Children, Young People and Skills Committee
Agenda Item 27
Subject: A Fairer Brighton & Hove – November 2022 update
Date of meeting: 07 November 2022
Report of: Executive Director of Families, Children and Learning
Contact Officer: Name: Carolyn Bristow
Tel: 01273 293736
Email: Carolyn.bristow@brighton-hove.gov.uk
Ward(s) affected: All
1.1 This report provides an update on A Fairer Brighton & Hove – our strategy framework for children, young people and families at risk of disadvantage. It also gives a summary of what the framework will be focusing on in the 6 months ahead.
2.1 That Committee notes the update on A Fairer Brighton & Hove - our disadvantage strategy framework.
2.2 That Committee notes the Framework recommendations provided at 3.11 below.
3.1 In June 2022 Children, Young People and Skills Committee agreed A Fairer Brighton & Hove: a cohesive Framework to support families at risk of disadvantage 2022 – 2025.
3.2 The framework provides a mechanism for monitoring and overseeing the breadth of work which is concerned with addressing disadvantage. It also provides a set of guiding principles, developed directly from service user and front-line worker feedback.
3.3 The Framework offers elected Members, council officers, partners, and families a ‘lens’ through which all can have oversight on the work in the city supporting those at risk of disadvantage. It is a framework to help drive the work. It can be a critical friend to what we are doing to support improved outcomes so we do things the right way at the right time. It supports reversing the polarity of disadvantage to enhancement.
3.4 The framework aims to deliver the following points:
o It shared direct feedback from families and those who work with them about their experiences
o It will provide a citywide definition of what is meant by children, young people and families being at risk of disadvantage
o It sets out the vision and ambition for those at risk of disadvantage in the city
o It provides a snapshot of what the risk of disadvantage currently looks like for families
o It agrees a set of principles through which to identify, respond to and support those at risk of disadvantage – now and in the future
o It provides an update of the current work in place to tackle disadvantage for families
o It allows for the Children, Young People and Skills Committee to maintain oversight of these areas of work
3.5 In June 2022 it was agreed that an update on the framework should be bought to Children, Young People and Skills Committee every six months for the duration of the framework. This report, given in Appendix 1, provides an update on the points listed in 3.4.
3.6 It is important to note that the sovereignty of the strategies overseen within this Framework will remain as is. This Framework does not supersede, replace or take on ownership of them. Rather it is a lens through which we can all have a better collective view at the impact of work with families in the city.
3.7 This Framework is designed to develop and adapt as it progresses.
3.8 As well as providing an update on key areas of strategy / programmes of work within each six-monthly update there will also be a themed area of focus. This time we are looking at school attendance and considering how the Fairer Brighton & Hove framework can influence and inform that work. In turn, the work will help to inform future updates to this Committee by providing another route through which we can explore the work in the city to tackle the risk of disadvantage.
3.9 This work is closely aligned to the Family Hubs Transformation Programme. An important element of this work is data transformation. As this develops, it will inform the data that is available for the Fairer Brighton & Hove six monthly updates to committee. We also want to use and analyse the data that will be collected as part of the Supporting Families Outcomes Framework as that develops.
3.10 The city’s Early Help Partnership Board also oversees this framework and will provide continued feedback and influence on what it covers and how these updates are presented.
3.11 In the November 2022 update the following recommendations have been made:
· Return to the communities that provided feedback earlier in 2022 and check the framework is aligned to their views and experiences
· Continue to explore and expand new and different ways to hear from families at risk of disadvantage. Suggestions have included specific activities around working with Black young people involved in the Extended Adolescent Service; exploring opportunities via the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, especially for children and young people with SEND; working with the city’s Care Leavers Forum and Youth Council.
· Fund engagement work with young people around school attendance to fully understand the barriers that young people and their families face in attending school, coproducing work to in order to support and address the barriers for attendance, especially for those most at risk of disadvantage. To include a focus on where attendance has become a concern post pandemic.
· Ensure the feedback received from communities within this framework is shared with the Family Hubs design phase.
