Early Help Partnership Strategy consultation 2021

Closed 12 Dec 2021

Opened 1 Nov 2021

Contact

Education Transformation and Improvement Team

0300 131 6000

engageeducation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Feedback updated 8 Jul 2022

We asked

The Early Help Partnership Strategy for 2022 - 2025 sets out:

  • what is known about the need for early help
  • why early help is important
  • actions to deliver our vision for children, young people and families in Buckinghamshire

We consulted the draft strategy from 1 November to 12 December 2021. The consultation followed extensive stakeholder engagement.

You said

As well as the information we received from stakeholders, we received 20 responses to the consultation. This included:

  • 3 responses from parents or carers of children / young people aged 25 or under
  • 10 responses from professionals working with children, young people, and families    
  • 4 responses from organisations in Buckinghamshire

We asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the proposed strategy priorities: 

  • Priority 1: Strengthen multi-agency strategic governance and joint ownership of the Early Help Strategy
    • 95% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with this priority
  • Priority 2: Further develop the Early Help offer to include a targeted response to the increased risk of long-term disadvantage for children, young people and families due to the Covid-19 pandemic
    • 90% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with this priority
  • Priority 3: Work together to provide effective Early Help in line with our strategic objectives and Early Help Partnership Action Plan, that supports children, young people and families to easily access support.
    • 90% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with this priority
  • Priority 4: Develop a common understanding of Early Help across the partnership and promote a cohesive Buckinghamshire offer.
    • 90% of respondents strongly agreed or agreed with this priority

We also engaged children and young people to understand their views on Early Help and their experience of services:

  • Pupils in years 11, 12 and 13 at the Grange School in Aylesbury 
  • 16 young people working with the Family Support Service ranging between 11 to 25 years

For more information about the consultation responses, please see the Early Help Partnership Strategy, 2022 - 25 Consultation Outcome Report (PDF 0.43MB).

We did

At its meeting on 10 May 2022, Buckinghamshire Council adopted the Early Help Partnership Strategy 2022 - 2025.

A partnership action plan will outline what we need to do to meet the four priorities. 

The action plan will be reviewed by the Children and Young People’s Partnership Board to assess and challenge progress. It will be a living document that’s updated to reflect changing priorities.

Overview

Buckinghamshire Children and Young People's Partnership logo

We are holding this consultation to gather your views about our draft Early Help Partnership Strategy 2022 to 2025 (the strategy). Our current strategy expires in March 2022, so we have created a new one to help us plan for the next 3 years.

What Early Help is

We want to make sure that children, young people, and their families receive support to deal with problems before they get worse. This support is known as Early Help.

When problems grow, they can become longer-lasting, traumatic, harder to resolve and need more costly support from services like social care, health services and police.

Early Help involves many different services, which are provided by a range of organisations across Buckinghamshire. These organisations include the council, NHS, schools, charities, community groups and others.

There are different types of support, such as advice and information, drop-in sessions at Family Centres, direct support from an individual professional, or coordinated support from a group of professionals working together.

Who the strategy affects

The contents of this strategy will affect children, young people and families in Buckinghamshire who may need support to deal with the problems they face.

These could be to do with behaviours and boundaries at home, lack of routine, school attendance, lack of self-esteem or confidence, financial problems, and many more.

The strategy also affects organisations that work with children, young people, and their families.

The strategy

The purpose of the strategy is to outline:

  • the need for Early Help
  • why it is important
  • what the partnership is already doing
  • what our priorities are for the future
  • what actions we will take
  • how we will measure success

The strategy sets out 4 priorities:

  1. strengthen multi-agency strategic governance and joint ownership of the Early Help Strategy
  2. further develop the Early Help offer to include a targeted response to the increased risk of long-term disadvantage for children, young people, and families due to the Covid-19 pandemic
  3. work together to provide effective Early Help in line with our strategic objectives and Early Help Partnership Action Plan that supports children, young people, and families to easily access support
  4. develop a common understanding of Early Help across the partnership and promote a cohesive Buckinghamshire offer

Please find below the full Strategy and Summary documents we have drafted. We strongly recommend you read these before providing your feedback.

How to get involved

  • complete the online survey below
  • a printed version of the survey is available at the bottom of this page for downloading or contact us to request a printed copy
  • register to attend one of our online consultation events by emailing us on engageeducation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or phoning us on 0300 131 6000. We are holding these on the following dates:
    • Tuesday 9 November, 2 to 3pm
    • Wednesday 10 November, 11am to 12pm
    • Monday 15 November, 7 to 8pm

What happens next

We will review all the feedback we receive to guide us in making any relevant changes to the Early Help Partnership Strategy and Summary documents.

The final, amended versions of both documents will then go to the Children and Young People’s Partnership Board and the Council’s Corporate Management Team for approval.

Once approved, we will publish the strategy and summary on our Family Information Service website and promote them.

We will update this page with the outcome of the consultation process when it is complete, sometime in Spring 2022.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for the purpose of this consultation. We will keep the information confidential and store it securely, in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.

Areas

  • All Areas

Interests

  • Health
  • Schools & education
  • Children & young people
  • Communities