Agenda item

The Panel will receive a presentation on this item from Penny Hay and colleagues involved in this project.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care introduced this item by saying that following the September meeting of the Panel he had met with Penny Hay and agreed a basis for ongoing discussion regarding this initiative.

Penny Hay, Child Friendly City Steering Group addressed the Panel, a copy of her statement will be available on the Panel’s Minute Book and online as an appendix to these minutes. A summary is set out below.

 The Child and Youth Friendly Community initiative has been driven by a diverse range of creative and cultural organisations across B&NES. Our vision involves the right of every child and young person to experience a safe, healthy and happy childhood, with an emphasis on respect and engagement.

The Child Friendly City Initiative Steering Group are keen to work with the Unicef Child Rights Partners Team alongside the Council and young people. Child Rights Partners is a ground-breaking programme - systematically embedding children’s rights in public services at both policy and practice level.

In B&NES, we want all children and young people to have equal life chances with positive mental health and well-being, with higher aspirations. B&NES has identified health and socio-economic inequalities and is working towards reducing these; this project would actively support the Council’s work.

We are inviting the Council to be a Unicef Child Rights Partner and asking the Scrutiny Panel to consider making a recommendation to Cabinet to support this initiative. We are keen that there is a political commitment to this initiative, with co-operation across the Local Authority together with robust engagement and cross-Council participation.

Naomi Danquah, Programme Director, Child Rights Partners addressed the Panel, a copy of her briefing will be available on the Panel’s Minute Book and online as an appendix to these minutes. A summary is set out below.

Unicef UK, a registered UK charity, runs programmes to protect and promote the rights of children and young people in the UK, working with national and local government and institutions to implement and advocate for lasting change.

Our Child Rights Partners programme builds on and is a part of the Child Friendly Cities Initiative, an international programme aiming to translate Unicef’s mission into practical commitments and action at the local level. Child Rights Partners (CRP) brings Unicef UK and local authorities together to put children’s rights at the heart of public services and ensure all children have the same opportunity to flourish.

During the course of a three year pilot, launched in November 2013, Unicef UK has been supporting 5 local authorities to use the UNCRC as a framework to transform local policy and practice in a range of areas, from developing area-wide children and families’ plans, to training elected members to embedding a child rights-based approach in corporate parenting strategies.

In 2017, Unicef UK is incorporating learning from the pilot into a developed programme model and is inviting up to 5 local authorities to join the programme.

Over the course of 3 – 5 years, Unicef UK will support Local Authorities to achieve six ‘badges’ demonstrating sustainable progress towards embedding child rights across the city or community. The badges will recognise the authority’s progress and development in key areas such as political commitment to children’s rights, workforce knowledge and understanding of children’s rights, meaningful participation, and child rights innovation.

The support package offered to local authorities and their partners includes a tried and tested combination of collaborative activities and approaches that can be tailored to each partner’s needs. This includes:

40 days of Unicef staff time (50% face to face & 50% back office)

·  Access to CPD accredited training

·  Technical assistance

·  Project management support

·  Mentoring

Access to resources

Access to local authority networks

Unicef UK is a registered charity operating on a not-for-profit basis and all income raised will go towards cost recovery. Local authorities will be expected to pay an annual participation fee of £25,000 and allow for indirect costs such as releasing staff for training and planning, providing training venues and ensuring there is capacity to co-ordinate and oversee the programme locally.

The participation fee could be met via a range of partners.

Councillor Matt Cochrane asked how they would quantify outcomes from the pilot stage of the programme.

Naomi Danquah replied that outcomes could be judged on improvements in partnership working, increased use of the referrals service and the number of young people remaining engaged.

Councillor Dine Romero asked if the initiative would impact on the Troubled Families work.

Naomi Danquah replied that it does not gel directly with that work area, but could improve some parts of it.

Councillor Alison Millar asked why only five local authorities would join the programme in 2017.

Naomi Danquah replied that they have to scale the programme carefully and that there would be a rolling application process. She added that they were currently talking with twenty local authorities.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien asked if the initiative would cover B&NES or the City of Bath.

Penny Hay replied that it would be for the whole of B&NES.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care added that this has to be available for the whole of our community.

Councillor Lisa O’Brien asked how the initiative would overlay our current services.

The Divisional Director for Safeguarding & Social Care replied that it should be seen as a way of bringing certain services together.

Penny Hay said that it should be seen as a way of starting from the bottom up to work with young people and experts to understand the particular needs and context of the community and co-design a suitable plan of action.

Councillor Peter Turner commented that given the possible uncertain future of the particular next two decades that he welcomed any initiative that would help our children. He added that having worked within the Prince’s Trust he saw some parallels with this work.

Jake Bishop-Ponte said this was a real opportunity for us to lead the way and enable young people to scope their own services.

The Panel RESOLVED to recommend to the Cabinet to support this initiative and join the Unicef Child Rights Partners programme.