· page 4 the policy framework for children’s services the national outcomes for children and...

Contents

Our Children’s Services Partnership

Page 3 Our Aims and Priorities

Page 4 The Policy Framework for Children’s Services

Page 5 The Social Context of Our Children and Young People

Page 6 Our Strategic Approach

Page 7 Our Partnership Working

Outcomes for Our Children, Young People & Families

Pages 8-9 How We Are Improving Early Years Development of Children in Fife

Pages 10-11 How We Are Raising Educational Attainment and

Reducing Educational Inequality

Pages 12-13 How We Are Improving the Health of Fifers and

Narrowing the Health Inequality Gap

Pages 14-15 How We Are Making Fife’s Communities Safer

Pages 16-17 Our Children & Young People: the Child’s Voice

Page 18 Our Children’s Services Professionals: Feedback from Staff

The Joint Inspection of Our Children’s Services Partnership

Page 19 An Overview of the Joint Inspection Report

Page 20 Evaluation of Quality Indicators for Children’s Services in Fife

Our Next Steps

Page 21 Planning for Further Improvement

Our Aims and Priorities

Our Children’s Services Plan 2014-17

Fife’s Children’s Services Plan 2014-17 builds on the success achieved through the

implementation of Getting it Right For Every Child, the work of the Corporate Parent Board, Fife’s

Child Protection Committee, and the Early Years Strategy – supported by multi-agency strategy

groups relating to children.

The plan contributes to achieving the outcomes set out in Fife’s Community Plan 2011-20 (July

2013 edition). In particular, it will help to deliver four specific community plan outcomes:

Improving Early Years Development of Children in Fife

Raising Educational Attainment and Reducing Educational Inequality

Improving the Health of Fifers and Narrowing the Health Inequality Gap

Making Fife’s Communities Safer

The plan sets out 16 specific priorities of the Children’s Services Partnership in Fife over the

period 2014-17, which will contribute towards achieving these community plan outcomes.

Our Self Evaluation and the Joint Inspection of Children’s Services in Fife

Fife Partnership’s services for children and young people were the subject of a joint inspection

between August and October 2015, involving all of the key inspection agencies (the Care

Inspectorate, Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s

Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland). The process involved the inspection team talking to a

large number of staff and over 200 children, young people, parents and carers, as well as

reviewing the records for a sample of 110 of our most vulnerable children and young people.

The Care Inspectorate published the results of the joint inspection in March 2016.

As part of the preparation for inspection, Children in Fife produced a self-evaluation of Fife’s

children’s services, which provided a critical reflection on our journey of self-improvement. The key

findings of the self-evaluation were supported by the results of the joint inspection.

The Purpose and Scope of this Update Report

This Update Report provides a broad overview of children’s services in Fife and an update on

our progress with the Children’s Services Plan, as at April 2016. It:

outlines progress in achieving the four community plan outcomes highlighted above;

provides an update on progress towards achieving the 16 specific priorities within the

Children’s Services Plan;

provides a summary of the key findings from Children in Fife’s self-evaluation of our

children’s services;

summarises significant evidence underpinning these key findings;

provides a summary overview of the findings of the Joint Inspection of Children’s

Services in Fife.

The Policy Framework for Children’s Services

The National Outcomes for Children and Young People

The Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework sets out a number of National

Outcomes that Scotland’s public services must achieve, in order to improve life outcomes for

children, young people and families in Scotland. These are:

Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed

Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and

responsible citizens

We live longer, healthier lives

We live our lives safe from crime, disorder and danger

We have tackled the significant inequalities in Scottish society

We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk

Achieving the National Outcomes for Our Children and Young People

GIRFEC is at the heart of achieving these outcomes for our children and young people. It is the national approach in Scotland to improving outcomes and supporting wellbeing by offering the right help at the right time from the right people. It is child-focused – placing children, young people and families at the centre of decision making – and is based on an understanding of the wellbeing of a child – having regard for how safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included they are.

The Children and Young People Act 2014 strengthens key legislation affecting children and young people and enshrines elements of the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) approach in law. It ensures that there is a single planning approach for children who need additional support from services, provides a single point of contact for every child (the named person), supports a holistic understanding of wellbeing, allows the coordination of support from professionals across a range of public services, and sets out the obligations of corporate parents for Looked After Children.

Designing Our Services to Achieve the National Outcomes

In order to ensure that we are Getting it Right for Every Child in Fife, we have placed the National

Outcomes for children and young people at the heart of our planning and service design.

