Meeting documents

To consider this report.

The Committee considered this report that provided details of the public consultation and emerging proposals. Final recommendations will be presented to the Cabinet for consideration on the 11 February 2019.

Members were reminded that last September the Cabinet agreed to launch a public consultation exercise about the provision of level 2 services, namely ‘get-set’ level 2, with the proposal to make significant changes to this service (CAF-14b). Details of the consultation and the responses were highlighted in the attached appendices to the report. It was noted that following the consultation process a number of new opportunities have been followed up, most notably with the district councils to explore greater joint working across community development roles and resources.

It was noted that most of the feedback obtained from respondents during the consultation had either replied with ‘strongly disagree’ or ‘disagree’ when asked about the Council’s proposed approach. Many outlined concerns that the proposals appeared to be around a major assumption that other groups and partner agencies would have the capacity to take on get-set’s workload and this was against a backdrop uncertainty about the impact of universal credit and less than a year before the changes would come in to effect. Others noted that there was not an endless supply of competent volunteers and there was insufficient data to evidence there was capacity for a smooth transition. Concerns were raised about how elected members could ensure accountability and oversight if the proposals for ‘get-set’ services to be delivered in a fragmented were implemented.

Members heard that the Council was pleased to be working more closely with District Councils to explore greater opportunities to collaborate on community development and the multi-agency Early Help Commissioning Board had an increasingly strong membership which was actively engaging the need for effective early help across Somerset. It was reported that the Council and partners had agreed that providing early help for families was everyone’s business and it is clear that ‘get-set’ had gone above and beyond for families

sometimes in the absence of other partners meeting their early help responsibilities.

It was also explained that following the staff reductions already undertaken in ‘get-set’ the level 2 service currently consisted of just 11 FTE family support workers and apprentices covering the whole of Somerset, and this reportedly cost £450k. The Council’s view that investing an annual £200k in community based local support had the potential to create a larger, more effective and sustainable resource with the ability to attract further funding from other sources.

There was some further discussion about:

·       Making the best use of a small staff team and arrangements for West Somerset and South Somerset worked well

·       Concern about the responsibilities of health visitors

·       Sharing information across agencies

·       Building community capacity

·       Establishment of an annual £200k commissioning/grant fund and the process

·       There had been an 8 week consultation around the county

·       Concerns about the reduction of the service

It was agreed that there would be further work carried out to explore and mitigate gaps identified by cessation of get-set level 2 with community connect and community catalysts.

It was also agreed that responses from other partner organisations which raised concerns would also be added into the report on the consultation and that this would be added onto the forward work programme for a future update.