Children, Young
People and Education Committee
From:
Welsh Government
Date:
22 November
2017
Time:
9:00 –
10:00
Title:
Evidence paper on the Draft Budget: 2018-19: Welsh
Government
1.
Introduction
This paper provides comments and
information to the Committee regarding the Communities and Children
(C&C) portfolio and future programme budget proposals outlined
within the Detailed Draft Budget which was laid on 24 October 2017
that fall within the remit of this Committee.
2.
Summary Financial
Tables
The tables below provide a
breakdown, as requested, of the 2018-19 Communities and Children
MEG allocations, as relevant to children and young people, by
Spending Programme Area, Action and Budget Expenditure Line
(BEL).
Resource
|
SPA
|
ACTION
|
BEL
|
2018-19
Draft
Budget
Allocation
£000’s
|
|
Enabling
Children and Communities
|
Supporting
Children
|
Support for
Childcare and Play
|
27,706
|
|
Support for
Children's Rights
|
357
|
|
Supporting
Children *
|
1,989
|
|
Children's
Commissioner
|
1,543
|
|
Cafcass
Cymru
|
10,267
|
|
Advocacy
Board
|
1,100
|
|
Early
Intervention, Prevention
and
Support**
|
Prevention and
Early Intervention
|
140,156
|
|
|
|
183,118
|
*
Formerly Grants
in Support of Child & Family Services BEL and Services for
Children BEL. Merged into one BEL
** Renamed
Action - formerly 'Prevention and Early
Intervention’
Capital
|
SPA
|
ACTION
|
BEL
|
2018-19
Draft
Budget
Allocation
£000’s
|
|
Communities and
Tackling Poverty
|
Communities and
Tackling Poverty
|
Flying Start
Capital
|
566
|
|
|
|
|
566
|
3.
Budget
Overview
This budget includes spending
plans for 2018-19, together with indicative revenue budgets for
2019-20 and indicative capital plans until 2020-21. This is the
second budget of this term of Government and the third year of the
UK Government’s current Spending Review
settlement.
Austerity continues to be a
defining feature of public expenditure. This long period of
sustained reductions has had an impact on all services, even those
where we have been able to provide some protection. It means that
as Welsh Government and as a National Assembly for Wales we
continue to face tough choices.
An analysis of
evidence on current trends and projections has informed a focus on
the areas most critical to delivering the needs of the population
of Wales and has informed these spending proposals.
In September, we published our
national strategy designed to bring together the efforts of the
whole public sector towards this government’s central mission
of delivering Prosperity for All. This places the Well-being of
Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015 and the national goals at the
heart of our decision making. The twelve well-being objectives
represent the areas where the Welsh Government can make the
greatest contribution to the national goals, working in partnership
with others. The Act has been used to inform spending plans, to
maximise opportunities to join up activities across my portfolio
and to align resources with the national strategy.
The priorities for my portfolio
are to build resilient communities, and to prevent future problems
within those communities. I have had to make some tough decisions.
Savings have had to be made in some areas in 2018-19, with greater
savings needed in 2019-20. However, I have managed to protect front
line services from the worst of the cuts in 2018-19. This includes
protecting funding for Flying Start, Families First and Youth
Justice Services.
In finding savings, I have been
rigorous in applying the principles of the Well-being of Future
Generations Act. I am looking to ensure that within my department
we bear down on administrative inefficiencies which is why I have
committed to find £2.5m of savings while shielding front line
funding and the services they support in 2018-19.
In Taking Wales Forward we have
pledged to provide working
parents of 3 and 4 years olds with 30 hours per week of free early
education and childcare for up to 48 weeks of the year, delivered
in a way that works for parents and children. Expenditure will increase to
£25m in 2018-19 and £45m in 2019-20 to support the
roll-out of the offer. I have also been able to invest an
additional £500k in the Domestic Abuse Support Grant and
£1m in Discretionary Assistance Fund to support some of our
most vulnerable citizens.
I
want all local authorities to be able to respond to the needs of
their population, to promote their well-being, to plan for the long
term and to focus on early intervention, prevention and
support. So I am challenging all PSBs and local authorities
across Wales to engage in service re-design and to do this I will
work with them to identify where we can make funding flexibilities
available.
Specific to my portfolio in
2019-20, I will be considering the introduction of a new Early
Intervention, Prevention and Support Grant subject to engagement on
the issue – this means creating one grant to replace the
myriad of funding streams that currently exist. Each of these
grants creates an administrative and compliance burden which could
be removed allowing efficiencies to be made. But more
importantly this proposed change could empower local authorities
and PSBs to plan with the needs of their citizens in
mind.
I
know that a move to a single grant will offer many opportunities
but will also present some challenges as well. With this
greater flexibility there will be greater accountability. The
mechanisms for this will be developed with key partners to ensure
we get this right operationally and strategically. This is why I
intend to work with a small group of local authorities and a PSB in
2018-19 to pioneer these flexibilities, so that we can learn from
each other before considering extending further in 2019-20.
In the meantime all local authorities will be able to benefit from
increased flexibility to move funds between grants.
Through this proposed approach I
want to release creativity and innovation in our local authorities
and PSBs to find solutions to long standing local issues. This
approach will build on the work of the Cabinet Secretary for
Finance and Local Government to reform local government, ensuring
greater participation in civil society and democracy.