Our children’s services partnership provides a range of services that meet the varying needs of

children, young people and families:

Universal services – for all children and

young people

Additional support – for key

disadvantaged groups, or those who

would benefit from focussed working

(e.g. those living in socially

disadvantaged communities)

Intensive support – for the vulnerable,

those with significant needs, and those

at risk

Through these services we are able to meet the needs of all children, young people and families –

whatever their needs or circumstances – and we can ensure that the National Outcomes are

achieved in Fife.

The Social Context of Our Children and Young People

Across a range of measures, levels of child poverty in Fife are high by national standards – as can

be seen in the figure, below.

Figure. Comparison of Fife and Scotland for a range of measures of child poverty and social

deprivation at local authority level. Data for Free School Meal Registration is for 2015, HMRC data

on child poverty is for 2013.

Child poverty in Fife is most heavily concentrated in children aged 0-4 years. Whilst Fife has

Scotland’s third largest number of children and young people living in poverty at local authority

level (based on the HMRC child poverty data), it has the second largest number of children aged

0-4 living in child poverty. This poses a particular challenge for early intervention and prevention.

Furthermore, the evidence from National Registers of Scotland (NRS) statistics suggests that the

challenges arising from increasing levels of child poverty amongst families with young children are

likely to continue. In particular:

Fife’s early years population is likely to increase relative to the national population. Fife’s

birth rate remains above the Scottish average (55.9 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44

in Fife in 2013, as against 53.7 births per 1,000 across Scotland).

Children in the early years in Fife are likely: to have greater needs than the national

population and are more likely to be vulnerable. Of the 3,872 births in Fife in 2013, 6.5%

were babies born pre-term (as against 6.2% for Scotland), and 2.1% of babies born at full

term had a low birth weight (as against 2.0% for Scotland).

In summary, the evidence shows that:

Levels of child poverty are relatively high in Fife (with Fife being around the bottom of the

most deprived quartile of local authorities);

Child poverty is most heavily concentrated amongst children aged 0-4 years, posing a

particular challenge for early intervention and prevention;

The challenges arising from child poverty (particularly in the early years) are likely to

continue in future years.

Fife ranked 7 of 32 Fife ranked 8 of 32

Free School Meals

(Primary, P4-P7)

Free School Meals

(Secondary)

19.2% 22.2%

Fife Scotland

15.0% 17.4%

Fife Scotland

17.7% 19.1%

Fife Scotland

Fife ranked 9 of 32

HMRC Child Poverty

(under 16s)

Our Strategic Approach

Our Strategic Approach to Improving Children’s Services

The strategic approach taken to improving children’s services by our partnership is based on the

principles of the Christie Commission. The children’s services partnership recognise that:

the key to improvement is a preventative approach, focussing on effective early

intervention;

this requires better partnership working;

our people are essential to achieving this, and we are committed to building the capacity of

our staff and services;

effective quality improvement – based on suitable data and a research-informed approach

to professional practice and development – is the basis for continued performance

improvement.

The Children in Fife partnership group also recognises its responsibility to provide clear and

effective leadership of this strategic approach.

The Key Processes in Delivering Our Strategic Approach

The Getting it Right in Fife (GIRIF) Framework is the overarching framework that supports,

promotes and safeguards the wellbeing of all Fife’s children and young people. The Framework

provides a coherent approach for responding to the needs of families in a proportionate way

across the Community Planning Partnership.

Fife’s Child Wellbeing Pathway (CWP) is a key process that sits within the GIRIF Framework and

assists practitioners to consider children’s wellbeing needs in the context of the “SHANARRI”

wellbeing indicators. The Child Wellbeing Pathway (CWP) is an engagement tool that encourages

the participation of children and families in decision making in a structured and meaningful way.

The CWP is helping practitioners to intervene at the earliest stage preventing difficulties from

escalating further.

How We Meet the Needs of the Vulnerable and Those At Risk

Fife has an established multiagency Corporate Parent Board who work collaboratively to support

improving outcomes for Fife’s Looked after children, young people and care leavers. The Board

will shortly publish its plans for the next two years. These fully reflect the national direction set in

legislation for corporate parents through Part 9 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act

2014.

Fife has an established multiagency Child Protection Committee who work in partnership to

consider and improve key aspects of child protection arrangements. Much of this work is in line

with the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland published by Scottish Government in

2014 as well as taking account of other key legislation as well as national policy & guidance.

