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Salford City Council - Record of Decision
 
I, Councillor Cammell, Lead
Member for Children’s
Services, in exercise of the powers contained within the City
Council Constitution do hereby
approve: The grant allocation spend for
Salford CVS, Northern Care Alliance, Manchester Foundation Trust
and Trafford & Salford Home Start to support Salford’s
Family Hubs Start for Life Delivery Plan.
The
Reasons are:
·        
In the summer 2022, Salford was confirmed as one of
the 75 upper tier Local Authorities (LA) selected to be eligible
for funding to deliver the Family Hubs and Start for Life
programme.
·        
The programme is jointly overseen by the Department
for Education (DfE) and the Department of Health and Social Care
(DHSC) and aims to enable LAs to transform services into a Family
Hub model. It also includes new investment for essential services
in the crucial Start for Life period from conception to age two,
and services which support parents to care for and interact with
their children
·        
In October 2022, DfE confirmed Salford’s
inclusion in the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme and a
formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was completed on the
13th October 2022.
·        
Salford is eligible for up to £3.79m funding
between 2022-2025, to support delivery through the main Family Hubs
and Start for Life programme
·        
In December 2022, DfE confirmed that Salford
was selected as a trailblazer in the areas of perinatal mental
health and parent, infant relationships, infant feeding, and
parenting support. Trailblazer status meant an additional funding
allocation of £183k on top of our existing funding allocation
for the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme.
·        
The total funding available to Salford to support
the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme and Trailblazer
activity is £3.97m over the period 2022-2025.
 
Options considered and rejected were:Not Applicable
 
Assessment of Risk:
Due to
change in government ministers there has already been significant
delays in the funding being allocated and received by Salford City
Council. 
Challenges in identifying the most appropriate governance to
manage the draw-down of the ring-fenced grant and allocate to
relevant partners have resulted in further delays. This means there
is risk that delivery for children, young people and their families
is delayed and unspent DfE grant funding may be clawed
back.
 
This
creates a risk is that Salford will not be able to deliver the
Family Hubs Start for Life program as per agreed plan and Salford
children, young people and their families.
 
The source of funding
is: DfE Family Hubs & Start for Life Grant
 
Equality Impact
Assessment: N/A
 
Legal Advice
obtained:Claire Incledon –
Interim Head of Governance
The decision is for SCC to
agree to manage the draw-down of ring-fenced grants under the DfE
family hub funding programme for delivery partners.
 
None of the allocations suggest
that the Council will be incurring significant expenditure from its
budget lines, and following the legal
advice therefore these are not key decisions. As non-key decisions
the financial threshold is not applicable and the decisions can be
taken by the Lead Member.
 
Financial Advice
obtained:Beth Mitchell - Date provided: 26/02/23
The
source of funding is:
Family Hubs & Start for Life Grant
The
above provision is required in order to enhance services delivered
through family hubs, therefore ensuring families can access the
support they need, and parents and carers can improve outcomes for
babies and children.
The
expenditure will be closely monitored, alongside other provisions
required to be made from within the scope of the grant. Monitoring
will cover the entire grant and the effect of the above costs as
part of it.
 
Procurement Advice
Obtained: N/A
 
HR
Advice obtained: N/A
 
Climate Change Advice obtained: N/A
The following documents have been used to assist
the decision process:
Family Hubs & Start for life programme Guides

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide
 
Contact Officer:Service Manager – Starting Life
Well – David Fielding
0161
778 0707
The appropriate scrutiny to
call-in the decision is the Children’s Scrutiny
Panel                

Signed:
    Councillor Jim Cammell                     
Dated:       28.04.23                                
               
Lead
Member for Children’s and Young People’s
Services
 

For
Democratic Services use only

This decision was
published on 10.05.23                                           

This decision will
come in force at 4.00 p.m. on 17.05.23                   
      
                        unless it is called-in in accordance with the
Decision Making Process Rules.