Children's Services Programme

The Programme aims to make demonstrable progress in tackling the challenges of child poverty by delivering high quality support to the growing number of children with social care and health needs.

Every Child Matters

The Programme will support delivery of 'Every Child Matters' outcomes, which states that every child, whatever their background or circumstances, should have the support they need to:

• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well-being

These five outcomes are at the heart of the Programme which will support the 'Every Child Matters' programme by:

• Providing a range of services and tools to help commissioners of services for looked after children which in turn improves outcomes by increasing placement choice, quality and stability.
• Supporting workforce reform and integrated working
• Seeking to reduce the need for children and young people to be placed in residential establishments completely or at least placed closer to their families and home communities
• Stimulate some new markets and services
• Deliver efficiencies
• Develop services that are personalised and tailored to an individual or family to support achievement of the best achievable outcome
• Providing support for Lead elected Members involved in Children's Services who have a statutory role in recognition of the importance and complexity of political leadership to deliver this agenda

Joint working

The Programme aims to ensure that all organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups, have the skills, capacity and ways of working to enable services to deliver improvement through a stronger focus on early identification and prevention. The RIEP will work in collaboration with a range of partners and stakeholders. We aim to achieve success through a regional multi-agency approach around the themes of:

• Learning and Sharing
• Looked After Children Services
• Workforce Development and Leadership
• Learning Difficulties and Disabilities Services
• Whole Family Support Services
• 'Hot' Issues

Seeking the views of Children and Young People

Every local authority working with its partners, through its children's trust, is working to find out what works best for the children and young people in its locality and jointly commission services to meet these needs. This way, children and young people will have far more say about the issues that affect them.

Better use of Resources to deliver better Services for Children

The implementation of Every Child Matters is challenging enough, but in a tight financial climate, the need to ensure value for money so resources used in the best possible way to deliver better public services in line with our priorities is essential.

Programme Contacts

Programme Manager: Julie Brown
Telephone 07917 813 667
Email: Julie Brown@northeastcouncils.gov.uk

Local authority Sponsor/Programme Board Chair:
Helen Paterson, Director of Children's Services, Sunderland City Council