HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
EDUCATION CABINET PANEL
WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH 2009 AT 10.00AM
Draft CSF Plan 2009-2012
Report of the Director of Children, Schools and Families
[Author: Karen Noble, Performance & Improvement Manager Tel: 01992 588394]
Executive Member: Keith Emsall (Education and Culture)
1. Purpose of report
To share the working draft of the CSF Plan with Panel Members for information.
2. Summary
2.1 The CSF Plan has been developed as an operational tool for managers and staff to highlight key areas of importance for the department over the next three years. The priorities within the plan focus on areas that are of significant importance to the department and do not significantly feature within the Children and Young People’s Plan. These primarily relate to universal services and the ‘enabling’ activities which underpin the overall functioning and performance of the department.
2.2 The appended draft plan may be subject to further amendments and additions, but it was felt appropriate to share the draft as it currently stands to provide an opportunity for comment by the Panel prior to the forthcoming elections.
3. Recommendations
3.1 The Education Cabinet Panel is invited to note and comment on proposed department priorities within the attached draft plan.
4. Background
4.1 The CSF Plan has been developed in line with the overall corporate planning framework. Extended Board members from across the department have been involved in identifying the key actions and measures of success that underpin the priorities.
4.2 The plan is intended to complement rather than encompass the CYPP and the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Board’s business plan. This approach provides a concise, operational management tool which focuses on business critical and key development areas for the department as a whole. Further development of core business activities will be reflected within team plans which are currently being produced within all portfolio areas.
4.3 At this stage it is anticipated that the plan will be delivered within existing and planned resources and therefore there are no additional financial implications.
4.4 Further work will be undertaken to ensure a robust relationship between this plan and the Corporate Plan. However, an initial evaluation indicates a strong alignment.
4.5 Enabler plans relating to ICT, Finance and Learning and Development will be appended shortly. In addition, due to the different reporting arrangements for Youth Connexions, its service plan and associated priorities (currently being finalised) will also be appended rather than incorporated within the body of the plan.
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Appendix A
Children Schools and Families
Draft Plan
2009 - 2012
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Plan Title: / CSF Business Plan 2009-2012Plan Lead: / Ian Knowles, Assistant Director Performance & Business Support
Approved By: / John Harris, Director of Children, Schools and Families
Approved Date:
Participants: / Members of CSF Extended Board
1 Introduction
Welcome to the CSF Plan for 2009-2012. This plan has been developed as an operational tool to guide managers and staff in focusing on service improvement and ultimately better outcomes for children and young people. To this end the priorities identified within the plan have been developed to complement and not duplicate the following key strategic plans relating to children’s services within Hertfordshire:
· The Hertfordshire’s Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) of 2009-2011 (connect link) which focuses on the two key themes of safeguarding children and young people; and narrowing the gap between vulnerable children and all children (see section 3 for CYPP priorities)
· The business plan of the Hertfordshire Safeguarding Children Board (footnote with Connect link?) which identifies how the Board will ensure effective protection practice and processes are applied across Hertfordshire’s children services
It is important to note that underpinning all the priorities outlined within this plan is the required commitment of all managers and staff to make the best use of financial and other resources
In line with the corporate planning framework, the CSF Plan contains:
· Ten department priorities which are of major significance for the department (see section 3);
· Four enabling priorities covering areas of development in the infrastructure of the department which underpin the overall functioning and performance of the service
· A series of additional portfolio priorities which identify key areas of development specific to that portfolio, beyond those represented within CYPP or as department priorities within this plan
The development of this plan has provided an all too rare opportunity for service managers, who would not normally meet on a regular basis to come together to consider how best to maximise the benefits of the sum of the parts and provide creative provision with existing services. With an ever increasing requirement to use limited resources more efficiently to create a greater positive impact, such discussions will become more critical.
