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Newsletters Edition 7Welcome to edition 7 of the Every Child Matters in County Durham Newsletter, the theme for this edition is 'Change is here!' You can also obtain a PDF version of the newsletter at the bottom of this page. In this edition:
Change is here!Consultation on the Change for Children Agenda in DurhamDurham County Council DCC has lead responsibility to bring together partners to implement this agenda set by the Children Act 2004. It is consulting until 5th September with all partners and organisations on proposals for a Children’s Services Authority.The Every Child Matters Implementation Team has drafted a functional model to improve services for children, young people and their families, proposing a Children’s Executive Board headed by a Director for Children’s Services, accountable to DCC for the strategic development, planning and commissioning, joint funding, resourcing and performance management. Local Children’s Boards based on PCT and CDRP boundaries would be responsible for co-ordinated and integrated service provision while supporting the strategic direction of the Children’s Executive Board. Partners under the Children Act 2004 are invited to consider the format, responsibilities and membership of proposed Local Children’s Boards and whether they and the Children’s Executive Board should become Trusts or Partnerships.  File Size: 9kb No of Pages: 1 Please note that you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website in order to view this document. The Adobe Access plug-in also enables vision impaired users to read Adobe PDF documents. Working towards better outcomes for children and their families depends on the co-ordination and integration of universal services with targeted and more specialised help, and on bringing services together around the needs of the child and family. Within Durham we are working towards the establishment of a Trust/partnership by 2008. The following processes are central to the design principles of the model:
The model tries to recognise the varied interests of all partners, although representation and “share of voice” may be a particular issue when considering effective representation within the Children’s Executive Board. Partners are invited to respond the following questions or raise any other issues:
The full consultation document can be accessed at: www.everychildmattersincountydurham.org Please send your responses to Anita Spence by September 5th. Workforce Strategy ConsultationThe DfES issued a consultation document on the Workforce Strategy for Children and Young People’s services in April 2005. It draws together existing strategies with new developments, leading to the creation of a children’s workforce suitably qualified and competent to deliver the 5 outcomes of Every Child Matters.Significant additional funds to support implementation will be routed through the newly formed Children’s Workforce Development Council, one of 5 federated councils that form the new Sector Skills Council for Social Care. All workers delivering services to children, young people aged 0-19 and their families, whether in statutory, voluntary, or private sectors [including self employed] will be affected. Central to the proposals are:
The Workforce Strategy is crucial to the development of new and improved services for children and young people. It is directly linked to all of the other work streams in County Durham, as well as the strategic commissioning of services and performance management. We can learn from existing practice such as Sure Start and Connexions, where multi-agency working co-ordinated by a lead professional has been tested. The consultation lasts until 22nd July 2005. Relevant documents can be accessed at www.everychildmattersincountydurham.org. A strategic work stream group will take forward a local Workforce Strategy, which must be completed by March 2006. Now that the national consultation has been issued, we will finalise the Terms of Reference and devise a work plan for the group. This will be led by Janice Bray, Executive Director of Connexions County Durham and a member of the ECM Implementation group. The articles which follow show how workforce reform is already underway in many of our organisations. Service Redesign: Health Visiting and School NursingA protocol for the ‘Promotion of child and Family Health’ has been produced by the 6 PCTs of County Durham and Darlington to provide a standardised approach for the assessment of child and family health needs.It incorporates the recommendations of the 4th Hall Report and the NSF for Children, reinforcing the shift away from routine developmental screening, placing greater emphasis on targeted interventions, health promotion and preventative health care. Core Health Visiting and School Nursing services will be available to all families with additional support given where greater need is identified. Need is determined individually, on an ongoing basis, in partnership with families using the principles set out in the Framework for Assessment (DOH 2000). The protocol supports the active involvement of families in the identification and assessment of their health needs and measures needed to provide support. The targeted interventions aim to address the public health agenda by reducing inequalities in health. Contact: Angela Davidson, Senior Nurse, Clinical Lead, Health Visiting, Sedgefield 01740 626644 Service Redesign: EducationDurham LEA actively supports schools to implement workforce reform. They have all received the three day training course including ‘implementation of the 23 tasks’, providing cover support, increasing time for the management and leadership team, work-life balance for teachers, the onset of planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA) that reduces teaching time by ten per cent from 1st September 2005.The renamed Teacher Development Agency now facilitates professional development for whole school staff. The LEA has been supporting the professional development of school support staff of all levels including the academic route available to them. LEA links with the Durham Learning and Skills Council and external consultants to provide National Vocational Qualifications for school staff at no cost to the individual or the school. Education in the Community has provided school support staff with training in literacy and numeracy. Links with Granada Learning and Sunderland University provide opportunities for teaching assistants to gain the Higher Level Teaching Assistant status. The LEA has the highest number of applicants in North East England and well in excess of most other LEAs. Durham LEA was one of six finalists in the Most Popular Graduate Recruiter – Teaching at the inaugural National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2005 in London. It has been acknowledged by the profession as one of the most effective recruiters into teaching in the country. The DfES has invited Durham LEA to take part in the Extended Schools Remodelling Programme. By March 2006, it expects schools to be introducing or further advancing their core extended service provision and developing wrap-around childcare from 8am until 6pm, all year round. The LEA has formed a Strategy Group under the leadership of Rose Envy to provide advice, support and training. The school will become the central focus of multi-agency work where there will be a range of personnel working to address the needs and care of children. Once the impact of this has become clearer, further training, with a multi-agency focus will be put in place. Contact Peter Harrison LEA Recruitment and Retention Strategy Manager on tel: 0191 383 4123 or Margaret Tindale on tel: 0192 3833424. Service Redesign: Improving Outcomes for Care Leavers in DurhamWhere we wereBefore April 2004 services for young people leaving care in County Durham were provided by a number of voluntary organisations. This led to inequalities in provision and a piecemeal service. What we didDiscussion with care leavers informed us what young people thought was wrong with the previous services and about integration of services. They want:
How it worksThe multi-agency Young People’s Service Strategy involves Social Care & Health, Centrepoint, Connexions, Welfare Rights and Supporting People, plus representatives from Fostering, Looked After Social Work Teams, Looked After Nurses, and the LEA Access Service. The Young People’s Reference Group provides direct feedback on the effectiveness of the Young People’s Service Strategy, to make sure that we are achieving our aims.The Young People’s Service Strategy is the “Achieving Economic Wellbeing” Workstream of Durham’s Multi-Agency Looked After Partnership (MALAP), developed from an extensive ‘Healthy Care Audit’. OutcomesYoung people tell us that the service is working and our performance against national indicators has improved.What we have learned.
Partnership Development Officer: moving to the next phaseA review of Eva Alexandratou’s role as Partnership Development Officer has signalled the need for the post to focus on some new areas.In addition to continuing to provide support to Local Children’s Planning groups, Communities of Learning, the CYPSP, and the ECM workstreams, new responsibilities have been identified. Voluntary and Community Sector InvolvementEngagement of the voluntary and community sectors is a challenge we all wish to meet. Eva will concentrate on working with the sector to ensure they are able to make a full contribution to all developments. Voluntary sector partners have welcomed this development, as reflecting the commitment and investment of partners.A series of workshop events have been arranged for voluntary sector partners:
For details and further information, contact Anita Spence on 0191 383 3655, or email: eva.alexandratou@connexions-durham.gov.uk PDF Version of the Newsletter
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