With these changes in 2019-20, I
am confident that working together we can mitigate the effects of
austerity and reduce the impact of the £16m of savings that
need to be found over the next two years.
4.
Commentary on
Actions and detail of Budget Expenditure Line (BEL)
allocations
Final outturns
for 2016-17 and forecast outturns for 2017-18 based on estimates as
at 13 October 2017 are provided at Annex A along with indicative
allocations for 2019-20.
Commentary on
each of the Actions within the C&C MEG as relevant to children
and young people, including an analysis and explanation of changes
between the Draft Budget 2018-19 and the First Supplementary Budget
(June 2017) is provided at Annex B.
5.
Children’s
rights and equalities
Impact assessments
The Equality Act 2010 aims to
ensure public authorities consider how they can positively
contribute to a fairer society in their day-to-day activities
through paying due regard to eliminating unlawful discrimination,
advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good
relations.
In terms of the Welsh Government
Draft Budget, Ministers have again decided to complete an
Integrated Impact Assessment which takes into account
children’s rights alongside impacts on equality, Welsh
language and socio-economic disadvantage. This approach was
informed by recommendations from a range of stakeholders including
the Assembly Committees, the Budgetary Advisory Group for Equality
and the EHRC. The SIIA highlights where such impacts were
identified.
An integrated assessment
provides a more comprehensive assessment of the overall impact of
spending decisions. This approach reflects our wider understanding
of the sustainability of our decisions and the aims and objectives
set out in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act,
including the focus on prevention, collaboration and long-termism.
This impact assessment was published alongside the draft
budget.
As a Government, we are
responsible for proposing and implementing policy and legislation
which would apply in Wales and which aims to improve the lives of
everyone in Wales. In doing so, we are absolutely committed to
listening to the views of the people of Wales, including children
and young people. To enable this to happen, I am continuing
to provide funding in 2018-19 to enable children and young people
to have their opinions heard and influence our work while I
consider the best way to hear the views of Children and Young
People.
All of our grant award letters
set out that recipients; “must apply a policy of equal
opportunities as employers, as users of volunteers, and as
providers of services, regardless of race, gender/gender
identification, sexual orientation, religion and belief, age or any
disability.”
There are no significant changes
to either children’s rights or equalities as a result of this
budget. We will ensure our Families First programme will
continue to promote the development of more effective services for
families with a disability as well as encouraging disability
concerns to be embedded in mainstream service
delivery.
The funding we provide to the
Children’s Commissioner enables the organisation to make a
significant contribution to developing policy in relation to
equalities. The Commissioner must have regard to the UNCRC in
exercising her functions to ensure children’s rights are
upheld in Wales. The role also allows the review and
monitoring of the arrangements which certain public bodies have in
place to safeguard and promote the rights of children in respect of
dealing with complaints and representations, ensuring that proper
action is taken in response to whistleblowing, representing the
views and wishes of children, and providing children with advice
and support. The Commissioner allocates resource into listening to
the experiences of children and young people’s in their
everyday life through survey, Ambassador Schemes in schools and
communities, and face to face meetings.
Children’s Rights Impact
Assessments (CRIA) have been conducted for many areas within the
Communities and Children Portfolio including:
·
In relation to the
Positive Parenting Campaign. There were no changes to allocations
as a result of the assessments. The CRIA is available at Annex
C.
·
A CRIA was completed
in relation to the Children and Families Delivery Grant within the
Families First Budget. There were no changes in 2016-17 to
allocations as a result of the assessments. The CRIA is available
at Annex D:.
·
There was no
requirement to carry out impact assessments in respect of
refocusing the Families First programme.
·
A
full impact assessment will be conducted if we introduce a new
Early Intervention and Prevention Support Grant using information
gathered from the local authorities who will be trialling greater
funding flexibilities in 2018-19.
Equalities,
sustainability and the Welsh Language
All programme
publications and promotional materials we produce are printed
bilingually and all services to families are provided bilingually.
All of our social media communications are posted bilingually and
all messages to Programme staff are sent in accordance with their
specified language preference. We ensure Welsh language provision
is an integral element of the Flying Start and Families First
programmes with a requirement on local authorities to respond to
parental choice, and to deliver Welsh-medium provision where
required. Our strategic guidance makes it clear that local
authorities must put in place arrangements to meet the preference
of parents for Welsh medium and/or bilingual provision.
Our Childcare
activities include support for organisations such as Mudiad
Meithrin and the Cwlwm consortium which provide Welsh Medium
childcare. Our enhanced childcare offer will work to ensure
that there is adequate Welsh Language Provision, for those
requesting it. In line with the Welsh Language Standard
requirements, our Parents, Childcare and Employment (PaCE)
programme asks each of its participants what their preferred
language would be for receiving services. These services are then
delivered to the individual according to their
preference.
Wellbeing and
Future Generations Act
All Cabinet
Secretaries are committed to embedding the Well-being of Future
Generations (Wales) Act to improve how we make decisions about the
social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales.
Our goal is to ensure we reflect the sustainable development
principle and our spending plans aim to achieve a balance between
short and long-term priorities. We recognise the need to
collaborate with our partners and to use our collective resources
effectively to plan for the tough choices ahead.
