Agenda item

Report of Director of Community and Environment

Purpose of report

To consider the activity and achievements of the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme.To consider a different approach to managing the partnership activity and its areas of focus from this year.

Recommendations

The meeting is recommended to:

 1.1        Note both the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme progress made in 2014/15 and the areas requiring continuous improvement.

1.2         Support the change in approach to partnership activity.

1.3         Support the new priorities from 2015/16.

1.4         Receive a further detailed report on the changes to the County Council’s Children’s Early Intervention Services to enable the Council to contribute to the formal consultation process. 

Resolved

(1)          That the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme progress made in 2014/15 and the areas requiring continuous improvement be noted.

(2)          That the change in approach to partnership activity be supported.

(3)          That the new priorities from 2015/16 be supported.

(4)          That a further detailed report on the changes to the County Council’s Children’s Early Intervention Services to enable the Council to contribute to the formal consultation process be received. 

The Director of Community and Environment submitted a report to consider the activity and achievements of the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme during 2014/15 and to consider a different approach to managing the partnership activity and its areas of focus from this year.

In introducing the report, the Lead Member for Banbury Futures reported that the programme had continued to meet its objectives and address the local challenges during 2014/15 and seen a greater push on engagement with the voluntary and community sector in Banbury with a range of support initiatives.

The lessons that had been learned during the past six years of the Programme could be exported to other areas in the district if there were similar issues.

The Lead Member for Banbury Futures explained that the recently obtained 2011 census information had identified changes in the make-up of the ward population which needed to be considered in the context that the whole public sector was still under fiscal pressure with on-going austerity measures and   welfare reform. The meeting was advised of the change in approach to partnership activity, whereby alongside the six themes, there would be focus on specific issues and best use of existing resources made. The priorities for 2015/16 were based on partnership activity concentrating on child poverty, health inequalities, employability and supporting the most vulnerable.

Resolved

(1)          That the Brighter Futures in Banbury Programme progress made in 2014/15 and the areas requiring continuous improvement be noted.

(2)          That the change in approach to partnership activity be supported.

(3)          That the new priorities from 2015/16 be supported.

(4)          That a further detailed report on the changes to the County Council’s Children’s Early Intervention Services to enable the Council to contribute to the formal consultation process be received. 

Reasons

The Brighter Futures partnership has for several years continued to work effectively in focussing the best use of resources on those most in need. The work of the six themes is proving valuable but continuous improvement remains to be achieved as there are still specific areas of concern which are well below comparative averages.

The context in which the partnership is operating is changing in relation to population, funding and organisational change. Organisational and service change in a partnership context is particularly challenging. This combined with future significant budget and service cuts means that it is even more important for the Council to lead and concentrate partnership resources to best effect.

The Programme to date has been progressed based on a number of theme lead meetings for coordination purposes and occasional wider Steering Group meetings to consider the overall Programme and its direction. This has required support from CDC to administer and is dependent on the availability of key representatives in different organisations being able to attend. This has proven to be challenging on occasions due to the additional pressures caused by regular changes in partnership organisations.

The recently obtained 2011 census information has identified changes in the make-up of the ward population in relation to a big increase in private rented households, an increase in single adults, lone parents and HMOs, increasing ethnic diversity, and specific issues such as a lack of qualifications of lone parents. Of particular concern is the comparatively high level of child poverty in our wards.

It is important to periodically review the Programme and in light of the scale and nature of the challenges described above, now is an appropriate time. When doing so, there is a need to take account of current strengths and to consider what other partnership opportunities there are along with specific issues which are relevant to the people of the wards being supported. This is why the proposed wider partnership activity concentrating on child poverty, health inequalities, employability and supporting the most vulnerable are all inter related, relevant to the Brighter Future’s Programme’s objectives and capture other partnership opportunities which are in place.

Alternative options

Given the very wide ranging nature of the Brighter Futures Programme, there can be many different options and permutations of key priorities, areas of focus and mechanisms to progress. Therefore, no specific alternative options are identified.