· Recommend that the digital offer in Family Hubs is wide and includes the cultural ‘what’s available’ elements of city-life to ensure greater equity of access to events and opportunities
· Families, Children and Learning to develop a coproduction strategy to enable all services to work to a best practice model and learn from previous work such as Home to School Transport
· Families, Children and Learning to meet with other directorate management teams within the council to raise awareness and explore the areas of work that should be covered by this framework during year two.
· Work with the University of Sussex and Public Health to further analyse and learn from the 2021 Safe and Well at School Survey
· Explore mentoring opportunities for young people at risk of disadvantage
· Make further connections between ‘A Fairer Brighton & Hove’ and anti-poverty work in the city especially within children’s social work
· Expand and explore more data opportunities including working with Public Health and linking with existing and emerging data dashboards such as those used by the SEND Partnership Board and the Brighton & Hove Safeguarding Children Partnership.
4.1 This Framework has been agreed for 2022 – 2025 but it is designed to be flexible and can adapt as needed in future six monthly updates.
5.1 Hearing from and responding to what communities are telling us is a fundamental element of the work of this framework.
5.2 The Framework agreed in June 2022 and this first six-monthly update has been informed by the extensive Early Help Review, the cross-party Members’ working group, by discussions at the Early Help Partnership Board including cross sector partners and by a ‘call for assistance’ with the Voluntary and Community sector undertaken in January and February 2022. A full summary of the feedback from this process was provided in the Appendices of the June 2022 report.
5.3 That feedback directly informed and influenced the emerging definition of being at risk of disadvantage, the guiding principles and the reflections and recommendations in this update report provided in Appendix 1.
5.4 Work is planned for future update reports to seek fresh and evolving feedback directly from children, young people and families and this will continue to influence this work.
6.1 The Fairer Brighton & Hove Framework to support families at risk of disadvantage is an important tool for the city to enable a more collective view on families at risk of disadvantage and oversight of the work underway to mitigate that risk. We ask that Committee support and inform this ongoing work.
7.1 There are no direct financial implications arising from this report.
Name of finance officer consulted: Louise Hoten Date consulted (04/10/22):
8.1 The framework will inform the council in identifying need and so assist the Council in understanding how to meet a range of statutory duties, including duties to children and families for early help, and to promote equalities.
Name of lawyer consulted: Natasha Watson Date consulted (18/10/2022):
9.1 The Framework aims to provide a wide and inclusive city definition for the potential disadvantage that may be faced by children, young people and families. This covers a wide range of factors but includes protected characteristics from the Equality Act 2010.
9.2 The intention of the Framework is to provide part of the citywide response to consider the ways in which we can mitigate or avoid any adverse impacts of our work on these residents. This is an important part of our commitment and requirement to advance the equality of opportunity within the city.
9.3 As described in 5.4, future work is being planned to continue to hear directly from children, young people, families and those that work directly with them in order to inform future updates on this Framework to committee. This work will have a close link to equalities matters and will be focused on those residents who face increased barriers and are at multiple areas of being at risk of disadvantage.
10.1 Environmental and sustainability matters are of great importance to children, young people and their families across the city. Services need to connect that more with the work they are leading on with families, this features in one of the guiding principles offered within the Framework.
10.2 The growing cost of living crisis facing many of our families at risk of disadvantage is highlighting this matter further currently and we are likely to reflect on this in future updates. The ‘gaps’ between families not at risk of disadvantage and those that are will continue to grow and this work becomes more important to allow us oversight on the expanding work to mitigate it.
Social Value and procurement implications
11.1 It is important that the guiding principles are shared with commissioning managers across the city council and inform commissioning activities which impact on children, young people and families at risk of disadvantage.
Crime & disorder implications:
11.2 Crime and anti-social behaviour is one of the 10 Supporting Families headline areas. The Family Hub team would work to achieve outcomes as per the Supporting Families outcomes framework to address any identified issues.
Public health implications:
11.3 The Starting Well chapter of the city’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy is a key link within Year 1 of the Fairer Brighton & Hove Framework to support families at risk of disadvantage, recognising the importance of the link with the work overseen by Public Health and will link to development of the Early Years action plan for the city.
Supporting Documentation
1. A Fairer Brighton & Hove – our disadvantage strategy framework – November 2022 update