Agenda item

Report of the Statutory Scrutiny Officer

Councillor Cheryl Barnard, Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, Sarah Nardone, Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services and Education, Nick Lee, Director of Education and Ailsa Barr, Director for Children’s Integrated Services were present at the meeting to discuss the Children’s Services and Education budget proposals for 2025/26. The following information was highlighted:

a)  There are no proposals from directly within Children’s Integrated Services that are subject to public consultation and savings are being created through efficiencies in internal processes and transformation work. There are no proposed cuts to services.

b)  Children’s Integrated Services have been working on Transformation projects for some time and have delivered considerable savings from this work which have also resulted in better outcomes for children.

c)  £2million will be produced in savings from a suite of efficiencies, and as an extension to the existing transformation work focusing on offering a system of family help with support from a range of partners aiming to reduce demand on statutory services. Work has been underway to look at how best to engage with families earlier with a focus on keeping children with families where it is safe to do so.

d)  There are six cross cutting proposals that are currently out for public consultation, and they focus on creating a leaner, more efficient Council that works smarter for better outcomes for people. This will result in some services being delivered in a different way to now. One example of this is the use of AI to make and record notes on electronic systems reducing time pressure on social workers.

e)  Part of the next steps in the transformation work will be to consider the structure of the directorate and ensure consistency in supervision and management levels across the service.

During discussion the following questions were asked, and additional information was given:

f)  Committee Members expressed frustration that they had been raising concerns around cuts to front line services, in particular early intervention services as false savings for a number of years. The approach going forward will be different to that taken previously with a focus on working and transforming as one Council with a focus on robust decision making and positive outcomes for people. A new model for supporting families and approach to support for different age groups of children and young people is being developed for consultation.

g)  Committee Members asked if it was possible to have more detail on the planned efficiencies that would amount to £2million. Children’s Integrated Services have had a really successful period of transformation. In terms of the savings there will be a raft of measures designed to manage demand on services, ensuring that the right children are in the system and are receiving appropriate level of intervention in terms of need. The challenge is that the early help offer is not as robust as it once used to be. The Service is moving to a Family help model, bringing it in line with Government reforms which will be challenging, but will ensure that support is available to families earlier. This will reduce the need for more intensive intervention later down the line and will help children and their families stay together longer. This work will ensure that the Council is not intervening at the wrong level and will help to manage demand. 

h)  Committee Members wanted to know how focusing on family support would be resourced with only a small number of family hub centres across the City. In the past early help services have been fragmented and it wasn’t always clear what partner organisations were offering. Work has been underway to draw together the offer and the family hub model has acted as a focus point. The Hub model ensures that teams work closely together with one lead person coordinating service involvement when it is most needed and appropriate. This will help to meet needs of the child in a better more joined up way. Work is also underway to ensure that there are appropriate offers for all age ranges in particular young adolescents separate from the criminal justice element of provision.

i)  The Committee reflected that it had previously made a number of recommendations in respect of investment in early intervention services as a way of reducing long term demand. Members welcomed the transformational proposals and focus on preventative services, however questioned why its previous recommendations had not been given due consideration. It was explained that Children’s Integrated Services have been operating in a complex and challenging financial landscape for a number of years, and that recommendations have been given consideration where appropriate, but it can be challenging to align those with the need to make significant savings as per what was directed, and larger scale decision making.

j)  Committee Members highlighted that Nottingham City has seen the third largest cuts to early intervention services, and a significant increase in spend on later intervention services. Members wanted to know whether a needs assessment had been carried out that linked need to local areas, rather than a generic city wide needs assessment. Need has been assessed holistically across a number of metrics, and mapping of what support is available where is taking place. This work will help to establish what services are needed to enhance the early intervention work. 

k)  Committee Members asked how this mapping work sat alongside the assessment of Council owned assets with members asking why there were empty buildings that external providers could use to deliver much needed services. It is important the Council balances service provision with asset management, and specific buildings are individual elements in a larger landscape looking at service provision across the city and in the community. Additional work is needed to ensure the mapping work is holistic in its approach. There have been instances where work has been done with external providers to develop consortiums to take over Council assets but these are not always successful.

l)  The Committee questioned whether the reduction in numbers of children in care had been maintained. The number of children in council care and with protection plans has remained lower than previous and in line with predictions. The number of adolescents requiring care or intervention has been a stubborn challenge for the Authority and so a different approach to intervention with these families is needed. Where children and young people can remain with their families and in their communities most importantly it leads to better outcomes for them, it also reduces costs to the Council.

m)  Committee Members asked what was being done to address the challenge around adolescent numbers.  Work is being done around the transition from Primary School to Secondary School as this is pivotal time for many young people. There is work to do to further engage with schools around preventing breakdown of education relationships putting young people at risk of exploitation, and work to do to prevent breakdown of care placements too. This is an area of developing work.

The Chair thanked the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, the Interim Corporate Director for Children’s Services and Education, the Director of Education, and the Director for Children’s Integrated Services for attending the meeting and for answering the questions put to them.

Resolved:

1)  That information is provided which outlines what proportion of the budget is currently spent on early help services and prevention, and then what the proportion is proposed to be following the implementation of the 2025/26 budget.

2)  That following on from concerns raised at the meeting about the effectiveness of the Committee’s recommendations, work is done to ensure that processes are in place that allow recommendations to be given adequate consideration by Executive Members.

3)  That a more detailed report be provided to the Committee on the service impacts of the proposed 2025/26 budget.