Newsletters

The October 2006 edition outlines the strategy for integration and the process of joint commissioning, so there can be better co-ordination of services to children, young people and their families within one Children’s Services Authority (CSA). There is information about the implications of a common core of skills and knowledge for all staff, the need for them to share information and work within a Common Assessment Framework. Also included is important news of how County Durham will be a pilot area for the new Youth Opportunity Card.

You can also obtain a PDF version of the newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Integrated Services to Support Children and Families

We are in the final stages of drafting the Family Support Strategy: Integrated services to support children, young people and families. This builds on work with key stakeholders started at a meeting in February. There will be a broad consultation on these proposals during the Autumn.

The strategy sets out a framework for interagency working to deliver services in a joined up way that all families can expect, no matter where they live in County Durham, based on:

The Children’s National Service Framework.
The Extended Services agenda, including Sure Start Children’s Centres and Extended Services through schools.
The Respect Agenda for families.

In Durham, these important national strategies have been too strongly associated with single agencies, despite their calling for integrated approaches to delivery. The new strategy will require local services to be “reshaped” to deliver the services all families are entitled to.

Although the strategy will be clear about what must be delivered, it will not prescribe how integrated support to children, young people and their families will be organised. This will be left to those responsible for local service delivery, because we believe that they know best what works in their area. Parents and young people will be fully involved in the development of services designed to help them.

This will involve the engagement of professionals in schools, health, education, social care, Connexions, Youth Engagement as well as voluntary and community sector partners.

Parents should expect support when they need it, whether it be in the form of information and guidance or intensive support. It is our intention to make the best use of the extensive expertise we already have in our services, by asking all professionals to focus on a common purpose.

We also recognise that asking people in all agencies to work differently will require support and we are considering how this can best be provided. The success of the strategy will depend on the engagement and commitment of staff in all agencies. Working together, we know we can improve outcomes for all children, young people and their families.

Joint Commissioning of Services to Children

At present, all Durham agencies make their own assessment of need for their services and allocate resources from their own budgets accordingly. Although this may produce some very effective single agency services, over time, we believe this has led to an overlap in some services and gaps in others.

As a Children’s Services Authority, we will be establishing joint commissioning arrangements for all services to children and their families. This will mean that together we will identify need, assess the effectiveness of current services and then make plans to improve services to achieve better outcomes for children and their families. Through the commissioning framework below we will deliver better coordination and integration of services, more focus on family support, earlier intervention (and other strategic priorities) and clear accountability for outcomes.

You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website.

Joint Commissioning of Service to Children.pdf
(Filesize 14kb, Number of pages: 1)

However, it is not just what we commission that matters, but how we commission. We must be prepared to change, be open, transparent, inclusive and accountable in our processes and offer a “level playing field” to all providers, including those in the voluntary and community sector. Most of all, we must keep outcomes for children and their families at the heart of what we do.

In the future, the Children’s Executive Board will be responsible for all strategic level commissioning and for commissioning county-wide specialist services. The proposed Local Children’s Boards will be responsible for local commissioning of universal and targeted services.

There will be a wide consultation on proposals for joint commissioning in the coming months, so you will have a chance to consider how proposals may affect you and how they can help improve outcomes.

Workforce Development

Delivering integrated services for children, young people and their families, requires a workforce with an integrated qualifications framework. Staff need training in a common core of skills and knowledge as a way of sharing common goals, mutual trust and respect. A strategic multi-agency group, chaired by Janice Bray, supported by a DCC sub - group chaired by Amanda Johnson, is considering the implementation of the Every Child Matters (ECM) workforce development strategy, specifically for staff working in Local Authority Children and Young People’s Services. Workforce development must be closely linked to the Commissioning Strategy to ensure we can deliver the range of services that are commissioned.

We are in the process of identifying the number of staff in all the agencies employed in work with children, young people and their families. We have also attempted to gain information about numbers and types of jobs, minimum qualifications, gender, age and turnover, to assist in forward planning.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) covers the children’s workforce in England. We are using the CWDC checklist and Common Core specification for our strategy. These materials can be found at

Our key priorities are implementing the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge and ensuring staff have the knowledge, skills and competence as well as confidence in implementing the Common Assessment Framework and the link to the role of the Lead Professional.

We are aiming to have a strategy for consideration by the shadow Children’s Executive Board in early 2007, and, presuming overall approval, expect main implementation by services, and partner organisations from April 2007. This long term task will need to reflect other government strategies, e.g. 10 Year Childcare strategy, as well as building on the successful workforce developments that are in place. Further local information will be placed on the ECM website as it emerges.

Pilot of Youth Opportunity Card (YOC)

Taking part in constructive activities in clubs, groups, classes or volunteering during the teenage years has a positive impact on self-esteem, can increase educational attainment, reduce the likelihood of depression, involvement in anti-social behaviour and crime. Around 25% of young people do not participate in positive activities and many of them are from low income and disadvantaged families.

The Green Paper “Youth Matters”, proposed a national Youth Opportunity Card to increase the participation of young people in constructive activities. All those aged 13 to 19 (approx 47,000) in County Durham will be eligible for the Card. It will give discounts on constructive activities and parents / carers will be able to top up the card with money. Within the County Durham pilot, young people aged 13 to 17 (school years 9-12) who are eligible for Free School Meals or are Looked After will receive a monthly Government “Top Up” of �12.00 per month on their card.

A partnership working group, spanning E-government, Children and Young People’s Services, District Councils, Connexions, Youth Engagement Service, Cultural Services, Voluntary and Community Sector and Investing in Children has already been brought together.

Further developments are awaiting decisions to be made this month by Beverly Hughes the Minister of State. From October out Project Manager, Sandy Denney, will be working in Sheffield with the DfES YOC Solution Design team to develop the Business Solution and future operating model to ensure effective local implementation.

For Further information please contact Sandy Denney, Project Manager on 0191 3831777.

Information Sharing and Assessment

An Information and Assessment team is working on a number of information sharing processes to support the implementation of the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda. They include the Common Assessment Framework, Information Sharing Index, the Integrated Children’s System and the Children’s Services Directory.

The Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

The CAF is a Government initiative in response Lord Laming’s inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie.

In County Durham all agencies working with children will develop a “whole system” approach, so they will be working closely to meet the needs of children and their families. Staff in universal front line services, such as teachers, health visitors and others are often the first to see when problems begin. The CAF provides a clear system for early identification of children who may need additional services.

The first step will be a pre-assessment checklist which will identify whether a further, more detailed, assessment is needed. Nothing will be done without the agreement of the child (depending on age and understanding) and the family, unless there are child protection or clear “Children in Need” concerns.

The assessment focuses on children’s needs under the headings of:

Parenting capacity
Child development
Environmental and family factors
Attainment/education

When a Common Assessment has been completed, an action plan will be written up, clearly defining the role of each person involved with the family, and a Lead Professional will be identified with responsibility to review and co-ordinate the plan.

Durham County Council, along with partner agencies, is committed to developing the services which will meet the needs of children and their families.

For further information please contact Brenda Stokoe (Acting CAF Co-ordinator).

On-line Directory of Services

As part of the Every Child Matters: Change for Children agenda, an on-line directory has been developed. All those who work with young people and their families will find relevant information on organisations and services within County Durham.

You will find a wide range of topics - education, health, activities and much more. There is also the facility to submit new information about organisations or services in County Durham.

The directory is currently a work in progress so we encourage any comments about any aspect of it (e.g. appearance, content, suitability for young people).

If you would like information on your service to be included in the Directory then please contact the Information to the Public Team on 0191 3833321

PDF Version of the Newsletter