The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing presented a report which sought Cabinet approval to approve a 3 year plan to improve outcomes for children and families in Bridgend.

She explained that a detailed expert review undertaken by the Institute of Public Care (IPC) commissioned by the Corporate Management Board (CMB). The analysis from that review is summarised in this report and is the underpinning evidence to support the system changes in the plan.

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing highlighted the findings/statistics from the IPC review which were set out at section 3 of the report.

The IPC review covered the following themes:

1. Hearing and acting on the voice of children and families
2. Securing a stable, well-supported, motivated and permanent workforce.
3. Improving practice.
4. Maximising the impact of our services and interventions.
5. A more effective response to families with complex needs
6. Seamless working with partners
7. Better intelligence and information systems

The key strategic actions that had been set out for BCBC to undertake over the next 3 years and how progress will be measured were set out in the plan at Appendix 1.

The deputy leader stated that the report had been a long time coming, and while it was a change to the current operating model, it was a necessary and sustainable plan to ensure the safety of our residents. She added that all evidence from our independent advisers, the Institute of Public Care, JICPA and Care Inspectorate Wales have all indicated that a 3 year sustainability plan to improve the outcomes for children and family services in Bridgend is essential.

The Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Wellbeing asked what would be different with the new model compared with the current model.

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing explained that while services users will access a range of options how they see fit, the new model will look to condense these options into a single point of access. An example of this elsewhere in Wales was Gwent Council and their SPACE model which cuts down on handoffs to other services, cross referrals and waiting lists for services.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources and Legal asked how were we going to monitor the progress of this plan and how well it was working.

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing explained that following a recent Scrutiny meeting one of the recommendations was to ensure that the service was tighter in the measuring of progress against the performance. One of the ways we would look to do this is establish a Social Services Improvement Board with the Leader others Cabinet Members and CMB being part of that of that board.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

• Approve ‘Think Family’, the 3 year sustainability plan for children and families in Bridgend.

• Agreed that the budget virement of £1m to social services be submitted to Council for approval in accordance with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules;

• Noted the additional use of £2.5m EMR’s in the current financial year to support the service as detailed in the report.