Agenda and minutes

We noted the appointment of County Councillor P. Jones as Chairman of the Children and Young People Select Committee.

We appointed County Councillor P. Farley as Vice-Chairman of the Children and Young People Select Committee.

County Councillor L. Guppy declared a personal, non-prejudicial interest pursuant to the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of minute 5 – Tackling Poverty in Monmouthshire and minute 6 – Scrutiny of Family Support Programmes.

The minutes of the Children and Young People Select Committee dated 17^th March 2016 were confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Adults Select Committee Members are invited to attend the Select Committee meeting to scrutinise this agenda item, as it affects both the Children and Young People Select Committee and the Adults Select Committee.

Context:

·         To provide an overview of Monmouthshire’s Tackling Poverty Programme of Intent.

·         To highlight the current activity taking place across Monmouthshire, which contributes towards tackling poverty.

·         To provide an overview of the current approach to tackling poverty, which is aligned to the Monmouthshire Single Integrated Plan. 

Key Issues:

Overview of Monmouthshire County Council’s Tackling Poverty Programme of Intent

Poverty results in poorer educational and health outcomes for individuals, reduces life-chances and prevents people from fulfilling their potential.  Poverty also imposes enormous costs on society and increased demands on public services. In Monmouthshire poverty is often hidden or in small pockets.  The focus is to identify those who are affected by poverty and provide a coherent range of services which support people to overcome barriers, allowing them to fully participate in society and engage in education, training and employment. 

It is intended for this to be done by focusing on the following:

§  Preventing Poverty by giving people the best start in life. Breaking the link between socio-economic disadvantage, educational under-achievement and impaired life chances.

§  Helping people to improve their skills, enhance the relevance of their qualifications and remove barriers to employment.

§  Mitigating the impact of poverty through the provision of a coherent programme of support targeted towards those who are disadvantaged by poverty

Monmouthshire’s Single Integrated Plan 2013-17 is viewed as the main vehicle for addressing inequality and tackling poverty. Working in partnership with the community, service providers and employers it is recognised that tackling poverty is a cross-cutting theme where cooperation is critical in the delivery of the Plan to ensure that: Nobody is left behind, People are Confident, Capable and Involved and Our County Thrives.

The Strategic Needs Assessment undertaken to inform the production of the Single Integrated Plan recognised the disparity in wealth across the county and in key factors such as life expectancy. There are clearly identifiable areas in our towns where people are disadvantaged and this creates a sense of ‘pockets of deprivation’.

The nature of poverty in Monmouthshire is also characterised by the rural make-up of the county.  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates it costs 10-20% more to achieve a basic adequate standard of living in rural than urban areas mostly due to increased transport and heating costs. 

To address poverty we are driven by an ambition to align national and local initiatives to deliver a coherent range of services which are well publicised and accessible. 

A number of PSB Partnerships have been identified delivering in the three key areas:

§  Preventing Poverty: Supported by Flying Start, Families First Programmes, TAF, Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership and Integrated Youth Offer.

§  Helping people into work: Supported 16+ Employability Group, Integrated Youth Offer, and Families First Programme.

§  Mitigating the Impact of Poverty: Supported by the Financial, Economic and Digital Inclusion Partnership, Flying Start, Families’ First Programme and Integrated Youth Offer.

Partnership Groups, Governance and Accountability

§  The Corporate Anti-Poverty Champion and the Elected Member Anti-Poverty Champion are the strategic leads for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Adults Select Committee Members are invited to attend the Select Committee meeting to scrutinise this agenda item, as it affects both the Children and Young People Select Committee and the Adults Select Committee.

Context:

·         To provide an overview of Families First provision in Monmouthshire and relevant performance outcomes.

·         To focus on partnership working to support families in poverty to address their needs.

·         Families First is one of the key Welsh Government anti-poverty programmes, linked closely to the Flying Start and Supporting People programmes.  Its focus is on early intervention and relies on effective partnership working to engage with families to prevent escalation into crisis or need for social services intervention.  In Monmouthshire, we have Team around the Family (TAF) and a range of commissioned projects which work together to provide an appropriate mix of provision to support families to address their needs.

·         Team around the Family (TAF) is a Wales wide approach delivered through Welsh Government’s Families First programme. TAF aims to support families early to identify needs and provide support to prevent escalation into crisis. TAF aims to support families in Monmouthshire to reduce the level of need they may be experiencing; this is done by tailoring support with a team of professionals who can provide services to support a family.  The TAF process enables families and professionals to work together to deliver services built around the needs of a family, and TAF aims to work with families to identify the right support from the right people at the right time. 

Families First Outcomes as set by WG for 2015/16:

·                People in low income families gain, and progress within employment.

·                Children, young people and families achieve their potential.

·                Children, young people and families are healthy and enjoy wellbeing.

·                Families are confident, nurturing, resilient and safe.

Families First projects contribute to Monmouthshire Single integrated Plan:

·                Theme 2: People are Confident, Capable and Involved.

·                Outcome 5: Families are Supported. 

·                Families First also contributes significantly to tackling poverty in Monmouthshire. 

Key Issues:

Overview of Families First Programmes

In December 2015 Welsh Government provided notification that the indicative budget for Families First funding in 2016-17 is £651,179, which is a £86,081 reduction from 2015-16.  This includes a ring-fenced sum of £50,937 for disability support.

In order to manage the reduction in budget a review of the Families First Programmes and the TAF model was undertaken in January 2016.  As a result of the review it was identified that there was a need to increase the number of TAF cases in Monmouthshire.  The new Social Services and Wellbeing Act could potentially increase in the number of ‘Children in Need’ which could be referred to Families First and TAF.  In this context, there was the challenge of managing the £86,081 reduction in Families First budget whilst finding additional savings to fund additional TAF worker resource.

Families First Projects and funding allocation are as follows:

Team Around The Family (TAF)                         2016-17 Funding: £138,390

With an increased TAF budget for 2016-17, there will be increased capacity within the current TAF team consisting of a TAF Co-ordinator and 3 x TAF Project Officers. To date TAF has relied on a ‘volunteer’ lead worker model to co-ordinate TAF  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

We received the Children and Young People Select Committee work programme.  In doing so, the following points were noted:

·         The Business Plan for the Education Achievement Service (EAS) does not require scrutiny but the annex should come before the Select Committee for scrutiny.

·         The Work Programme to be updated to meet with the Head Teachers of Monmouthshire’s four comprehensive schools.

·         The Select Committee should scrutinise schools’ policies as and when necessary.

·         To receive an update on JEG by the Cabinet Member every two months.

·         A special meeting of the Children and Young People Select Committee will be held on 15^th June 2016 at 2.00pm regarding Children’s Services Improvement Journey.

·         A joint meeting between the Children and Young People Select Committee and the Adults Select Committee will be arranged to scrutinise the Social Services Annual Report and the Safeguarding Report. A provisional date for this meeting was agreed to be held on 20^th June 2016 at 2.00pm.

·         A joint meeting between the Children and Young People Select Committee and the Economy and Development Select Committee will be held in July 2016.

The Chair thanked the Vice-Chair, the Select Committee and officers for their support in achieving the work that has been undertaken by the Select Committee in 2015/16.

We resolved to receive the Select Committee Work Programme and noted the additional information provided by the Scrutiny Manager.

We resolved to receive and note the Council and Cabinet Business Forward Plan.