Minutes:
The Executive Member for Children’s Services and Lifelong Services provided members with a verbal report on the 2021/22 Budget covering what it meant for the children in North Somerset
Members noted that although there had not been a cut in funding in Children’s Services nationally there was disappointment that children were not specifically mentioned in the chancellor’s budget. The Executive Member explained that she would be focussing on where the additional £150k of funding that had been put into children’s services this year was being spent. Much of the work was in connection with supporting all the work in the children’s improvement plan. Members of the Executive had to identify a few short-term priorities for this money which was essentially a one-off uplift for this year.
The Mockingbird project was being progressed along with another constellation. It had been an incredibly successful programme offering a support network to foster carers.
Emphasis on fostering during the pandemic included streamlining the process of approving foster carers. The Authority had recruited additional foster carers. The priority was to work around children’s centres. Funding was being provided to three children’s centres to transform them into family hubs. Some of the money would go towards making the environment more attractive and accessible to families with older children and encourage to them to engage with services there.
It was hoped there would be a relationship with a movement in Weston to create food clubs. Representatives from children’s services had attended the steering group meeting. The concept was for the Authority to work with Fair Share and other agencies in North Somerset to locate food clubs in some of North Somerset’s children’s centres. Members were informed that the scheme worked well in Bristol, for example, addressing food poverty. But the main purpose was to address food waste. It provided opportunities for families to pay a small subscription fee of £3 per month to shop at food clubs buying a minimum of £20 worth of food and also quite often access free vegetables that might come from allotments that could not sell the excess.
Members noted the benefits of food clubs which included developing a community feeling around food, sharing recipes, talking about health and nutrition. Considering the issues around childhood obesity this was considered to be very important. The food club was just one area where the Authority was developing its children’s centres into something wider which tied into other elements of what was going on in the community and benefited all members of the community.
The main priorities identified had been addressing the barriers care leavers had to getting into education, employment training. A small amount of money had been set aside in the budget to put towards a dedicated programme of mentoring working very closely with the economy team. Conversations were ongoing around combining money available in children’s services with money around skills and targeting care leavers in particular. There should be an opportunity to develop a dedicated programme of mentoring, careers advice and careers support for the young people of North Somerset.
This would tie into a lot of work around the skills agenda generally. A consultation would be taking place and it was hoped to carry out that initially with care leavers so that they had the first opportunity to respond and identify what skills they required to achieve their goals and what support they needed from North Somerset.
The Chairman thanked the Executive Member for Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning for the report.
Concluded:
(1) that Panel members receive the verbal report of the Executive Member for Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning:
(2) that Panel members contact the Executive Member for Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning with any questions/comment in relation to the verbal report.