Purpose

To seek approval to establish a
children’s services transformation programme and governance
arrangements to deliver the national Families First Partnership
Programme.

To seek approval to accept the Children’s Social Care
Prevention Grant and delegate allocation of spend to the Executive
Director of Children’s Services to deliver the implementation
of Family Help, Child Protection reforms and Family Group Decision
Making through the Families First Partnership Programme.

Decision

In coming to this decision I have given due
and full regard to the requirements of the public sector equality
duty contained in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (“the
Act”) by reference to the law itself and also the relevant
Equality Impact Assessment, which was prepared in accordance with
the requirements of the Act.
 
Having fully considered all the available
information, I have decided to reject the alternative options and
take the recommended decision to:
 
1. Ratify a decision taken by the Executive
Director for Children’s Services to: a) receive the DfE
Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant of £1,570,058
that the council has been allocated in its baseline budget for the
purpose of implementing the Children’s Social Care National
reform agenda during the period 2025-26; and
 
b) enter into the national Families First
Partnership Programme from the 1st April 2025 for the purposes of
delivering the social care reforms aligned to the above grant
during the period 2025-2027; and
 
c) establish a Gloucestershire County Council
Children’s Service Transformation Programme as detailed in
the Department for Education Families First Programme Guide (March
2025) and described in this report
 
2. Delegate authority to the Executive
Director of Children’s Services, in consultation with the
relevant Cabinet Member to:
 
 a) utilise the
above Department for Education Children’s Social Care
Prevention Grant to resource additional council and statutory
partner staffing and resources (materials, activities and
accommodation) within the council’s Children’s Project
and Transformation team and Children’s Early Help and Social
Care services; and
 
 b) distribute
funding by agreeing a variation to existing Gloucestershire County
Council Children and Families Centres contracts in order to allow
them to employ additional staff and to utilise the relevant
existing functions for the purposes of delivering the services
described in this decision report in line with the scheme of
delegation.
 
 For the reasons
set out in the report.