Agenda item

The Board received a report from the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise, on the performance of Children’s Centres, particularly with regard to the reach and engagement of the most vulnerable families.

Members were reminded that the 8 children’s centres in Halton were managed in groups of two, with one principal manager and one team of staff working across each pair of centres.  Each group of two Centres offered a full spectrum of services across a defined reach area, primarily targeting services at children under 5 and their families, but also offered some services to children up to 11 years old. 

It was noted that the core purpose of Sure Start Children’s Centres was to improve outcomes for young children and their families, with a particular focus on those in greatest need.  They worked to make sure all children were properly prepared for school, regardless of background or family circumstances.  They also offered support to parents and parents-to-be with parenting and readiness for work.  The Children’s Centres acted as hubs within the communities and provided delivery bases for partner agency services, such as health visitors and midwives.  They were also a key element in the early identification of children and families who needed additional help and support.

The report discussed the key areas of performance for Children’s Centres and how they were structured and managed.  Information was also provided on attendance figures and the categories of attendees since 2011/12.

Future challenges of the Children’s Centres was also discussed and from Members discussions the following comments were made:-

Can you explain why the report states that it wasn’t appropriate or possible for those on child protection plans or who had a Child in Need Plan to engage with facilities at Children’s Centres? This is more about those families not being able to access the specialist services they most needed at a Children’s Centre – it was not to say that a Centre could not provide them with their services or to discourage attendance. Very often, early intervention teams carried out home visits.

If Children’s Centres did not engage with children until age 2 or 3, how can you provide the help they may need and which they may have ‘missed’ at a very early age? How successful are we at making contact with those families that were hard to reach? There were a number of professionals that could help – for example, we were working closely with midwives and health visitors, who encouraged families to use facilities. They were often seen as non-threatening (as opposed to a Social Worker). Also the Family Nurse Partnership targeted those first time mothers under age 19.

Two issues with school age children were regularly mentioned by teaching staff – a child’s speech and language abilities and their ability to concentrate in class. How could this be improved upon? The speech and language service was currently out for re-commissioning and was a key priority in the Directorate Plan. This could also be a social issue rather than an issue with speech and language and was closely linked with adult learning skills. Children’s Centres had a big part to play in a child’s stimulation and development. 

RESOLVED:  That the Board notes the report.