The First
Minister published ‘Prosperity for all – the national
strategy’ in September. It sets the aims of this Government
and provides clarity about how we want Government and delivery
partners to be part of a new approach to delivering priorities. The
Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 supports the
Welsh Government and delivery partners in making these important
changes to the way we work.
The strategy
sets out 12 revised well-being objectives and the steps we propose
to take to meet them. Together with the well-being statement
published alongside the strategy, these objectives set out the
areas where the Welsh Government can make the greatest contribution
to the seven well-being goals for Wales and provide the basis for
strong partnerships with others.
As stated
above, I have taken the Act into account as I have made tough
choices about funding allocations across the whole MEG. The
Sustainable Development Principle is a fundamental part of how I
want to continue to develop and implement my programmes. These
programmes seek to ensure the needs of the present are met without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. The principle is made up of five key ways of working which
apply to this portfolio as follows:
- Collaboration
–
recognising that many of the solutions to the
‘sustainability’ challenges Wales faces cannot be
solved by one organisation. Multi-agency working is now
recognised as essential and not optional. Our Flying Start
and Families First Programmes have improved the way agencies work
together to support our most vulnerable families through joint
commissioning of services and Team around the Family approaches to
service delivery. I want this to go further by working with
pilot areas to understand what an Early Years Service should
comprise of and what steps we need to take to enable such a service
to be developed. This will mean that we continue to pursue
opportunities for collaboration across Government and with other
partners, including the third sector, in order that programmes and
services reach into the communities that most need them. CAFCASS
will strengthen the partnerships with local authorities and
contribute to improving services and outcomes for children and
families by sharing data and information more effectively. With
Looked after Children, the protection of individuals and
improvement in well-being outcomes will be achieved through
collaboration via multi-agency working and
communities.
- Integration
– within
the Flying Start, Families First and the Communities First Legacy
programmes local authorities are expected to involve other relevant
programmes and organisations including Local Health Boards, and
third and private sectors in drawing up their plans, ensuring that
needs assessment and delivery are jointly managed and, where
appropriate, there is a seamless progression for children between
different interventions and programmes.
- Long-term
– I have
taken account of the potential long-term impacts of decisions and
balanced this against the short-term needs. In particular the
evidence is that, through investing in early years and family
support, this will have greater benefits in the long term.
For example, investing in the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
Support Hub to work with practitioners to develop an ACE informed
workforce will support our goal to reduce the impact of ACEs which,
evidence suggests, will have a benefit on our public services over
the longer-term.
- Prevention
–Prevention
and early intervention is an approach which not only benefits
people and communities but has the potential to generate long term
cost savings. This approach is at the heart of my programmes, in
particular Families First, and in the approach to tackling the
inequalities experienced by those with protected characteristics
and those experiencing multiple ACEs. CAFCASS will continue to work
with parents and carers who are involved in private law matters
that are before the family court to support them to come to a
mutual agreement on arrangements that will promote the physical
safety and emotional well being of their child.
- Involvement
– a core
tenet of what this portfolio does is recognising the importance of
involving people in the decisions that affect them. An example of
this is our highly
successful #TalkChildcare campaign which has engaged over 6,500
parents and providers since its launch in August 2016, giving us
confidence that we are developing an offer which meets the needs of
working families. Promoting the
rights of children can not be achieved without the involvement and
voice of the child heard in decision making about their lives. As
set out above the proposed single grant and Early Years service
will require the ongoing involvement of key stakeholders and
service providers to help shape the approach.
6.
Other
information
Value for
Money
Evaluation
takes place as part of normal grant and project management
activities. Where I directly fund Third Sector organisations,
my officials undertake due diligence before a grant is awarded and
then regularly review during the life of the project before
payments are made. In relation to
funding to local authorities, I will continue to collect data from
them to monitor performance, assess outcomes and drive the future
improvement and delivery including value for money.
Prevention and
sustainability
I recognise the
on-going need to make hard choices. In my budget preparations, I
have focused on how best to meet the growing needs of key service
areas within the MEG in the face of another challenging budget.
Over successive years, prioritising preventative spending has been
a way of avoiding more costly interventions at a future point and
improving the quality of people’s lives over the long
term.
These budget
proposals, therefore, reflect my continuing commitment to protect
and prioritise investment that supports preventative measures as
far as possible. The spending decisions have not only
considered how best to meet the current demand for services but
have also focused on supporting interventions that are able to
prevent problems arising in the future. This preventative approach
is an important part of our planning for public services, both now
and in the future.
Prevention and
early intervention are key drivers in considering the proposed
changes to a single grant from 2019-20. I am committed to working
with communities to build resilience and support children and young
people to have the very best outcomes possible. I cannot achieve
this on my own. Collaboration with Cabinet colleagues across
Government as well as with key partners and stakeholders continues
to underpin my approach to delivering on my priorities.
We know that
the early years are vital and that early life experiences have a
profound impact on a child’s development. That’s why
ongoing investment in Flying Start, Families First, parenting, the
childcare offer and the ACE support hub are crucial and why I am
looking more broadly at what an Early Years Service could look like
learning lessons from what we know already works. Likewise, the
funding allocations to Advocacy, the St David’s Day Fund and
supporting Children’s Rights all have a strong focus on
prevention in the longer term.
Legislation
Assessing the
costs of legislation and the impact on those it affects is an
essential part of the policy development process. I recognise
there cannot be a blank cheque for legislation and that every new
commitment made has to be paid for by a cutback somewhere
else.
