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Memorandum submitted by Spurgeons
Summary
Spurgeons is a
significant voluntary sector provider of Sure Start Children's Centres, across
1 Spurgeons
1.1 Spurgeons is a national children's
voluntary organisation, established in 1867.
Our work is embedded in local communities and works with children and their families,
supporting them to be safe and happy and to build self esteem, confidence,
resilience and a future filled with hope.
We are a significant provider of Children's
Centres across
1.2 We also work with Local Authorities and other commissioning bodies to provide other services to children and their families. These include Young Carers, Youth and Community services, work with Trouble Children, Child Contact Services, Parenting Programmes and Family Support. This gives us a professional knowledge base from which to make this submission to this Inquiry.
2 Response
2.1 We welcome this opportunity to contribute to the Parliamentary Inquiry and would want to add our weight and support to the future of Sure Start Children's Centres and their key role in bringing change for children. In making our response we recognise there are significantly different approaches and requirements that individual Local Authorities place on the development of Children's Centres and our response is given from a national perspective that takes an overview and tries to identify the key issues from our shared experience.
3 Questions asked by the Inquiry 3.1 How models of Children's Centres have developed as the programme spreads from the most deprived neighbourhoods 3.1.1 Spurgeons' services are embedded in local communities. We understand the needs of children through the lens of the local communities in which they live. We believe in seeing children and families in their context and therefore work to deliver professional services within the framework of the family and community. We see Children's Centres at the heart of local communities, providing a central role in the delivery of local services to children. We understand the importance of having robust approaches to the early identification and assessment of the needs of children and families. This means that every member of staff employed within a Children's Centre plays a role in identifying the needs of families and that by adopting an early intervention methodology we can provide the appropriate targeted intervention that makes a significant impact on outcomes for children.
3.1.2 We have found that as the Children's Centre programme has been rolled out into wider geographic areas, the significant difference is the level of resourcing available and the effect that has on the level of provision being offered. This is most widely experienced as services from other agencies is equally more thinly spread in these areas. Services like Job Centre plus may not be as well established and the problem of rural isolation and distance, experienced by many Phase 2 and 3 Centres can also affect the impact of Children's Centres. In terms of offering preventative services, the amount of funding available has to be focused on the most needy families, however the identification of the most needy families is often complex, as very often families do not immediately present with problems and it is only by building relationships and engaging with families that the issues become apparent. We believe that Children's Centres are more effectively rolled out when they are part of a wider inter-agency investment in an area. This may mean acting in a role of co-ordinating the delivery of local services that are available for children.
3.2 The range and effectiveness of services provided by Children's Centres
3.2.1 All our services are planned to meet the Every Child Matters outcomes and are delivered through the Core Offer. The most effective services are those tailored to meet the needs of their local community and planned in collaboration with service users. We have a wide and varied service provision in place and find that, particularly in deprived communities a community development approach has been an effective way of engaging with traditionally hard to reach groups. Whilst our service models are evidence based, we would encourage commissioners to consider the needs of the most complex families with whom we engage and suggest that there continues to be opportunities to develop innovative and creative models of service delivery.
3.2.2 Spurgeons have strong core values, one of which is 'holistic'. We strongly support the ethos of an holistic range of services being offered through the channel of a Children's Centre. Individual children and families have very different needs and a range of provision is required in order to address and constructively work with the issues being assessed. We see these services working best when they are delivered in local settings that are familiar and comfortable for families, which can be provided by Children's Centres.
3.2.3 We monitor the effectiveness of our services through established processes such as the SEF (Self Evaluation Form) and Annual Conversation. We welcome consistent approaches set out on a national basis that work across the Local Authorities we are commissioned by. However, we suggest they need to be equitably applied, but able to understand that different Children's Centres develop different approaches to meet the needs of their communities - not all communities are the same and we need to ensure there is enough flexibility in assessing effectiveness that enables local approaches and local solutions to be developed to meet the needs of the local community
3.3 Funding, Sustainability and Value for Money
3.3.1 As Spurgeons works across a number of Local Authorities, with different budget allocations this means there are significantly different approaches to the allocation of funding. Our Centres have to be set up differently to accommodate these restraints. However, there are certain core offer requirements for Centres to be delivered which require a similar core staff team, which means it can be difficult to generate economies of scale with smaller Centres. 3.3.2 We support the promotion of partnership working as this can and does provide some genuinely cost-effective services. However, inter-agency working does not just happen, it requires considerable skills and effort from staff to engage other professionals and sell the vision that inter-agency working can give. 3.3.3 We would encourage the Inquiry to consider the impact that articulating a longer term commitment to Children's Centres can bring. Children's Centres deliver integrated services, but it relies on having well qualified, experienced staff to deliver these programmes. The retention and development of these staff are critical to the longer term ability to deliver on this initiative and if we are to retain these staff there needs to be a longer term commitment to their development and future career prospects 3.3.4 The Voluntary Sector provides a valuable role in delivering cost effective, professional and accountable services. However, we strongly urge the Inquiry to understand that the voluntary sector does not mean cheap or second rate and we are committed to delivering quality services that need appropriate levels of funding. We seek to be innovative and creative within the budgets provided, but there are core work and services that need funding and if the outcomes are to be delivered the appropriate funding and resourcing needs to be in place.
