings with stakeholders, community events, employee consultation exercises etc. Service Consultation with service users, staff, partners and external providers of services regarding potential models of delivery for users targeted services is due to take place in two phases in September 2015 and from January to March 2016.

Consultation about the proposed model of delivery for Targeted Support would require feedback from male carers and female parents and carers and other service users with protected characteristics. This would include the facilitation of focus groups.

A previous consultation regarding Children’s Centre services in 2010 included consultation with the following focus groups: fathers, young parents, parents with learning disabilities, parents with mental health difficulties, parents experiencing domestic abuse, parents with English as second language (Polish, Czech, Portuguese, Rumanian Bengali, Guajarati, Urdu, Arabic), parents new to Gloucestershire/Children’s Centre/area, parents who live in rural areas, parents with children with SEN/disabilities who use a centre, parents with children with SEN/disabilities who don’t use Children’s Centres, parents where child protection was an issue, unemployed parents and working parents, grandparents and informal carers.

Workforce See above.

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Partners See above.

External See above. providers of services

Equality analysis: Summary of what the evidence shows and how has it been used.

This section will allow you to outline how the evidence has been used to show ‘due regard’ to the three aims of the general equality duty. It is important that this consideration is thorough and based on sufficient information. Consideration should be relevant and proportionate:

 Eliminate discrimination;  Advance equality of opportunity;  Promote good relations.

This due regard has identified that there may be a gap in support for families who have children of primary school age where their needs extend beyond the help schools can provide. Many families will have children of pre-school and primary school age and a more ‘family centric’ way of working may be to redesign Children’s Centre services to include family support for 5-11 year olds. This would have some implications for existing family support services managed within the Council for example, the Families First (Troubled Families) Plus programme. It is proposed to include within the consultation process questions about the age range for any new service.

Protected Challenge or opportunity considered and what we did group

Age(A) Eliminate discrimination Proposals to consult on the greater integration of Early Years Services for children from conception to five years of age will ensure the most vulnerable children and their families receive a safe, effective and efficient service.

65% + of all children receiving a service from a Children’s Centre during 2014 were between 0-3 years of age.

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Children’s Centres currently work with children under 5, although there has been some flexibility on the age range of children who access services. In 2014 1808 children aged 5-11 accessed services through a Children’s Centre (3% of the total 5-11 population). The majority accessed services as part of a targeted response to the needs of the whole family.

Proposals to extend the age range of service will strengthen the transition from early years to primary school and will provide a continuum of support that will strengthen ‘readiness to learn’. Advance equality of opportunity Three integrated targeted support projects will run in two urban localities (Gloucester North and Gloucester South) and a rural locality (the Forest of Dean) during 2015. In addition an integrated programme of delivering services has been based at Hesters Way Children’s Centre in Cheltenham for three years. Children’s Centre staff, Midwifery staff and Health Visitors work together to deliver an alternative model of provision. Evaluation of these pilots will inform the development of a revised service for families with young children and new Children’s Centre, Health Visiting and Midwifery specifications. The revised specification will be clear about the levels of accessibility needed for the service.

Promote good relations Universal provision for all parents to be and parents to be through Midwifery Services and through the Healthy Child Programme delivered through the Health Visiting Service will ensure that vulnerable families are identified and offered appropriate targeted interventions. This will include teenage parents and parents to be.

Extending the age range of the service will build on strong local partnerships and integrated working approaches with schools. Disability (D) Eliminate discrimination Proposals for further development of Early Help Programmes will ensure children with disabilities are identified early in partnership with health and specialist targeted service providers. Children’s Centres, Health Professionals and SEND services work jointly to meet children’s needs locally.

Key elements of the Healthy Child Programme delivered by health visitors – initial ante-natal assessments, new baby reviews and child development checks at six to eight weeks, one year and two to two and a half years will ensure early identification of babies and children needing additional support. Health and education reviews of children aged between 24 and 30 months old will be integrated, bringing together Healthy Child Programme assessments by Health Visitors, and the Early Years Progress Check at age 2 years by early years practitioners, to provide parents with a more complete picture of their child. Advance equality of opportunity

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Children and/or parents with disabilities and special needs are a targeted user group and would continue to access revised targeted provision through the ‘local offer’ as part of the revised SEN Code of Practice. Promote good relations Planned consultation with service users about the proposed changes will include parents and children with identified SEN needs and or disabilities. Sex (S) Eliminate discrimination Significantly more females access Children’s Centre services than males including lone parents. The proposed development of alternative models of delivering provision will therefore impact across all communities/localities but will impact of significantly greater number of females. Advance equality of opportunity Social isolation is recorded as a significant issue across all localities. Proposed changes to the way services are delivered will give consideration on how to address this issue including the development of models of delivery in rural communities where public transport links are poor. Promote good relations Planned consultation with service users about the proposed changes will include females and male parents and carers, lone parents and fathers. Race Eliminate discrimination (including Targeted Support services actively collaborate with local partners across the reach area to develop local data Gypsy & and knowledge of the families within the area. Where access may be more difficult for parents from a minority Traveller) ethnic group because language and/or custom may present a barrier, steps are taken to recruit staff specifically (R) to support these groups. Advance equality of opportunity Some localities reflect a significant number of BME communities with Gloucester North having the greatest number specifically in the Bartongate Children’s Centre (Whaddon area of Gloucester City). Consultation will include users groups from these communities.