This is why
every Bill is subject to a robust assessment of costs and benefits,
achieved through consultation and engagement with our stakeholders
in the development of the accompanying regulatory impact
assessments (RIAs). This ensures our decisions are informed
by the people who will be affected by them.
Steps are being
taken to improve the clarity and consistency of RIAs, but changes
made to a Bill during scrutiny and other factors will inevitably
result in some variances between estimated costs at the published
RIA stage and actual costs during implementation. In accordance
with the commitment given by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and
Local Government to the Finance Committee, a year on year table
showing the cost of legislation falling to the Welsh Government was
published as part of the detailed draft budget on 24
October.
The First
Minister has set out the Welsh Government’s intention to
introduce legislation to remove the defence of reasonable
punishment in Year 3 of the legislative timetable and that formal
consultation will be undertaken in the coming months. The
£400k currently allocated to support positive parenting will
be used in part to support the communication, engagement and
consultation activity associated with the legislation in
2018-19.
In addition to
this we are bringing forward legislation in relation to our
childcare offer. The Bill, which is scheduled for
introduction to the National Assembly for Wales in Year 2 of the
legislative programme, will help ensure that the application
process is as straightforward as possible.
Over
6,000 parents, providers and other stakeholders have been engaged
to date as part of our #TalkChildcare campaign and we will be
undertaking further consultation and engagement as we continue to
test the offer, with £70m over the next two years to support
delivery. This will be reflected in the RIA.
Implications of
the UK exit from the EU
The Welsh
Government established a specific team to co-ordinate European
Transition issues, which is working closely with the existing team
in Brussels and policy departments.
There are no
immediate direct effects of the decision to leave the European
Union on the core programmes that form part of my portfolio. We
will ensure the impact of leaving the European Union is carefully
monitored and discussions held to limit the impact. I have agreed
funding to deliver workshops across Wales to enable children and
young people to have a voice and have their views taken into
account on the European Union – at a cost of up to
£50,000 over the financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19. These
views will be passed on to the European Advisory Group (EAG) so
that we can be sure they are given serious consideration by the EAG
and by the Welsh Government.
7.
Specific
Areas
Flying
Start
Taking Wales
Forwardconfirms the
Welsh Government commitment to Flying Start. This evidence based
programme is a key aspect of Prosperity for All and we will
build on what works in Flying Start as part of creating a more
joined up early years system.
The core
entitlements of the Flying Start programme are:
-
high quality,
part-time childcare for 2-3 year olds;
-
an
enhanced Health Visiting service (where the Health Visitor caseload
is capped at 110 children);
-
access to
parenting support and programmes; and
-
access to
speech, language and communication support.
The programme
is currently being delivered to over 37,000 children less than 4
years of age, which equates to around 25% of all children under the
age of 4 in Wales. Flying Start is geographically targeted using
income benefit data provided by the Department of Work and Pensions
and HM Revenue and Customs. The data provides local authorities
with information on geographical Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs)
which shows the proportion of children under four years of age
living in income benefit households in each of those areas.
The Welsh Government guidance directs local authorities to
prioritise the LSOAs for Flying Start support in a ranked list in
order of the highest concentration of disadvantaged
children.
Flying Start
can support children and their families living outside of Flying
Start areas. Outreach funding can be used to continue to
provide support to children who have moved out of an eligible area;
to help children who live outside of an eligible area as part of a
tailored package or support; or to target children of specific
communities of interest e.g. those living in refuges; traveller
communities; homeless shelters; Flying Start women in prisons. I
would like local authorities to use their discretion in how they
allocate the grant in order to meet local needs. Programme funding
for 2018-19 remains at the same level as 2017-18.
Flying Start
has been subject to a robust independent programme of evaluation
which considers impact and value for money. Evaluation reports are
published on the Welsh Government Social Research web page. The
latest statistical release, published in July 2016, can be found
at:
http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/flying-start/?lang=en
Both Flying
Start and Families First are early intervention programmes informed
by the growing international body of evidence that supports the
positive role of interventions in early years in improving the
development of children and young people and their prospects in
adulthood. A report published in 2015 by the Early Intervention
Foundation highlighted the fiscal cost of missed opportunities to
provide early, targeted support to children and young people. The
report concluded “early Intervention is the smart and
realistic choice for using ever scarcer public
money”.
Recent
qualitative research found that parents whose children had attended
Flying Start childcare felt they had improved social skills and
were better prepared for school. Investment is targeted in the
communities with the highest proportion of households with children
aged 0-4 who are on income benefits.
Value for money
of childcare within the Flying Start programme is assessed on an
on-going basis. Costs are compared across local authorities; take
up of places purchased is monitored and childcare budgets are
agreed as part of annual work plans. Welsh Government Account
Managers discuss delivery and budget allocations at regular
meetings. Expenditure is agreed and projects assessed on an on
going basis for eligibility with programme objectives and value for
money.
A range of
activity is currently underway to allow us to build on the findings
of the independent national evaluation of Flying Start. This
includes developing and testing an approach to identify outcomes
for Flying Start children in relation to their level of engagement
with the programme, including the childcare element.
Children’s attainment and attendance will be explored as they
move through school as well as a range of health outcomes, which
will strengthen the existing evidence base on the cost-benefits of
Flying Start.