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2 Service Context
Recent Achievements
Children, Schools and Families (CSF) have experienced a challenging eighteen months. A high degree of external scrutiny of our general performance and our ability to safeguard children and young people, in particular followed the Joint Area Review in 2007. However we begin the period of this plan on a positive note. CSF’s performance significantly improved during 2008, resulting in ‘overall services for children and young people’ and ‘service management’ moving from ‘adequate’ following the 2007 Joint Area Review (JAR) to ‘good’ in the 2008 Ofsted Annual Performance Assessment (APA):
“Since the 2007 JAR and APA the impact of change and the improvements secured in less than a year have been a notable achievement” (Ofsted)[1].
This positive message was also reinforced by the review undertaken by Children First whose report[2] recognised that “Managers have done well to achieve what they have”, and a much stronger emphasis on performance management, underpinned by the ‘Perform’ programme.
Examples of more specific achievements include:
· The quality of teaching and learning in primary schools was judged by Ofsted as good or outstanding in 79% of schools inspected in 2008, well above the national average of 64%
· In the same year, 57.9% of students achieved 5 A*-C in their GCSE results including maths and English, a 2.1% increase on the previous year and 10% above the national average
· We met our target of 50 children’s centres designated by March 2008 and are continuing on target for the remainder
· Over half of Hertfordshire’s schools are now fully extended and providing families with greater access to support and information
· A significant improvement in the timeliness of initial and core assessments
· Successful implementation of the integrated children’s system (ICS)
· A successful bid for a £1.4m lottery funding for a community project at Oxhey Library
We should be justly proud of these achievements. However, commitment and a continued focus by all of us will be needed to sustain that improvement and strive for an ‘outstanding’ judgement.
However, to reinforce the need to avoid complacency, the APA Judgement letter and Children First Review report highlighted a number of areas requiring specific focus:
· Education outcome of some minority groups
· Ensuring improvements in social care are sustainable
· Removing inconsistencies in access to mental health services for young people
· The Council’s reliance on out of county placements
· The number of children who are looked after who received their annual health check was below that of similar councils in the last data year
· Inconsistent transition planning for children with learning difficulties/ or disabilities
· The underdeveloped range of respite care for families
· Inconsistencies in the timeliness of initial and core assessments
· A higher than average number of children and young people looked after
· Low standards in a small number of less effective schools
· The proportion of children looked after participating in their reviews still remains below that of similar councils
· The educational outcomes of a small number of lower achieving sixth forms
Future Challenges
The future holds a number of known challenges for the department, many of which are reflected in the Children and Young People’s Plan, and undoubtedly some that are as yet unknown:
· Government scrutiny of safeguarding procedures will continue, even more so following the ‘Baby P’ situation, and potentially broaden beyond the more prominent areas of safeguarding currently under greatest examination.
· The Children’s Plan – ‘Building Brighter Futures’, produced by the DCSF in December 2007, provides a strong framework for the development and direction of children’s services until 2020
· The drive to eradicate child poverty by 2020 will become an increasingly significant ambition influencing most, if not all, service areas within CSF
· The continued drive towards earlier intervention and associated rebalancing of service provision will require careful management of resources during the inevitable transition period
· Workforce development is key to ensuring we have the quality and capacity of workforce to enable children and young people to achieve their full potential across all Every Child Matters outcomes
· The new inspection framework, the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) will require all managers to evidence the impact of their service in relation to improving outcomes for children and young people and demonstrate continuous service improvement
· The benefits of a stronger performance improvement culture are already recognised at all levels of CSF however it will be critical that there is continued management and staff commitment to embedding it further. A particular area of development will be the use of service user views to inform and improve service delivery
· There will be a continued focus on value for money, streamlining processes and maximising the benefits of ‘the sum of the parts’ with CSF services working more creatively together to improve outcomes
