Agenda item

Report attached.

The Committee received a detailed update on the Children’s and Young People Plan 2011-2014. The paper was presented as an overview of the final year of the current plan and a new plan would be formulated for a further three years from 2014.

Partner agencies, including those from the Police, Health, Education and voluntary sectors had collaborated well to deliver against the shared priorities.

It was noted that progress had been made in the six key priority areas which were:

(i)        Ensuring children and young people are protected from abuse and neglect

A number of processes were in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children and young people which included strengthening multi-agency working practices, improved participation of families and professionals utilising the right tools and procedures for the specific needs of the child.

(ii)       Increase breastfeeding

Havering’s initiation and continuation rates remained below London and national averages although they were now in line with statistical neighbours.  At the last 6-8 week check, continuation rates had increased from 39% to 43 %. It was hoped that the initiatives introduced would result in an increase to 47% which was the national average.

(iii)      Reduce child poverty

Nearly one in five Havering children under 16 years of age lived in poverty which was lower than many London Boroughs but higher than the Council’s statistical neighbours.  Child poverty has fallen in the last year however this was due to the decrease in median wage. A range of activity was underway in collaboration with partners to address the causes of poverty which included:

a)    developing a network of integrated services for families focusing on Foundation Years

b)    reducing barriers to employment

c)    improving financial wellbeing

d)    addressing health inequalities

(iv)      Reduce teenage conceptions and termination rates

Before the introduction of the current prevention strategy in 2010, Havering’s local conception figures were worryingly high with 190 conceptions in 2009.  In 2011, this had fallen to 131 conceptions which were below the national and regional rates.  This was due to the effectiveness of the co-ordinated partnership working to achieve this result.  Initiatives that remained in place were access to contraceptive and sexual health services including the Condom Card, targeted work with vulnerable groups and workforce development.

(v)       Support complex families

Havering would be addressing this complex area by identifying high risk families of which there were 166 in Havering and by the redesign of existing services. These measures combined with the improved cooperation and collaboration with partners such as Action for Children, CAMHS and Job Centre Plus would ensure that the needs of the family were met as a whole rather than as individual members. It was noted that the Department for Communities and Local Government had visited Havering in January 2013 and were delighted with the progress made.

(vi)      Improve access to high quality therapies

Access to effective therapies had been a concern for all and the activity for this priority was to re-design services, improve commissioning and collaboration with partners as well as ensuring early intervention to enable maximum independence.

The Committee was advised on the recent work to redesign the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) based on a clear understanding of local needs and customer requirements so that the service was brought closer to children.  CAMHS were planning to be part of an Early Help scheme as well as introducing a triage system to process clients more speedily and to prevent inappropriate referrals. 

The Committee noted the report and chose to select a number of issues arising as future agenda items at the November meeting. These items included access to therapies including speech and learning, closure of children’s centres and early intervention and support for complex families.