Childcare
|
17-18
|
18-19
|
19-20
|
20-21
|
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
Revenue
|
Capital
|
|
£10m
|
-
|
£25m
|
£20m
|
£45m
|
£20m
|
-
|
£20m
|
We recognise
that childcare is one of the biggest challenges facing working
families in Wales. As part of Prosperity for All, we will
provide working parents of 3 and 4 years olds with 30 hours per
week of free early education and childcare for up to 48 weeks of
the year, delivered in a way that works for parents and
children.
Increasing the
availability of affordable, available and accessible childcare
should enable parents to work, supporting our drive to increase
economic growth, tackle poverty and reduce inequalities. It will
also provide opportunities and long-term benefits for our children
and improve their life chances.
In June 2017, I
issued a written statement updating Assembly Members on the
delivery of the offer. As part of this we issued detailed
guidance and announced an hourly rate of £4.50 in relation to
the childcare we fund. This was set after detailed
consultation with stakeholders and has been well received by the
sector. Our highly successful #TalkChildcare campaign has
engaged over 6,500 parents and providers since its launch in August
2016, giving us confidence that we are developing an offer which
meets the needs of working families.
In order to get
it right for parents and providers, we have begun testing the offer
in specific locations within seven local authorities. These local
authorities were chosen to provide a good geographical spread
across Wales and represent a good mix of rural, urban and valley
communities. Over the summer all seven early implementer
local authorities opened for applications from eligible
parents.
We have a
revenue budget of £10m in 2017-18 and expect the
majority of this funding to be spent on childcare, including
provision to support children with special educational needs to
access the offer. We have included some provision for the
administration costs incurred by the local authorities, and set
aside money to undertake a rigorous monitoring and evaluation of
the early implementation of the childcare offer across all seven
early implementer local authorities from September 2017.
Learning from these early implementers will be important in helping
us fine-tune policies and systems prior to a wider
roll-out.
The funding to
support the childcare offer increases to £25m in
2018-19, and to £45m in 2019-20. This will allow
us to expand and test aspects of the delivery of the offer in
different circumstances, to ensure the offer works when it is fully
available across Wales from September 2020. In addition,
£60m up until the end of this Assembly term has been
included in the Education MEG for investment in childcare settings
alongside the 21st Centuries Schools and Education
programme. Consideration is currently being given to how the
funding will be managed and allocated.
Other childcare policy and
programmes
Successive
evaluations have concluded that the availability of quality,
affordable childcare is essential to support people who need to
work, or acquire skills to enable them to work. Alongside
affordable childcare some parents may need additional support to
return to work and sustain employment. Some of the barriers
to employment include financial stability, reluctance to use formal
childcare and parents’ lack of confidence in returning to
work especially if they have been out of work for some time.
Parents, Childcare and Employment (PaCE) is a £13.5m
project jointly funded by the European Social Fund and Welsh
Government, working in partnership with Department for Work and
Pensions (DWP). PaCE targets parents who are out of work and
consider childcare to be their main barrier to accessing training
or work opportunities. Up to the end of September 2017, the
project had engaged 2339 participants and supported 665 into
work.
The childcare
offer has the potential to be a catalyst for a wider transformation
in the childcare sector, increasing the accessibility,
affordability and availability of childcare for all parents and
children of all ages, improving the flexibility and quality of what
is available. This will build on the other support we
currently provide for childcare providers including:
·
Providing local
authorities with £2.3m funding each year since 2012 to
support local authorities to meet gaps
identified through their childcare sufficiency assessments and
their play sufficiency assessments. In line with my
priorities, local authorities have focused on offering out of
school childcare, including holiday play schemes, to children from
low income families and those with specific needs;
·
Providing
£1.43m per annum to the Cwlwm consortia, comprising
the five main childcare organisations in Wales, to support the
childcare sector and help us develop innovative flexible childcare
solutions to meet the needs of families;
·
Providing
funding to Social Care Wales (SCW) as a key delivery partner and
the sector skills council for the childcare workforce. From
April 2017, SCW gained new powers to lead the improvement of social
care and childcare in Wales and are working with us to support the
implementation of the 10 year workforce plan. For 2017-18, we have
allocated £105k to SCW.
In terms of support for the
workforce, a 10 year workforce plan for childcare, play and
early years will be published in the autumn with the aim of
professionalising the sector to become one which is highly regarded
as a career of choice and, one which parents and carers value as
offering quality, affordable and sustainable childcare. This
contributes to the wider Early Years priority under Prosperity for
All, as good quality early years provision is widely acknowledged
to help children experience a good start in life. In
recognition of the need to build capacity and capability across
childcare settings, Ministers have agreed to prioritise the
childcare sector to support development and delivery of the
childcare offer and the implementation of the 10 year workforce
plan.
Under our
Apprenticeship programme and utilising the European Social Fund we
have developed our Progress for Success (PfS)
programme. PfS funds existing early years, childcare and play
practitioners (including self-employed registered childminders), to
undertake recognised childcare and play qualifications. The aim of
the programme is to raise the quality of provision offered to our
youngest children in Wales by increasing the skills levels held by
the existing workforce. PfS has been successful in providing
support and opportunities for 979 existing practitioners
to up-skill. Building on its achievements and alongside
our new all Age Apprenticeship programme, we are exploring the best
use of European Social Fund investment to continue to support
practitioners.
