This report was introduced by the Head of Education and Family Support. Its purpose was to:

• update Cabinet on the Relationship Building Together (RBT) project; and,
• to outline key milestones prior to seeking formal Cabinet approval in September 2023 following Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) committee approval on 24 July 2023.

The key points were as follows:

• On 2 February 2023, the local authority successfully secured a bid for circa £800k through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF).
• From 59 applications across England and Wales, the RBT project is one of only three successful projects and the only project in Wales to secure funding. The RBT project is an evaluation of services working with children using the Trauma Recovery Model (TRM). There is particular interest from the Home Office in the project to consider how the evaluation may inform future policy around working with children who have experienced trauma.
• The project will be piloted within six teams across the whole family support group and be implemented from September 2023 until March 2025.
• In September 2023, the local authority will be entering into a service level agreement (SLA) with YEF. The full SLA will be available following the YEF committee approval on 24 July 2023. The SLA and its full terms and conditions will be provided to Cabinet by way of an update at the next meeting on 19 September 2023.
• In order for project implementation to take effect from 20 September 2023, planning is required by departments over the summer period and prior to the Cabinet meeting date in September 2023.
• YEF has provided an example of their general terms and conditions for consideration set out at Appendix A. The finalised agreement within any specified terms and conditions will be provided on 19 September 2023.

The Cabinet Member for Education asked the Head of Education and Family Support to thank and congratulate the team for all the hard work in securing the funding for this project. The fact it was the only one in Wales to secure funding was a remarkable achievement.

He went on to stress that this was a massive collaborative project, with teams working across the Council, not just in the education, transport, but in social services and wellbeing. This was a true one Council collaborative approach.

He thought that, in terms of monitoring progress, the best place would be the Cabinet Committee Corporate Parenting (CCCP).

The Leader indicated that he supported the proposition that the project report to CCCP. He thought this was an innovative pilot project and that he was very excited about it. He also thought that there would need to be careful monitoring of the outcomes, but he was sure they would be positive and that one of the strengths to this project was the assessment and ongoing evaluation by the University of Kent.

The Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Wellbeing welcomed the project and asked how the outcomes would be sustained once the funding ran out in 2025. The Head of Education and Family Support responded that it was hoped the project would leave a very positive legacy. There would be five new members of staff, and they would have the kind of skill set the organisation would always need. There was a risk with any temporary funding, but it was felt that it was very low risk because there would always be vacancies for people of the kind they hoped to recruit.

RESOLVED:

Cabinet:

• noted the content of the report; and
• provided approval in principle to commence the project in September 2023 subject to finalised terms and conditions outlined in the SLA.