Agenda item

Report by the Director of Children’s Services

16.1     The report provided an opportunity for the Committee to review the outcomes of the Thrive programme.  The Director of Children’s Services commended the report to the Committee and highlighted the fact that the programme had been awarded the Local Government Chronicle’s ‘Children’s Services of the Year’ and ‘Business Transformation’ awards for 2015.

16.2   The Committee welcomed the report.  A debate then ensued with the Committee raising a number of issues which are summarized below, together with responses from the relevant officers present:

• Activities covered by the Thrive Programme.   The Committee asked for reassurance that the positive data included in the report did not hide activities which the department were no longer performing.  In response to these questions, Liz Rugg agreed that the Department needs to be careful that top line indicators don’t mask activities that are no longer being engaged in.    However, the Committee’s attention was drawn to the target ‘more children receiving targeted support from early help’.      A key goal of the THRIVE programme was to ensure that children and families were responded to as promptly as possible by the right people.   The Thrive programme therefore involved ‘recalibrating the system’ so that the right people were able confidently to deal with queries or to ensure they were passed on to appropriate colleagues to respond to.    A range of measures have been put in place to assist with this.  For example, the Department have established with partners a multi agency screening hub, including  the Police, which deal with high level cases where there is a safeguarding concern.    Alison Jeffery, Assistant Director also added that at the start of the Thrive Programme the Department undertook an analysis of where its resources were being directed.  The analysis revealed resources could be more effectively re-directed to families at Level 3 on the Continuum of Need (which ranges from Level 1 where children’s needs are met by universal services  to Level 4 where children have acute needs and families need a possible multi agency response and specialist intervention).    Resources were therefore accordingly re-allocated.   Given this and a range of other measures undertaken as part of Thrive, the Department is confident it is doing all it can in the current financial circumstances to focus resources where they are most needed. 
• Sustainability of the Thrive Legacy.   The Committee also questioned whether the proposed level of savings required in the coming years would have a negative impact on the legacy of the Thrive programme and whether without further funding, the benefits of the programme would be lost or at least reduced.     In response to this question the Committee were informed that given the reduced resources available to ESCC, a key aim of the Thrive programme was to develop a sustainable framework for coping with future demand.  The Department felt Thrive had embedded within its teams a whole range of new ways of working which were efficient, effective and targeted.  
• Initial Contact and Referrals.  The Committee noted that Table 1 of the Finance and Performance Review document indicated a negative impact for initial contacts and therefore asked whether this is something the Department was concerned about.    In response the Committee were informed that the impact of change column was shown as negative as rates have gone up, although the Department did not necessarily view this as a problem.  The key factor for the Department here being to ensure that the work coming in is dealt with at the right level.  So, for example, the Department are working to build up the early help hub because contacts are still being received at a level higher than they should be. 
• Clarification on cost.    The Committee asked why agency fostering costs in East Sussex County Council are higher than average.   In response it was explained that the figures for agency foster costs were based on a benchmark that pools data from 71 authorities.   Included with this pool is data taken from authorities in parts of the country where costs are on average lower.   If compared to near neighbours East Sussex County Council costs are lower. 
•  Partnership working.   In response to a query about the extent of liaising with partner organisations, Stuart Gallimore assured the Committee the Department is working together with relevant organisation to ensure the impact of savings on children and young people is minimized.

16.3     Councillor Tidy, Lead Member for Children and Families, commended the Thrive programme to the Committee and said that the Department are now in a much stronger position to deal with the challenges ahead and that it is her desire to help ensure the positive benefits of the programme are maintained.

16.4     RESOLVED: -             It was resolved to note the report.