Play Policy
Wales
was the first country to place play on a statutory basis in
recognition of its significant contribution to children and young
people’s physical, social and cognitive development and
wellbeing. Play Wales has a strategic role in supporting
local authorities to deliver their statutory duties in relation to
play and in supporting the Welsh Government to take the play agenda
forward in Wales. It was in recognition of this that I
decided to extend the funding for Play Wales beyond September 2017
for a further 6 months, bringing the total amount of funding to
£360k in 2017-18. I am currently
considering a business plan to provide future support to Play Wales
from 2018-19 onwards.
Adverse Childhood
Experiences
There is a
growing body of evidence on the impact which exposure to Adverse
Childhood Experiences (ACEs) has on well-being and economic
prosperity. The importance of giving children the best possible
start in life is already recognised in programmes such as Flying
Start and Families First. However, in light of the findings of the
studies into ACEs by Public Health Wales, it was recognised there
is a need to increase awareness of ACEs and their impact on
children’s educational outcomes, employment prospects and
health and wellbeing.
For 2017-18
funding of £300k has been provided to Cymru Well Wales (CWW),
a collaborative partnership of public and third sector
organisations working together to secure better health for the
people of Wales, to support the development of an ACE Support Hub
as a centre of knowledge, evidence and expertise on ACEs in Wales.
An additional £100k has been provided from the Education
budget to support school staff to become ACE informed and Public
Health Wales has committed £250k towards the establishment of
the Hub.
For 2018-19 I propose to provide
£300k of funding to support the continuation of the ACE
Support Hub.
Children First
Children First
brings together a range of organisations to improve children and
young people’s outcomes, based around a distinct place, based
on seven key principles:
-
Clarity of
place;
-
Long-term,
shared, strategic focus;
-
Focus on a
community’s strengths;
-
Local freedom
and autonomy to decide the focus of activity, whilst aligning to
the shared strategic vision;
-
Anchor
organisations;
-
Multi-agency
approach to system change and effective data sharing;
and
-
Dedicated
secretariat support.
Local
authorities were invited in January 2017 to submit proposals for
Children First, from which five were chosen as pioneer areas.
Children First takes a contextually-sensitive approach to working
with our most disadvantaged communities. These communities are not
the same and because of this, they need unique solutions. The
highly localised strategies developed by Children First areas work
to address the distinctive forms of disadvantage and to use the
distinctive resources available in these communities.
There is no
direct funding available from the Welsh Government to support the
development of Children First pioneer areas, as the objective is to
empower and enable the community and organisations to collaborate
and make a difference for their children and young people.
Funding of £100k is available to support evaluation. The
pioneer areas will be supported to develop a key set of data to
monitor outcomes. This monitoring data will also feed into future
evaluation of Children First, to include an exploration of the
value for money of the activities delivered.
Communities First legacy
fund
The Legacy Fund is a revenue
fund that has been allocated to local authorities which currently
have Communities First areas. To assist in planning, indicative
allocations formed part of the Communities First award letter for
2017-18. This fund is to support the continuation of the most
effective aspects developed by the Communities First Programme that
are highly valued locally.
Whilst the detail of the
guidance for the Legacy Fund is still being developed, we have
taken a ‘co-production’ approach to the development to
ensure that both Lead Delivery Bodies’ and LAs experience and
views are reflected in the written guidance.
Legacy Fund principles have been
issued to all eligible LAs to ensure they have the information
required to plan, with existing LDBs, for the next financial
year.
The choice of what should be
funded will be locally determined, local authorities will need to
take account of both their duties under the Well-being of Future
Generations (Wales) Act and the assessment of local well-being in
making those decisions.
In discussions with LDBs and
LAs, officials have emphasised the importance of them working with
their clusters, public service boards and other partners to ensure
any concerns are taken into account.
The total allocation for 2018-19
is £6m.
Families First Programme,
including specific reference to the Children and Families Delivery
Grant
Families First
provides innovative and effective multi-agency systems and support
for families, with a clear emphasis on prevention and early
intervention. The Welsh Government is investing
£38.352m in the Families First programme in
2018-19.
Evaluation
evidence has found that the programme has led to fundamental
changes to the culture and commissioning of services which has
directly contributed to ensuring these services meet the needs of
families. In particular, the Team Around the Families (TAF)
approach is one of the successes of the programme and the concept
of providing bespoke services which meet the needs of the whole
family is now firmly embedded in service provision, and services
have improved as a result.
We are working
to ensure the Families First programme is focussed on providing
services which can help to prevent ACEs, as well as providing
support to mitigate the harmful effects of ACE
exposure. To help
achieve this, parts of Families First are being refocused to ensure
the programme is able to do more to support parents, children and
young people to build their resilience and confidence and achieve
positive wellbeing.
Revised
Families First programme guidance was published in April 2017 and
all local authorities will be operating under the new arrangements
from 1 April 2018. The TAF will continue unchanged, and the
continued focus on providing bespoke, multi-agency support to whole
families will have a key role in helping parents to create stable
and nurturing environments in which children and young people can
thrive.