Our Partnership Working

How we work together to support children, young people and families in Fife

The Children in Fife (CIF) Partnership is an outcome theme group reporting to the Fife

Partnership. It has developed robust structures to support strategic development and operational

delivery of Children’s Services in Fife. These are summarised in the figure below, which illustrates

the partnership links with Corporate Parenting, Child Protection, GIRFEC and the Early Years

Strategy Group.

Improving Prevention through Better Partnership Working

The work of the Children’s Partnership, across Children’s Services in Fife is entirely consistent

with the key actions needed to take forward the preventative approaches outlined in the

Prevention Framework. In particular the children’s partnership:

building collaborative approaches within and across services;

building on local assets and strengthening local communities;

acknowledging that small steps make a difference through “Tests of Change”;

prioritising workforce development;

challenging and changing organisational cultures through the GIRIF Framework;

promoting a shared understanding of prevention across services through on-going practice development, training and awareness-raising.

How We Are Improving Early Years Development of Children in Fife

Key strengths: The conclusion of our self-evaluation

We are fostering an ethos of family nurture across our Early

Years services.

We are using the opportunity provided through the Early

Years Collaborative to further improve our practice and its

impact on children and families across Fife.

We are enabling our children and young people to be self-

confident and ready to learn.

We are seeing a significant and sustained improvement in

primary 1 literacy and numeracy attainment.

Improving our Processes

Our Family Nurture Approach (FNA) addresses disadvantage and inequality through early intervention and prevention, building on universal provision, with the aim of closing the outcome gap and ensuring that all children in Fife get the best start in life.

The provision of high quality early learning and childcare continues to be a key priority, with an increasing focus on flexibility. 25 nurseries currently provide a flexible model running full days, 4 hours sessions and half day sessions. A further 23 nurseries will provide a flexible model from August 2016 bringing to 48 the total number providing a flexible model.

We are working to develop the physical premises and scale of quality staffing needed to provide Looked After 2 year olds, 2 year olds in a kinship care arrangement and all other eligible 2 year olds with a high quality early learning and childcare experience. We have more two year olds than any other council in Scotland in our early years provision.

The extension of non-stigmatising services for our more vulnerable families has been a priority across Fife. Through an extensive change to staffing arrangements and a building programme we have now established 7 Family Nurture Centres

The Early Years Collaborative is supporting 35 Tests of Change across the partnership. Some small-scale Tests of Change have been scaled up and have spread to the extent that they have been mainstreamed in frontline delivery.

Improving Outcomes

We are making significant progress to tackle disadvantage, streamline systems and processes, encourage a culture of collaboration, partnership working and better integration.

Practitioners have tested the best way to have a breastfeeding discussion in the ante-natal period. As a result of this work and improving inter-agency processes, there is evidence of increasing rates of breastfeeding.

Entitled SEPSIS 6, a quality improvement collaborative project was undertaken to implement a reliable process for the early recognition and management of SEPSIS. The project won a national award from Health Improvement Scotland and was a runner up at the 2014 Health Care Scotland awards. More importantly this test of change has evidenced safer and more effective practices for women presenting SEPSIS at the Maternity Unit, Kirkcaldy.

Health Visiting is consistently reaching 80%+ of children with the 27-30 month assessment, with tests of change in place to establish how to increase uptake rates in SIMD 1&2 areas.

The data from the assessments have highlighted a number of areas for focus, leading to the likes of the development of a weaning pathway and an integrated universal healthy weight information pathway for parents of children 2-5 years

A multi-agency ‘Breadth of Parenting’ group co-ordinates the delivery of evidence-based programmes, including Incredible Years, Mellow Bumps/Mums/Dads/etc. These are having a demonstrable impact on parenting outcomes.

Our children are increasingly ready to learn by the time they start primary school. Literacy and numeracy in Primary 1 show a significant and sustained improvement year on year.

Outcomes for disadvantaged children and young people (e.g. those living in SIMD deciles 1 and 2) have improved faster than those of other children and young people since 2012.

Progress against the Children’s Services Plan

Progress Made Priority Outcomes 2014-17

6.9/1000 – 4.7/1000

5.3/1000 – 4.6/1000

Still Births and Infant Mortality

Progress in reducing the rate of still birth and infant mortality from 6.9/1000 still

births in 2010 to 4.7/1000 in 2014 and 5.4/1000 live births in 2010 to 5.3/1000 in

2014.

