Agenda item

The Associate Director, Children and Families, provided members with an update on the on-going progress of work undertaken as part of the Multi-Agency Strategy. The report provided a detailed overview of the key areas of development.

The Panel noted that the strategy now fully in place, covered provision for children from birth up to age 25, from universal to targeted provisions. Work had been undertaken jointly with parents, providers and commissioning.

Following the conclusion of the presentation, members discussed and raised the following points:

·  Members asked what was being done to inform parents that may not be aware of the information available on the Council’s website. It was noted that a soft and sensitive approach was being taken to launch the offer, also presented as self-serve. It was noted that all partners had been involved in the publicity to raise raising awareness of the parenting programme and would be rolled out from September 2021. 

·  In acknowledging the progress that had been made in targeting 211 families, Members asked about the number of families that were still requiring support. It was noted that the Troubled Families Programme was a national programme measured by the Government, and Slough had met its annual target of 211 families from April 2020 to March 2021 under the Strengthening FamiliesProgramme. There were currently 1600 children on the Early Help caseloads and just under 2,000 social care caseloads.

·  Members asked whether schools would be encouraged to identify children where parenting had been identified as an issue. It was explained the offer extended across the children’s services system in rolling out the parenting programme. There would be 6 levels of Trouble Families’ criteria and success would be measured from the outcomes of the suitable actions taken with participation over a period of time.

·  Members asked about the lessons that had been learnt from the key challenges that had been faced in successfully working with 877 families from April 2015 to March 2020 that could be applied to the current programme. It was reiterated that the Troubled Families was a national programme that was due to end in March 2021 but due to its success had been extended to 2022, which indicated investing in results. The programme was referred to in Slough as Strength and Families and it was expected that Slough would reinvest into the programme utilising the resources that had been established from the Troubled FamiliesProgramme.

Speaking under Rule 30, Councillor Strutton commented on a number of issues including the question of what was being done to maintain the progress of families that had been worked with successfully with under the Troubled Families Programme. It was explained that this was done through sustained participation and confirmed that there had been no duplication in the 877 families that had been worked with to date. It was also clarified that the Early Help caseloads (1600) were separate from the Children’s Services Trust caseloads. Early Help used voluntary (for ages 1 & 2 children) and statutory (for children ages 3 & 4). Measures were in place to support families where repeat or unresolved issues had been identified in addition to work being undertaken through pathways via children’s social care to activate statutory intervention.

Resolved – That the Parenting in Slough –Multi-Agency Strategy be noted.