Children and Families National Leadership Group - 4 November 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Laura Caven, CoSLA 
• Fiona Whitelock, CoSLA 
• Tracy Davis, Child Health Commissioners 
• Sheena Devlin, ADES
• Mike Burns, Social Work Scotland
• Alison Gordon, Social Work Scotland
• Chirstopher Lumb, Care Inspectorate 
• Neil Hunter, Scottish Children's Reporter Administration 
• Colin Moffat, Police Scotland
• Mhairi Grant, Child Protection Committees Scotland
• Jude Turbyne, Children in Scotland
• Mary Glasgow, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland
• Kathy Henwood, Children's Services Planning Strategic Leads Network 
• Claire Burns, CELCIS 
• Jane Scott, CELCIS 
• Fraser McKinlay, The Promise
• Miriam McKenna, Improvement Services
• Gavin Henderson(Chair), Scottish Government 
• Sara Hampson, Scottish Government
• Mairi Macpherson, Scottish Government
• Suzanne Ferguson, Scottish Government
• Gordon Paterson, Scottish Government
• Peter Donachie, Scottish Government
• Emily Aitchison, Scottish Government

Items and actions

Welcome

Gavin Henderson chaired the meeting in the absence of Louise Long and Andrew Watson. Gavin introduced the main issues to be covered in the meeting which were:

• a further opportunity to consider how best to help take forward cash first/self-directed support initiatives following the positive discussion at the last meeting on 10 September
• the national statutory review of children’s services plans
• the wider programme for Government commitment on delivering more flexible, person-centred, whole family support

Gavin recorded the group’s thanks to Bryony Revell who has left Scottish Government now her secondment has come to an end.

Cash first initiatives/self-directed support initiatives 

Members made the following points in discussion:

• with the current funding constraints, there are tensions between allocating resources for cash first and other crisis response initiatives and longer term work on transformational change. To help address this, work should focus on how cash first and self-directed support can form part of wider transformational change work on shifting resources towards prevention. Members supported a more radical approach to prevention in future funding allocations
• the previous meeting discussed how multi-agency collaborations were enabling health visitors  to make emergency payments to families under section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. It would be useful to identify further examples of this type of collaboration across different sectors and workforces (e.g. education and housing as well as social work and health). Examples and options for including third sector partners should also be investigated. This will help to develop better understanding of how these flexibilities can be used as part of broader preventative pathways
• there are ongoing pressures on the resources made available in local areas through section 22 funding with inflationary and cost of living factors remaining acute. Options for providing further funding need to be considered including through disinvestment/investment work
• stronger, more cohesive links need to be made with work on tackling child poverty especially income maximisation initiatives.

Gavin Henderson thanked members for their comments and noted the opportunities for these to be pursued through work on the wider PfG commitment on whole family support.

National statutory review of children's services plans

Suzanne Ferguson gave an overview of the key findings from the recent statutory review of children’s services plans. The Scottish Government is required, on behalf of Ministers and in line with part 3 of the Children and Young People Scotland Act 2014, to review all children’s services plans and provide individual feedback to each area, as well as producing a national overview report every three years which summarises key themes. Plans are reviewed against the 15 criteria outlined in the statutory guidance. The national report which will be published in the next few weeks highlights areas of strength, development and examples of good practice.

Main areas of strength included:

• clear links and alignment with a range of other national and  local plans, reports and strategies
• a clear and shared vision across partners
• evidence of a range of local services with a focus on prevention and early intervention
• a clear strategy for whole family support
• consideration of children’s rights and participation and UNCRC

GIRFEC continued to underpin many of the plans although there was a slight decline from the previous review.

Areas for development were as follows:

• detail on budget and resourcing information, including workforce
• measurable and time-related aspects of the SMART criterion
• explicit links between findings from a joint strategic needs sssessment (JSNA) and the identification of strategic priorities
• reflection of the national performance framework (NPF)
• a clearly defined approach to monitoring and evaluating progress

In general both strengths and areas for development were the same as those identified in previous reviews.

Next steps in the review is engagement work on the findings with the children’s services planning strategic leads network and other fora to help support children’s services planning partnerships with their local approaches and next round of plans. At national level, the findings will inform the development of a range of policies including whole family support and early child development. They will also be part of the evidence base for revising the statutory guidance for children’s services planning prior to public consultation next Spring.

Members suggested that more decisive action is needed to address the areas for improvement given that the same issues have been raised in successive reviews. Plans for a learning session next month on joint strategic needs assessment and use of evidence to inform planning were welcomed. Further work should be undertaken on retaining and building skills and capacity across partners in children’s services planning. For example, good work is being undertaken through the supporting the third sector project but resource pressures on third sector organisations are continuing to increase. This is reducing the expertise, capacity and availability of third sector staff to participate in planning partnerships.

Programme for Government commitment on whole family support

Gavin Henderson invited members to provide ideas on how the leadership group could help work to introduce additional local flexibilities to reconfigure existing budgets and services in pursuit of a whole family approach. Points made were as follow:

• there are good examples of local areas joining up different funding streams (e.g. alcohol and drug support) to provide better co-ordinated and more integrated approaches to family support. A key question/challenge for the leadership group and associated groups is how this work can be promoted and supported more broadly
• better alignment of policy and funding is crucial. The emphasis should be on the totality of families’ needs, perspectives and experiences rather than those of individual policies. There continues to be policy siloes within Scottish Government in relation to family support and this has to be addressed
• there needs to be a more effective feedback loop between local approaches and national policies and priorities
• there also needs to be longer term financial planning backed by sustainable funding. The current lack of multi-year funding models creates significant workforce pressures: staff can only be employed on a temporary basis as funding permits
• the case for developing a more comprehensive sure start model of provision in Scotland should be re-examined

Any other business and date of next meeting 

Gavin Henderson invited reflections on the added value that the leadership group is providing. Views were that, while good discussions are taking place, there needs to be more decisive action and greater progress made. As part of this, the group needs to be sharper in commissioning work from associated groups and receiving progress updates. A good example of this from previous work was the short-life group on under-18s in custody which resulted in clear action and tangible results. Better links and more co-ordinated action with other groups is also needed including in relation to tackling child poverty. 

Gordon Paterson invited members to provide views on how they would wish to be involved as a group and as individual organisations in the development of the promise bill. Gordon also encouraged members to raise awareness of and respond to the current consultations on developing a universal definition of care experience and future of foster care. 

The group’s next meeting is on 5 December