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Changing Children's Services Fund

Introduction

The proposal to set up a Changing Children's Services Fund was announced by the First Minister at the launch of the Social Justice Annual Report on 13 November 2000. He stated that the Fund would support integrated services and other new approaches for the most vulnerable children and young people and, as such, it is intended to form a key part of the Executive's strategy to tackle child poverty and deprivation.

Objectives

The Changing Children's Services Fund has been established as a catalyst for change. It is a source of transitional funding to support local authorities, health boards and voluntary organisations in delivering better outcomes for the most vulnerable and deprived children through more effective and integrated service delivery. The Fund is intended to improve services and support for the most vulnerable, whether addressed in terms of support for more deprived communities, groups or individuals.

In order to achieve sustainable solutions, the focus is very much on improving the effectiveness and integration of mainstream services delivery rather than on setting up discrete projects or expanding staff beyond sustainable levels. This reflects the findings of the Action Team on Better Integrated Children's Services, whose full report and Action Plan was issued on 30 October. The Action Team's report highlights the case for change, set out some concrete proposals, and includes a range of good practice examples of better integrated children's services.

Proposed Priority Objectives include:

• expansion of integrated early years services for vulnerable young children in deprived communities;
• advice and support for parents of vulnerable children in deprived communities, including home-school links;
• support packages for children with disabilities or special physical, emotional, mental health or educational needs;
• developing targeted education, prevention and rehabilitation services for children and young people involved in, or affected by, drug, alcohol or substance misuse;
• support packages for vulnerable children and young people at key transition points, including access to psychological and psychiatric services;
• ensuring universal services reach all children (for example, children who are homeless, at risk of exclusion and ethnic minorities).

Funding will be based on local authority areas. After looking at a range of possible allocation formulas, it was decided to use a formula similar to that used for Sure Start Scotland, adjusted to reflect the wider age range covered by the Fund. The distribution formula includes a heavy weighting towards deprivation, reflecting Ministers' key priority of addressing child poverty and disadvantage. It also includes a weighting for rurality, reflecting the difficulties that can be encountered in delivering cost-effective services in rural areas.

The allocation for 2002/2003 is £27million and for 2003/2004 £36.5 million, and the Fund is expected to continue for as long as there appears to be a need for such a catalyst for change. Ministers recognise, however, that while some services or projects funded may only have short-term resource implications (e.g. covering the costs of reshaping services) there will also be expansion and development of new services with longer-term funding requirements. This will be taken into account in future Spending Reviews with the intention of moving appropriate resources from the Fund into mainstream funding.

Preparation of proposals

As proposed in the consultation paper, all activity supported by the Fund should have the backing of the relevant local authority, health board and voluntary organisations - including smaller, locally- based organisations. Where appropriate, proposals should also have the backing of Social Inclusion Partnership or Drug Action Teams. It may well be appropriate to involve Childcare Partnerships. A range of other organisations, e.g. the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration, the police and the private sector (for example, private sector childcare providers), might also have a role to play.

The Fund will only support activity which is designed as part of wider planning processes and which takes account of existing services. The proposals should be co-ordinated by the local authority as part of its lead role in co-ordinating children's services plans. Funds will be channelled through a nominated lead agency for each local authority area - which may be, but does not have to be, the local authority itself. Applications may be considered where a number of local authorities combine to produce a single plan where they can jointly cover a single NHS Board area. Proposals will need to show real evidence of participation by key voluntary organisations (both the larger nationals and the smaller community-based organisations) at each stage in the process.

Timing

Costed proposals should be submitted with the children's services plan by 1 April 2002. Proposals should be reflected in Health Plans and, where appropriate, Social Inclusion Partnership strategies and DAT Corporate Action Plans. The Executive will aim to give feedback on proposals in May/June 2002. Funding will not be released unless the proposals fit the criteria for the Fund.

Queries

Any queries about these proposals should be addressed in the first instance to Gita Jackson, Children and Families Division, Scottish Executive Education Department (telephone 0131-244 7670, fax 0131-244 0978, e-mail: gita.jackson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk )

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