89.93% - 94.16%

Developmental Milestones: 30 Months to Primary School

Substantial progress in children by the end of Primary 1. Rose from 89.93% to

94.16% in 2015.

Next Steps: Our Key Focus for Further Improvement

Continue to build on the opportunities from 27-30 month review and developing Health

Visiting pathway to enhance prevention and early intervention

We will continue to ensure that we give parents the skills needed to improve the literacy

and numeracy of children in the early years.

13

18

69

56

10

34

13 and under (normal)

14 - 16 (border-line)

17 & over (high risk)

The impact of the Incredible Years programme on

outcomes for one group of participating families

(a significant reduction in high risk outcomes).

Increasing numbers of pupils are secure at the

expected level of CfE by the end of P1

Before (%)

After (%)

Year 2013 2014 2015

S4 Pupils % █ 44.1 50.3 51.4

40

45

50

55

How We Are Raising Educational Attainment and Reducing Educational Inequality


We are successfully improving the quality of learning and teaching, through a strong focus on the professional development of staff.

This is ensuring improved outcomes for all children and young people, at all stages of schooling.

We are beginning to “close the gap” in attainment.

Our educational outcomes for the most vulnerable (e.g. looked after children) are amongst the best in Scotland.


We have a strong focus on developing professional learning and practice. Hundreds of teachers are involved in professional development opportunities, including: Leading Learning through Practitioner Enquiry, Workshop for Literacy and Developing Conceptual Understanding in Numeracy.

Our literacy and numeracy strategies are improving learning and teaching in the classroom through evidence-based approaches. Evaluation has proven that our Workshop for Literacy programme leads to a significant improvement in key reading skills for the lowest attaining pupils.

Last year, in recognition of Fife’s success in closing the attainment gap for literacy skills, the Scottish Government chose Fife to launch their literacy strategy.

As a result of our focus on improving professional learning and practice, our school inspection results are significantly better than national.

Improving Outcomes

Overall attainment and achievement levels in Fife are the best ever and continue to rise, with attainment improving for pupils from all social contexts in Fife.

Achievement for literacy and numeracy within Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in primary schools has shown sustained improvement year on year.

Achievement for literacy and numeracy in primary schools is improving for children from every category of inequality (e.g. children with ASN, looked after children, FMR pupils, pupils in SIMD deciles 1 and 2) at a faster rate than that of their peers.

Education Scotland inspection results for

all schools from 2012-13 to 2014-15

Proportion of Fife pupils achieving a

National 5 pass grade A-C in English

(or equivalent) by the end of S4.

Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

S5 Pupils % █ 40.3 41.4 42.3 44.8 50.9

30

40

50

60 The introduction of Curriculum for Excellence has supported a step-change in SQA attainment for literacy and numeracy, both at National 5 (when CfE was introduced in 2013-14) and Higher (when CfE was introduced in 2014-15).

Overall levels of attainment and achievement in the senior phase (stages S4-S6) show a sustained improvement. Most Fife pupils now achieve a Higher by the end of S5.

SQA attainment of vulnerable young people in Fife shows clear evidence of sustained improvement and with a rate of improvement that is better than National.

Our looked after children have better attainment and a better chance of a positive destination from school than looked after children in the rest of Scotland.

A significant improvement in postive and sustained destinations from school was achieved in 2014-15.



81.7% - 86.6%

Developmental Milestones: by end of P4

Substantial progress in attainment of children by end of P4. Increased from 81.7% to

86.6% in 2015.

90.8% - 92.0%

Attendance

There has been a 1.2% increase in the rate of pupil attendance in Fife’s secondary

schools.

88.0% - 89.6%

Positive Destinations

A 1.6% increase in the rate of which pupils achieve a positive and sustained post school

destination.

Next Steps: Our Focus for Further Improvement

Although we have achieved significant improvements in numeracy outcomes, we must continue to improve the teaching of numeracy and the numeracy outcomes of our children and young people, particularly those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

Outcomes for looked after children in Fife are generally better than those of looked after children in the rest of Scotland. However, we remain ambitious to close the gap in outcomes that exists between looked after children and their peers in Fife.

Although we have seen recent improvements in attendance, we will continue to focus on improving attendance at school.

Proportion of Fife pupils achieving a Higher award

by the end of S5.

