Children and Young People's Trust

The Change for Children and Young People agenda is a cross Government programme aimed at creating a step change in the quality, accessibility and coherence of services so that every child and young person is able to fulfil their potential and those facing particular obstacles are supported to overcome them. In 2002 when Local Authorities were asked to put themselves forward as Children and Young People's Trust pilots Barnsley was successful and has been making headway with a wide range of partners in developing robust and quality services for the Children and Young People of Barnsley. As well as the Children's Trust developments Barnsley has been tackling its low educational attainment levels through Remaking Learning and individual school improvement plans. Overall this major initiative is aimed at improving performance across a range of indicators, school attendance, readiness for primary school, performance at Key Stage 2 and GCSE level and continuation in education after 16 years and entry into higher education. Remaking Learning is a challenging agenda the success of which requires cultural change in order to order to create higher aspirations and expectations on behalf of and in children and young people and their
families as well as those working with them.

The Children Act 2004 gives legal force to five outcomes for Children and Young People. They are the components of well-being -

• Being healthy
• Staying safe
• Enjoying and achieving
• Making a positive contribution
• Achieving economic well-being

These outcomes are underpinned by 25 specific aims the achievement of which is reliant on co-operation between agencies, sectors and professions for delivery as well as being central to the Change for Children and Young People Programme which is also integrated with the NHS National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services which is a key component of the Change for Children and Young People Programme as a whole. The Programme includes all statutory services and relevant other partners responsible for children and young people and family services.

The Barnsley Change for Children and Young People Programme represents a substantial programme of work. This document describes the aims, objectives and key steps required to drive and support the delivery of systemic change in children and young people's services. It is work in progress and will continue to be developed over time. The focus of the work during the next few years will be on meeting the requirements of the Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters: Next Steps and addressing local imperatives by harnessing the full range of our resources to achieve the best possible improvements and outcomes for children and young people.

We will consolidate our achievements so far and make specific progress in the following areas by -  

• Engaging children, young people, parents, carers and community to identify and influence strategy, policy, priorities and service delivery
• Improving our local needs assessment particularly at neighbourhood level
• Designing services with and around children, young people, their families and carers at a universal and targeted level
• Delivering the Local Area Action Teams as described in the local Area Agreement focusing on 3 areas in the first year
• Establishing an improved performance management system at a borough-wide and local level
• Delivering high quality universal and targeted services across the age range 0-19 years and through transition into adulthood
• Supporting parents and carers effectively in their roles.
• Implementing integrated systems and processes to facilitate information sharing and assessment.
• Establishing our first integrated Children & Young People’s Plan
• Developing the workforce, changing culture and practice
• Consolidating the role of the independent, voluntary and community sectors
• Improving operational and business processes to facilitate integration
• Establishing robust inter-agency governance arrangements

The work programme is underway and is not exclusive. It should be considered bearing in mind the full range of local plans including the Community Plan, Local Area Agreement, Single Strategic Education Services Plan - Re-making Learning, the Social Services Delivery Plan, the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, Children’s Fund Strategic Plan, Connexions Borough Plan, Family Support Strategy, Fit for the Future (Public Health), Young People's Substance Misuse Plan, Building Schools for the Future, 14 - 19 Strategy, Barnsley Choices Child Care Strategy, Individual School Plans, Children's Centre Strategy, National Service Framework Action Plans, the Youth Offending Strategy and so on in order to appreciate the depth and breadth of work being undertaken. By 2006 we will have consolidated these plans into one high level Children and Young People's Plan. Each section of the Change for Children and Young People Programme has or will have a detailed project plan sitting behind it which will be performance managed through the relevant working group and the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership. This document is work in progress and will alter over time. It provides an important bridge between planned actions expressed in the separate plans listed above and the move to the Children and Young People’s Plan by 2006. It will be developed further with all stakeholders from universal services through to highly specialised services for vulnerable children including Schools, Social Care, Voluntary and Community sectors, Primary and Secondary Health Care, GPs, Connexions and others.

The programme set out below will put us on a strong foundation for our journey of continued service improvement to achieve better outcomes for children, young people and their families and to deliver Barnsley Children's Services Authority.

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