3.4 Staffing, governance, management and strategic planning 3.4.1 We are committed to building staff teams that are flexible and responsive and able to respond to the needs of individual communities and families. It is crucial that we consider how to maintain consistent, committed staff teams as it is through longer term relationships that truly effective services can be built. We believe this is one success factor of Children's Centres that by building non-stigmatizing, positive relationships with families, our staff have engaged with some of the most hard to reach groups. A core team of Children's Centre staff can work with other agencies and develop a 'team around the child' approach. 3.4.2 We know that excellent management and leadership is critical to delivering on this agenda. We support the NPQICL programme in promoting leadership and facilitating an excellent qualification for all Centre leaders. We also recognise that particularly in the Phase 3 Centres, where budgets are significantly reduced it is critical that in order to deliver on the agenda across a wide area within a given budget envelope, clustering of staff teams can take place. This can also enable the clustering of management/leadership functions. 3.4.3 Across the Local Authorities we work with there are a range of different governance arrangements in place. We strongly advocate for the involvement of service users in governance. Where Centres are integral to the local community the engagement of local people in both the governance and delivery of services provides the most effective model, as it helps to shape services to be relevant to local needs. We have developed some excellent examples of service user involvement in boards and advisory groups and seen how this builds confidence and self-esteem in parents, which translates into better outcomes for children.
3.5 How well Children's Centres work with other partners and services, especially schools and health services 3.5.1 Our experience as a voluntary sector provider is that inter-agency working has always been a feature of our working practice and is well embedded into our ethos and approach. Where the voluntary sector provides Children's Centres we have considerable evidence from our Centres of acting in a co-ordinating role on a local level for a range of statutory, non-statutory agencies and partners - we often find ourselves being the bridge that brings partners, including parents and the local community together. We strongly believe this brings improved outcomes for children, as we see strong evidence of appropriate signposting and joint working with families, where it is recognised that no one agency has the answer to some of the most complex family's needs. In addition this approach can help broker access for families to some of the statutory services that often are difficult for families to engage with. 3.5.2 We do however, recognise this task is easier where other partners share the same ethos. We see the role of leadership by Centre Managers as critical in winning the hearts and minds of some partners. When they are able to capture the vision for how an integrated approach of working together brings about change for children and change for the communities in which they live, there can be genuine inter-agency working. We would recommend this collaborative approach is supported by a policy imperative from other agencies.
3.6 Whether services are being accessed by those most in need and how effective they are for the most vulnerable. 3.6.1 This is a crucial area for Children Centres - it is those families who do not easily access a Centre's services who are often most in need. The role of the Family Support outreach worker is vital in engaging with those families, building confidence and self esteem which will lead to an improved engagement with provision. There is a continual challenge to engage with the most vulnerable, whilst at the same time meeting reach targets for engaging with all families. With increased funding it is the development of this role that will have the greatest impact on families who have the most need. 3.6.2 We also advocate for the approach that sees the Childrens Centre as both a place in which to deliver services, but also importantly a methodology that enables services to be delivered where families want to engage. If all services are provided from a centre we will never effectively reach the most vulnerable families - it is essential there are outreach activities. We have some good examples of how local parents can assist in this role, by providing a buddying or ambassador function and encouraging other local parents to access services. We see this type of activity supporting the role of employed professionals, who it is critical are skilled in safeguarding and other inter-personal skills in order to effectively engage parents. We believe this happens most effectively when these workers are integrated into the holistic provision of Children's Centres. October 2009
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