Issue - meetings

Background:

The Cabinet accepted this report as urgent to enable consideration of the outcome of consultation, the comments of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the business case prior to making a final decision on the way forward at the earliest possible time in the light of the budget agreed by Full Council on 23 February 2017.

This report provided details of the outcome of the Transformation of Early Help Services’ public consultation carried out between 31 May and 12 July 2017.  It also provided an overview of the business case, which analysed all the counter proposals together with the comments of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The report stated that the consultation captured a broad range of views and included ten public consultation meetings, five meetings with professional representatives from education and health, a direct e-mail address for comments, 19 meetings at existing centres with staff and users and an online and paper based survey. The consultation process was summarised in paragraph 3 of the report and the outcome of consultation was set out in Appendix 2 to the report. In addition, a petition was submitted to Full Council, details of which were set out in paragraph 3.10 of the report. The Lead Petitioner addressed the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, in accordance with the Petition Scheme, details of which were set out in paragraph 6 of the report.

The Business Case examined each option (A-G) and recommended that Option G (Children and Family Hub and Children and Family Wellbeing Centres)be implemented, as detailed in section 5 of the report.

A Diversity Impact Assessment had been undertaken on the proposals, as set out in Appendix 3 to the report.

The Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services asked for his thanks to the officers who had organised the consultation exercise and analysis of outcomes to be placed on record.

Reasons:

The agreed option will allow Medway Council to continue to deliver flexible and effective Early Help services within a significantly diminished revenue budget.  Creation of four new Family Hubs will allow the extension of services to a wider range of families.  The proposed model delivers the most effective and far-reaching  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4

Background:

The report provided details of transformation plans for Early Help services, including Children’s Centres, through the establishment of integrated hub buildings in each of the existing four Children’s Services areas to target resources and improve the impact of support for children and families.

The report provided details of three options for consideration, with Option C stated as the preferred option, details of which were set out in section 4 of the report. Cabinet Members instructed officers to ensure that the consultation materials should communicate the reasons for the proposed changes and prospective benefits in an accessible way with a view to maximizing constructive engagement in the process by a wide range of stakeholders. In particular, the Cabinet stated its intention to carefully review the locations and synergies of the proposed four integrated hubs in the light of feedback from consultation.

It was noted that a Diversity Impact Assessment would accompany the report on the outcomes of the consultation for Cabinet on 8 August 2017. It was also noted that the outcomes of consultation would be reported to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 1 August 2017.

Reasons:

Compliance with statutory duties, whilst setting a balanced budget with very reduced resources requires consideration of how to reorganise services within available means.