Proposed Children and Families (Wales) Measure

Consultation Response

CF17 - The Venture, Wrexham (Part 2)

Following our submission yesterday relating to the Part 4 Section 60, the Local Authority duties in respect of play opportunities for children, the Venture wishes to submit further responses on the proposals for eradicating Child Poverty (Part 1), the establishment of Integrated Family Support Teams (Part 3) and the participation of children in local authority decision making (Part 4 Section 61)

In addition, the Venture wishes to support the submission of the Caia Park Early Years Forum (CPEYF) on the Childminding and Daycare for children (Part 2) proposals.  The Venture has played a very significant role in the operation of the CPEYF since its foundation in 1990 and has played an integral part in drawing up its submission.

Part 1: Eradicating Child Poverty

The published report, in September 2008, by the Campaign to End Child Poverty contained a league table of local authority electoral wards in Wales which highlighted the wards and the local authorities with the highest levels of child poverty.  Unfortunately, Queensway ward in Wrexham was the highest in Wales, with Wynnstay - its adjoining ward - close behind in third position.  The Venture is situated in Wynnstay but serves all five Caia Park wards including primarily Queensway.  The Venture, therefore, has a very strong interest in the eradication of child poverty.

The Venture was kindly described in Parliament by the former Secretary of State for Wales. Peter Hain, as "One of the best children’s organisations in the country, if not in Europe”.  In 2003 it was chosen by the Welsh Assembly Government as the model for its flagship programme of Integrated Children’s Centres, now rolled out across Wales.  Similarly in Scotland, following a report by Glasgow University, the Venture was chosen as the approach most likely to respond effectively to the burgeoning number of children affected by drug-abusing parents.

Glasgow University praised the Venture as a model of best practice: "From modest beginnings it has grown into a large and thriving hub, serving and being served by the community from which it draws its vitality. Although its prime function is to provide a safe and fun place for children to play and to explore their potential, it also provides an arena within which potential problems for children and families can be picked up on and worked with. The long-term commitment of skilled staff members facilitates the development of relationships of trust with parents and children and this, undoubtedly, greatly eases the process of intervention”.

The Venture now employs probably the largest local, multi-disciplinary team in the UK, working with everyone from babies to adults using as many approaches as it can muster to tackle a wide range of all too familiar problems.  Venture staff and volunteers experience, every day, the devastating effects that poverty has on the lives of the children, young people and families living in Caia Park.

The broad aims of the proposals to eradicate poverty cover all the key areas that it will be necessary to tackle, if this great evil is to be truly eradicated.  The recognition that both the causes and effects of child poverty are far wider than low income and material deprivation is absolutely essential to achieving the intended goal.

The duties placed upon Welsh authorities to produce strategies, plans and targets as also wholly necessary.  We are, however, concerned that there appears to be no reliance placed upon third sector organisations, in particular local voluntary organisations, in either drawing up strategies or in their delivery.  There is much evidence that such organisations can be more effective than statutory bodies in reaching those children, young people and families most in need.  Without their assistance as organisations of equal worth, if not equal size, significant numbers of children and young people will not achieve their full potential.

The Venture believes that there should be a duty placed upon local authorities to demonstrate that they have done all they can to promote and sustain the development of locally-based, high quality voluntary/not for profit organisations who can appropriately fill the gaps which statutory organisations seem to be unable to fill.  A pluralistic approach, coordinated by local authorities, is - in our view - the only way to ensure that some of the most vulnerable children and young people do not fall unnoticed through the net.  

Part 3: Integrated Family Support Teams (IFSTs)

The Venture broadly welcomes the establishment of IFSTs.

The Venture has been gradually developing the concept of a multi-disciplinary team serving the needs of local children, young people and families for more than a quarter of a century.  We work very closely and, we believe, effectively with a range of statutory organisations and departments.  The effectiveness of these partnerships will often be heavily dependent upon the individuals involved, although, in our own experience, there are sometimes systemic reasons for lack of effectiveness.  The establishment of IFSTs and IFS Boards (IFSBs) provides the statutory framework which is necessary to put onto a proper footing the local integrated support that so many families need.   

However, following the pattern of our previous comments about the eradication of child poverty, we are concerned that the IFSTs and the IFSBs are constructed too narrowly.  It is essential that teams and boards should contain meaningful and not token membership from the third sector/voluntary organisations.  Whilst Section 52 para (2) and, to a degree, Section 53 para (3) allows the inclusion of members other than from the local authority and Local Health Board, it is by no means explicit and certainly provides no explicit encouragement let alone duty to ensure this is achieved.  We suggest this should be explicit.

Likewise, we believe that a significant deficit in the proposals is to limit the referrals to IFSTs to only statutory agencies.

The effect of the proposals as they stand is to seriously limit the potential effectiveness in reaching some of the children, young people and families most in need,

To ensure that the unique place that third sector and, in particular, local voluntary organisations have in the delivery of effective local services, a duty needs to be placed, in our view, on IFSBs to ensure IFSTs include staff - perhaps seconded; perhaps as virtual members - from the third sector and that referrals are taken from a wider pool than just statutory agencies.  Finally, that the composition of IFSBs are themselves more broadly representative of local delivery organisations.

In relation to the Integrated Children’s Centres (ICCs), whilst their development has in general in our view been extremely disappointing, their concept is still wholly relevant.  The battle to reach the most in need children, young people and families is primarily within local communities.  We limit the effectiveness of services to them if they are not integrated at a local level.  In our view, a duty should be placed on local authorities to ensure that ICCs truly achieve their potential and that IFSTs are inextricably linked to them.

Another wholly separate strand of 'integrated’ children’s services delivered at a local level is in our view a mistake.

Part 4, Section 61: Participation of children in local authority decision making

The Venture broadly welcomes the proposals to place a statutory duty on local authorities to promote and facilitate participation by children in decisions of the authority which affect them.

There are, however, a number of improvements to the proposal which we would like to suggest:

1. Young people often object to being described as 'children’.  We suggest the proposal reefers to 'children and young people’.

2. It is important to encourage the view that children’s needs and capabilities are different to those of young people.  The Venture has a Children’s Forum and a Youth Forum, both of which are necessary to ensure that the wide age range is covered.

3. It is vital that children and young people are included in any measures that attempt to assess the effectiveness and meaningfulness of their participation.  To limit this to potentially self- interested adults is a serious flaw, in our view, and needs to be addressed.

Malcolm King, OBE

1 May 2009