Improved outcomes for children drives council change

Herefordshire Council continues work on re-shaping children’s services to improve outcomes for all Herefordshire children and young people.

Following on from the passing of the Children Act, in November 2004, the Council took some prompt decisions.

At November’s full Council it was announced that Cllr Don Rule would become Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Sue Fiennes would be appointed as Director of Children’s Services, with effect from January 1, 2005.

In practical terms this will see the Council’s children’s social care and education teams working much closer together, to provide more integrated services for children and young people.

Longer term, the Council will have to take the lead in establishing efficient partnership working arrangements with all other public and voluntary sector groups involved with children and young people, from GPs to sports and play organisations.

This partnership is expected to be established this year, ahead of government requirements.

These arrangements will help and encourage all professionals working with children and young people to work closer together to provide more integrated front-line services, built around the needs of children and young people.

It will also work towards providing all agencies with common work processes to underpin their joint working.

Agencies planning activity will be brought together under a common framework, in some cases this may include pooling resources. This will ensure that all key priorities are identified and addressed.

Sue Fiennes, Director of Children’s Services, said: “We already have some excellent working relationships with many of the other agencies working with children and young people.

“We welcome the opportunity to consolidate and build on these relationships and Herefordshire’s record in partnership.

“Renewing our efforts to secure improvement will be the key focus of all organisations during 2005,” she added.

Cllr Rule, Cabinet Member (Children’s Services), said: “The priorities of the new Children’s Services Directorate will be to ensure that firstly, our children are a priority for everyone.

“Next we will ensure that they have real opportunity to achieve their full potential; they must have the prospect of living in a safe and secure community; they must be able to contribute to and fully participate in, their local community.

“We can only achieve all this if everyone involved pulls together and that’s exactly what we need to work towards over the next year,” he added.