Promote good relations The objectives of the Targeted Support provision will reflect and reinforce Gloucestershire community cohesion principles and aim to strengthen relationships between people from different backgrounds within neighbourhoods. Under the new commissioning arrangements the Children’s Centres will continue to deliver integrated early childhood services aimed at reducing the inequalities between young children in their locality, and as such are the lynchpin of the anti poverty agenda. This will be set out in the revised service specifications and will be monitored as part of the contract monitoring arrangements.

Cheltenham Locality Due Regard Statement v2 –September 2015 23

Gender Eliminate discrimination reassignment Those registering at Children’s Centres are not asked about their sexual preference. The reorganisation of (GR) Children’s Centres would have no impact on service user on the basis of gender reassignment. There are no currently identified issues to accessing services.

Advance equality of opportunity

Promote good relations

Eliminate discrimination Marriage & Those registering at Children’s Centres are not asked about their marriage or civil partnership status. The civil reorganisation of Children’s Centres would have no impact on service user on the basis of marital status. partnership There are no currently identified issues to accessing services. (MCP) Advance equality of opportunity

Promote good relations

Pregnancy & Eliminate discrimination maternity (PM) The retendering of contracts for the revised targeted support may affect a small number of staff who are on maternity leave. Arrangements would be made for communicating with these staff members and they would be kept informed of the progress of the tender. Advance equality of opportunity

Promote good relations Revisions to the overarching specification with the NHS would create more joined up support for the most vulnerable and pregnant women and their partners include teenage parents. The revised specification would ensure that the service delivery continues to focus on early intervention, and engaging with all parents when they access ante-natal services.

Religion Eliminate discrimination

Cheltenham Locality Due Regard Statement v2 –September 2015 24 and/or Belief There will be no adverse or negative impact on any particular religious or belief group resulting from the (RAOB) proposed restructuring of the Targeted Support. Support for vulnerable children and young people will be provided according to their individual need/s and therefore there will be no adverse or negative impact on any particular religious or belief group or individual from the proposed restructuring of the Targeted Support.

Advance equality of opportunity

Promote good relations

Sexual Eliminate discrimination Orientation There will be no adverse or negative impact on lesbians, gay men or bisexual people resulting from the proposed (SO) restructuring of the Targeted Support. Support for vulnerable children and young people will be provided according to their individual need/s and therefore there will be no adverse or negative impact on any particular individual or group who identifies with a different sexual orientation from the proposed restructuring of the Targeted Support.

Advance equality of opportunity

Promote good relations

Strengthening actions: Planning for further improvements

Action Plan

Action Who is accountable Time frame The development of Due Regard Ruth Lewis/Matthew Norman By October 2015 Statements for each locality for phase 2 of

Cheltenham Locality Due Regard Statement v2 –September 2015 25 the consultation. Add workforce data for staff who may be Ruth Lewis/Matthew Norman By October 2015 included if a 0-11 is adopted. Additional Workforce data on Stroud locality Nina Verle By April 2015 to be added. Add information on families accessing Ruth Lewis/Matthew Norman By January 2016 services through targeted support teams and the Families First programme during 2015/2016. Add locality budgets for Families First and Ruth Lewis By February 2016 Public Health

Monitoring and Review

Please indicate what processes/actions will be put in place to keep this ‘activity’ under review. For example will progress be monitored/reported to a board, scrutiny committee, project board etc.

Reporting as part Vulnerable Children’s Board and through the Commissioning Board

Sign off and Scrutiny

By signing this statement off as complete you are confirming that ‘you’ have examined sufficient information across all the protected groups and used that information to show due regard to the three aims of the general duty. This has informed the development of the activity.

Senior level sign off: Date: 7 December 2015

Cheltenham Locality Due Regard Statement v2 –September 2015 26

I am in agreement that sufficient information and analysis has been used to inform the development of this ‘activity’ and that any proposed improvement actions are appropriate and I confirm that I as the decision maker have been able to show due regard to the needs set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

Name of relevant Portfolio Holder/Cabinet Member: Cllr Paul McLain

Signed by Portfolio Holder/Cabinet Member: Date: 7 December 2015

Publication

If this statement accompanies cabinet paper it will be published as part of the cabinet report publication process. Statements accompanying cabinet reports are also published on our website. If this statement is not to be submitted with a cabinet paper please maintain a copy for your own records that can be retrieved for internal review and also in case of future challenge.

Cheltenham Locality Due Regard Statement v2 –September 2015