Children and
Families Delivery Grant (CFDG)
The Families
First budget supported the Children and Families Delivery Grant
(CFDG) which represented a £10.2m investment over the 3 years
of the current grant programme (1 October 2014 to 30 September
2017). The focus of the CFDG was to support the tackling
poverty agenda by reinforcing the work of our key programmes
together with that of the childcare, children’s rights, play
and participation programmes operated by the Welsh
Government. Five grants were awarded to Third Sector
organisations.
Grants to PromoCymru (for Family
Point), Groundwork Wales and Tros Gynnal ended in September 2017,
however PromoCymru will receive an additional £35k to support
its helpline for the period October-December 2017, to allow time
for transition arrangements to be made. The grants for CWLWM
and Play Wales were extended to March 2018, and the grant for
Children in Wales has been extended to September 2018.
Integrated Family Support
Services
The funding linked with the
Integrated Family Support Services (IFSS) transferred into the RSG
from 2015-16.
Family Information
Services
Family
Information Services (FIS) are the first point of contact for
impartial advice and information on local services for families and
carers. Local authorities are required to
have a FIS that meets the minimum standards set out in the
Childcare Act 2006.
Children in
Wales currently carry out a support function on behalf of the Welsh
Government (£45k provided via a contract). A review
will consider whether such a function is required when the contract
ends in March 2018.
Parenting Support
Our approach to
positive parenting is set very firmly within the wider context of
economic improvement and wider wellbeing. As set out in
Prosperity for All, we are committed to helping improve health and
well-being for all to ensure everyone can fulfil their potential,
meet their educational aspirations and play a full part in the
economy and society of Wales.
Across Wales,
parents and carers have access to a range of services to support
positive parenting delivered by local government, health,
education, social services and social justice. Support is delivered
at different points in a child’s life (antenatal to teenage)
through parenting groups and one-to-one work, ranging from
informal, bespoke support for parents, through to more targeted,
specialised interventions.
Our
‘Parenting, Give it time’ campaign promotes positive
parenting messages in a number of different ways, including through
social and print media and digital advertising. A dedicated website
and Facebook page provide parenting tips, information and advice,
and signpost parents to sources of further support. A media agency
actively promotes the campaign through a variety of advertising
avenues.
Parents should
expect support to be of high quality. Our non-statutory guidance
sets out the Welsh Government's expectations on how parenting
support should be provided. In additional we are providing
additional funding to help local authorities develop the core
skills and knowledge of their workforce in line with the key themes
of the guidance.
The Welsh
Government commitment to introduce legislation to remove the
defence of reasonable punishment will form a key part of our
overall action on promoting positive parenting, driving behavioural
change and bringing about positive outcomes for our children in
Wales.
Given the
importance of promoting positive parenting, the budget of
£400k remains unchanged for 2018-19.
Sustainable Social Services Third Sector Grant 2016-19
Within the
field of social care, Welsh Government support for the third sector
has substantially moved towards a three-year funding model. The
Sustainable Social Services Third Sector grant is a three-year
grant scheme introduced to support implementation of the Social
Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Nearly £22m of
grant funding was awarded to 32 organisations and projects via the
Health and Social Services Main Expenditure Group which support
children, young people and their families, looked after children
and care leavers, older people, people with learning disabilities
and autism, people with physical and/or sensory impairments and
carers. Applications for the grant were carefully considered
as part of a competitive process matching applications to the
advertised grant funding criteria and policy priorities. To
ensure there was equity across sectors, the maximum award made to
any organisation was £1.5m over three years, representing 10%
of the total funding available. In 2018-19 a total of
£7.25m is due to be distributed.
The application
process for the Sustainable Social Services Third Sector grant, a
three-year grant scheme introduced to support implementation of the
Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, required
applicants to demonstrate how projects would support the key themes
including prevention.
Child Poverty
There is no
separate budget for tackling child poverty for the Welsh
Government. This is because there are a range of policies and
programmes in place to tackle child poverty, which are being taken
forward. This includes key commitments such as Flying Start,
Families First, the Pupil Deprivation Grant and the Healthy Child
Wales Programme. There are also a range of other mainstream
services which are delivering support for low income households,
which form part of wider funding arrangements.
Children’s and young
people’s rights and entitlements
Welsh Ministers
are under a duty to have due regard to the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in all their work,
and to raise public awareness (including among children and young
people) of children’s rights and the UNCRC. The arrangements
in place for doing this are set out in the Children’s Rights
Scheme 2014.
Section 5 of
the Measure also places a duty on Ministers to take appropriate
steps to promote knowledge and understanding amongst the public,
including children and young people, of the UNCRC and its Optional
Protocols.
A budget of
£357k has been allocated at a level sufficient to
deliver on Ministerial commitments in relation to the Rights
of Children and Young Person’s (Wales) Measure 2011,
the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010; and the necessary
work in these areas in relation to children’s rights,
the UNCRC and children and young people’s participation. This
includes:
·
raising
awareness of children’s rights, both internally and
externally to Welsh Government: hosting and maintaining the
childrensrights.wales
website and Twitter account;
·
ensuring
appropriate UNCRC training is in place, actively promoted and taken
up;
·
promoting
participation by children and young people; and
·
ensuring Welsh
Government policy and legislation is formulated having given proper
consideration to children’s rights.
Children’s Commissioner
for Wales
Established by
the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s Commissioner for
Wales (CCfW) is an independent children’s rights institution.