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3 Department Priorities and Targets
Priority Summary
CSF Plan Priorities
Department Priority / Lead /CSF1 / Every child and young person attends a good school where they achieve well and their welbeing is promoted. / Gill Jones
CSF2 / The Local Authority meets its commissioning responsibilities for 16-18 education and training following the transfer of LSC commissioning responsibilities to the Local Authority. / John Harris
CSF3 / Building Schools For The Future and the Primary Capital Programme will transform the learning experiences and services provided by schools to the community. / Simon Newland
CSF4 / All members of the public have access to HCC services and information expertise within their community through the local library network. / Glenda Wood
CSF5 / Children and young people access creative and cultural experiences for learning and pleasure (within and outside schools). / Glenda Wood
CSF6 / All children and families, especially vulnerable children and families, benefit from access to local Children’s Centres, Extended Schools and outreach services. / Alan Dinning
CSF7 / Strengthen integrated practice to increase the availability of preventative and early intervention activity. / Alan Dinning
CSF8 / Develop effective corporate parenting and an integrated approach to children and young people on the threshold and in care. / Ann Domeney
CSF9 / Develop SEN provision so that most children and young people have their needs met locally. / Justin Donovan
CSF10 / CSF will be prepared for new joint arrangements with Health from April 2010. / John Harris
CSF11 / All CSF services and schools exploit the full potential of ICT. / Ian Knowles
CSF12 / The workforce, within CSF and schools has the skills and capacity to achieve current and future strategic requirements. / Alan Dinning
CSF13 / CSF improves the quality and impact of social care provision through recruiting, developing and retaining the skills and expertise of the workforce. / Ann Domeney
CSF14 / CSF services can demonstrate continuous improvement. / Ian Knowles
Additional Portfolio Priorities / Lead
LSE1 / Hertfordshire Development Centre provides world class conference and training facilities for schools, HCC and national events. / Gillian Cawley
LSE2 / Develop a home to school transport policy and process that is clear, efficient and flexible to meet the needs of the changing education agenda. / David Ring
LSE3 / Children and young people know how well they are doing and how to improve through effective feedback. / Ros Cooper
LSE4 / Improve educational outcomes for all pupils by promoting and supporting their engagement with education through the implementation of a behaviour strategy. / David Ring
LCL1 / Improve the provision of, and widen participation in, formal and informal opportunities for Adult and Family learning. / Glenda Wood
LCL2 / Refresh and develop the ‘Libraries for the 21st Century’ strategy to continue to improve the attractiveness and use of the library service. / Glenda Wood
LCL3 / Preserve and promote local culture and heritage. / Glenda
Wood
LCL4 / Improve access to cultural resources by replacing or developing essential IT and service infrastructure. / Glenda Wood
ICS1 / The emotional wellbeing of young people will be stronger as a result of their involvement in the UK Penn Resilience Programme (UKPRP). / Lucy Bailey
ICS2 / Contactpoint, E-CAF, ICS developments and interface. / Caroline Cook
ICS3 / Community needs analysis developing local priorities. / Helen Ashdown
Children and Young Peoples Plan 2009/11 Priorities
Safeguarding / 1 / Children and young people are safe from abuse and neglect. / Ann Domeney
2 / Children and young people achieve their full potential whilst in and moving on from care. / Ann Domeney
3 / Children and young people are confident to respond to bullying. / Gill Jones
Narrowing the Gap / 4 / Children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health is well supported. / Catherine Pelley,
(Health)
5 / Children and young people have a healthy weight. / Hilary Angwin, (Health)
6 / Vulnerable under fives are well prepared for life. / Alan Dinning
7 / Vulnerable children and young people achieve as well as others. / Gill Jones
8 / Children and young people with learning difficulties and disabilities are empowered to reach their full potential. / Justin Donovan
9 / Young people get a wide range of opportunities to learn. / Andrew Simmons
10 / Children and young people make a positive contribution to decisions about services. / Ian Knowles
11 / Children and Young People thrive in spite of poverty. / Andrew Simmons
12 / Children & Young People keep on the right track.
/ Tom Rees
Service Management Priorities / SMP
1 / Develop shared systems and processes to deliver effective services. / Alan Dinning
SMP
2 / Ensure services make best use of resources and provide good value for money. / Ian Knowles
SMP
3 / Strengthen performance management and evaluation systems. / Ian Knowles
Further information on the CYPP can be found at ………….(Connect link)