Archived decisions

Contact: Sheila Little, ext 7545, email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The proposals set out in this report support the corporate priorities of Maximising wellbeing and making Hampshire safer and more secure for all. They are a combination of one-off projects that will enhance and support the Change for Children programme and relieve some 2006/07 pressures, and spend to save initiatives. These factors are set out within each business case.

2. Background

2.1 The Children's Services Department contributed significantly to the County Council receiving a reward grant from the first Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA).

· Improved GCSE results at A*-C in deprived areas in Hampshire

· Reducing school truancies in targeted areas-North Basingstoke

· Reducing exclusions in deprived areas in Gosport

· Increased number of children looked after in permanent placements

2.2 Of the £2.1million received for Children's Services, Cabinet has already invested £0.5million to increase balances following the Adult Services outturn in 2005/06.

2.3 This leaves £1.6million of LPSA1 reward grant which the Department is now proposing to invest in the following ways:

· Departmental restructure - £565,000 to:

· support the management of the Joint Area Review,

· provide short term organisation development resource to assist with cultural changes and Investors in People,

· provide a programme of workforce and organisation development to embed cultural change;

· provide project consultancy for Change for Children, and

· assist with a staff cost associated with the restructuring.

· Children Looked After - £625,000 to:

· increase foster care provision at levels 4 and 5, thereby reducing the costs of more expensive Independent Foster Agency placements. This includes contribution to capital for adaptations to foster carer's homes;

· fund a one year post to assist in the development of more effective Non-County Placement procurement activities

· provide additional capacity to identify and manage the return to in-house placements of children and young people currently placed with Independent Fostering Agencies

· fund a pilot project to target intensive literacy tuition towards Children Looked After (CLA) in year 6 who are currently underachieving. Lessons learnt will be used to ensure future use of the CLA team resources is as effective as possible in supporting CLA to achieve better outcomes.

2.4 Some flexibility is requested so that the investment relating to the departmental restructure and to Children Looked After, totalling £1.190million, can be split across financial years 2006/07 and 2007/08. Given that at this stage all the figures represent estimates of project costs, flexibility is also requested around the budget for the increase in foster care provision, which can then be used as to balance the overall expenditure.

2.5 The Department requests that the remaining £410,000 be made available to invest in the following spend to save/spend to enhance efficiency and effectiveness initiatives. While the majority of these could start in 2007/08, subject to a satisfactory end of year financial position for 2006/07, the home to school transport initiative needs to commence in 2006/07 in order to meet timelines for savings in the corporate procurement strategy. If this funding does not come from the LPAS1, it will have to be funded from the 2006/07 home to school transport budget.

· Spend to save/enhance effectiveness for Change for Children - £410,000 to:

· enhance procurement through the Home to School Transport pilot tender project (part of the corporate procurement strategy).

· instigate a major project to improve departmental data management and streamline databases;

· further develop the Rights, Respect and Responsibilities programme;

· review the current provision for children and young people with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties;

· pilot a dual placement strategy for challenging children between a mainstream and special school

3. Investment Proposals

3.1 Table 1 below provides a summary of the Children's Services Department's investment proposals. It is supported by an Appendix which summarise the business cases in support of each proposal. Further details are available if required.

Table 1 - LPSA Reward Grant - Investment Proposals

Recommendation

That the release of the allocation of £1.6million of Local Public Service Agreement reward grant to the Children's Services Department for the investment proposals summarised in Table 1 of the report be approved, and noting the need for flexibility set out in paragraphs 2.4 and 2.5 of the report, to ensure the most effective use of the resources can be achieved.