The remit is laid down in the Children’s Commissioner for
Wales Act 2001, which amended the Care Standards Act 2000. The
budget covers the running costs of the Commissioner’s office
for 2018-19 and the resources required in discharging her statutory
functions.
This budget
received a 10% cut for 2016-17 in line with other Commissioners
(budget was previously £1.715m) but has been maintained at
cash flat for 2017-18 and 2018-19. This is considered sufficient to
deliver the Commissioner’s functions.
Advocacy
Social Care is a priority in
Prosperity for All and is clear that children should be listened to
and helped to develop positive relationships.
With our partners, we have
developed a National Approach to Statutory Advocacy for looked
after children, children in need and other specified individuals
which went live in July. This means a consistency of entitlement
and good practice in the commissioning, delivery and awareness of
statutory advocacy provision in Wales. The implementation of
the National Approach will cost in the region of £1.1m and
Welsh Government has agreed to provide up to £550k to the
Social Services Regional Collaboratives to deliver the offer in
full. Local authorities will fund the rest.
Safeguarding
We established the National
Independent Safeguarding Board under the Social Services and
Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to work with Safeguarding Children
Boards and Safeguarding Adult Boards to drive improvement; to
report on the adequacy and effectiveness of arrangements to
safeguard children and adults and make recommendations to Ministers
about how arrangements could be improved. We provide secretariat
and support the work programme of the Board valued at £200k
per year.
We support National and regional
events during safeguarding week, valued at £22k to raise
awareness of safeguarding and related issues.
We will provide generic training
for practitioners in delivering Child and Adult Practice Reviews
valued at £45k.We will provide £100k grant to Cardiff
and Vale Safeguarding Board to deliver the National Protection
Procedures arising from the Social Services and Well-being (Wales)
Act 2014 and related subordinate legislation and guidance to assist
better protection for children and adults at risk of abuse, neglect
or other forms of harm.
Cafcass Cymru
Allocation –
2018-19
·
Total programme
allocation
£10.267m
·
Running
costs
£9.950m
·
Contracted
costs
£0.317m
Children and Family Court
Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass Cymru) is a direct service
delivery and demand-led organisation undertaking statutory
functions across Wales on behalf of Welsh Ministers in accordance
with the Children Act 2004. In 2016-17 we worked with 8,491 of the
most vulnerable children and young people in Wales, an increase
from 7,546 in 2015-16. Its financial allocation for 2016-17,
2017-18 and 2018-19 is £10.267m per year of which
£9.045 m (92%) of the budget is committed to staff costs.
Therefore all inflationary costs must be absorbed within the
budget.
There has been a significant
increase of 25% in public law and 29% in private law work over the
past two years with the volume of work being sustained in
2017-18.
This increase has been absorbed
within Cafcass Cymru’s existing resources. Any
reduction in budget will result in essential posts not being filled
with existing staff managing even higher workloads with potential
staff welfare implications. This could also have an impact on
children and young people having to wait for a service in Wales
resulting in delayed court proceedings.
Cafcass Cymru has over the last
5 years significantly reduced its management structure, streamlined
internal processes, introduced flexible ways of working and
enhanced practitioner capability to ensure services are delivered
as efficiently and effectively as possible and performance
maintained.
Adoption, fostering and looked
after children
Taking Wales
Forward includes the chapter on Ambitious and Learning which states
that we will “examine ways of ensuring children in care enjoy
the same life chances as other children and if necessary reform the
way they are looked after”. Building on this Social
Care is a top 5 priority in Prosperity for All and is clear that
children should be listened to and helped to develop positive
relationships.
A programme of work is being
taken forward under the Ministerial Advisory Group on Improving
Outcomes for Children which will identify early and preventative
action to help reduce the numbers of children taken into care,
improve outcomes for children already in care and improve outcomes
for care leavers. This includes the £1m St David’s Day
Fund which will continue for a second year in 2018-19. This
Fund allows local authorities to provide financial support to care
leavers so they can successfully access employment, education and
training opportunities, improving their opportunities towards
independent lives.
In 2017-18 the Welsh
Government received an additional £20m consequential funding
from the UK Spring Budget for improvements in social care.
£8m of that budget was allocated to expedite the Ministerial
Advisory Group’s work programme. The funding will be used to
reduce the numbers of children entering care and improving the
outcomes for children and young people in care through a £5m
investment in expanding local authority edge of care services;
£850k to roll out the Reflect project across Wales which aims
to reduce the number of children being taken into care by breaking
the cycle of repeat pregnancies and recurrent care proceedings;
£1.625m to support care leavers to successful futures and
independent living by providing additional resources to local
authority traineeship/work placement schemes and extending the
provision of personal advisers up to age 25; £400k to
implement the National Fostering Framework and £125k to
develop adoption support work. This funding will be included in the
RSG from April 2018.
The Welsh Government
is also providing £90k to the National Adoption Service to
develop and support its strategic and holistic approach to adoption
support services in Wales. We have invested £172k to maintain
a database to provide the basis for the future Wales Adoption
Register and have awarded three grants under the Sustainable Social
Service grant scheme totalling £435k to Voluntary Adoption
Agencies to develop adoption support services. Additional stand
alone funding will be provided in 2018-19 to take forward a new
Welsh Adoption Register and to provide resources to deliver key
elements of the Adoption Support Framework.
