Minutes:
The Deputy Mayor and Executive Member for
Culture and Communities and the Executive Director of Children’s Services
submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report
was to seek endorsement for the Middlesbrough Children Matter (MCM) brand and
priorities. The report also proposed the development of a town-wide children’s
strategy and supporting delivery plan, which set out Middlesbrough’s ambition
for all children and directly linked to the Local Authority’s MCM vision,
mission and priorities. It was planned that the strategy would be informed and
co-produced with children and young people.
The Corporate Reference Group was made up of
key partners from across all of the Council’s directorates. The group had an
established work plan that outlined how each directorate could contribute to
the delivery of the Children’s Services Improvement Programme and that was
monitored via monthly meetings.
As the Children’s Services Improvement
Programme focussed solely on the Council’s response to Ofsted findings and had
a clear set of priorities and outcomes to deliver against, it was agreed that
through the Corporate Reference Group a wider offer would also be created.
It was planned that the wider offer would be
the endorsement of the Council’s MCM priorities through the development of a
corporate Children’s and Young Person’s Strategy. The strategy would focus on
improving the lives of all children of Middlesbrough and not just those who
were impacted by the Council’s ongoing improvement journey.
The current MCM mission was ‘to show
Middlesbrough Children that they Matter’, the priorities that sat below that
were detailed at paragraph 10 of the submitted report. To ensure the Children and Young Person’s Strategy was co-produced
with Middlesbrough’s children and young people, a town-wide consultation of
those priorities was proposed.
OPTIONS
Another
option would be to do nothing. That was not recommended as it would have meant that
Middlesbrough did not have a clear strategy aimed solely at improving the lives
of all children and young people within the town, which was directly
co-produced with children and young people of the town.
ORDERED
That the
Middlesbrough Children Matter (MCM) approach and priorities be endorsed, and
that those priorities form part of a town-wide children’s strategy which
outlines Middlesbrough’s ambition for all children within the town, directly
linked to the Council’s (MCM) vision and mission.
REASON
The
decision was recommended as it would further support the Council’s ongoing
Children’s Services improvements by setting an ambition for all children within
the town, which included direct input from children and young people. That
planned to allow Middlesbrough Council to have a focus on how it improved the
lives of all children and young people and also extended its collaborative
working through MCM by bringing key partners in to support a shared vision. As
the strategy would be informed by a town-wide consultation, the associated cost
to deliver, benefits and risks were not fully known. Those would all be
confirmed during the strategy development.
Internal
engagement with the Corporate Reference Group was undertaken to determine the
decision. That was not statutorily required. The outcomes of the consultation
found that all directorates supported the proposal of a children’s strategy
outlining Middlesbrough’s ambition for all children.
Supporting documents: