Agenda item

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.