How We Are Improving the Health of Fifers and Narrowng the Health Inequality Gap


We are successfully encouraging healthier attitudes, behaviours and life choices amongst our children and young people.

Our early intervention and prevention work is helping to improve outcomes and life chances for our children and young people, particularly for the most vulnerable.

As a result of our actions, key health outcomes are showing significant improvement


A range of partnership approaches have been developed to tackle key issues by

encouraging healthier attitudes, behaviours and life choices.

There has been a strong partnership focus on reducing teenage pregnancy, risk taking

behaviours, adverse outcomes and health inequalities. This improvement has been

achieved through a range of partnership actions including: the Improving Health Teams

collaborative working with communities to develop 9 Hubs, providing a sexual health service

to young people; the further development of a Hub Plus Service, providing a more specialist

sexual health service locally for vulnerable young people through a targeted approach.

National initiatives, like the Early Years Collaborative, are being used to develop innovative

approaches to improving health outcomes – with an impact beyond the early years.

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and Learning Disability colleagues are working

towards better collaboration and working practices with universal and specialist services, in

order to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.

Improving Outcomes

There has been a sustained and

significant reduction in under 16 rate

of teenage pregnancies, bringing Fife

below the Scottish average.

There have been significant

improvements in dental health of P1

pupils; outcomes are better than

national and improving faster.

There have been significant

improvements in attitudes

towards alcohol and tobacco,

leading to significant reductions in

their use by young people.

The proportion of P1 children in Fife of healthy weight has remained broadly constant over

recent years, matching the national picture. Health visitors are working with a range of

partners on actions to further increase the number of children of healthy weight.

2010 2011 2012 2013

Fife 9.0 6.7 6.6 4.4

Scotland 6.9 5.6 5.6 4.7

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

Under 16 teenage pregnancy rate (relative to

female population aged 13-15 years)

25

30

35

40

45

Hom

e /

Kins

hip

/M

oved

Out

of C

are

(%)

Trend Actual The Fife universal approach to Healthy

Start Vitamins – developed with support

from the Early Years Collaborative – is

achieving the highest take-up rate of

vitamins in Scotland.

A sustained downwards trend in the

number of looked after children

accommodated at home or in a kinship

placement has been reversed by the

children and families strategy.

There are very low numbers of children

being placed in bed and breakfast, due

to a concerted programme of action to

maintain families with children in suitable

accommodation.



68.2% - 70.8%

Oral Health

Substantial progress in improving the oral health of P1 children; the percentage of children

with no obvious signs of dental decay increasing from 68.2% in 2012 to 70.8% in 2014.

6.7/1000 – 4.4/1000

Under 16 Pregnancies

A significant reduction in teenage pregnancies from 6.7/1000 in 2011 to 4.4/1000 in 2013

bringing Fife below the Scottish average.

23.9% - 24.7%

Breastfeeding

A small increase in the percentage of children exclusively breastfeeding at 6-8 weeks from

23.9% in 2013 to 24.7% in 2015. This is set against a backdrop of gradual decrease in

breastfeeding initiation, falling from 55.6% in 2013 to 53.5% in 2015.

23.0% - 21.9%

Smoking in Pregnancy

A 1.1% reduction in women recorded as smokers from 23.0% in 2012 to 21.9% in 2015.


The challenge of improving permanency planning has been the subject of significant

discussion nationally, due to issues with defining and measuring relevant data. This is now a

national focus for the Scottish Government. Fife is revising its approach in line with these

national developments.

The Children’s Services Plan indicator for neonatal illicit substance abuse withdrawal has

been affected by changes to the data to exclude the use of prescribed medication. This has

made analysis of the indicator difficult and the Vulnerable in Pregnancy Service is currently

undertaking a review of this indicator, to establish a suitable way ahead.

Early diagnosis and support are crucial for children with exceptional healthcare needs. A

number of multi-agency diagnosis pathways have been developed recently which have

significantly improved the time from referral to assessment and diagnosis. We will continue to

improve and draw learning from these to support service development.

Proportion of looked children cared for at home,

in a kinship placement, or moved out of care as a

result of the children and families strategy.

How We Are Making Fife’s Communities Safer


We are making communities safer for families, children

and young people

We are successfully working to make the behaviours of

children and young people safer.

Through early intervention and prevention we are

successfully working to improve life outcomes for children

and young people, particularly the most vulnerable.

Improving our processes

There is a close working relationship between the Children in Fife (CIF) partnership group

and the Child Protection Committee (CPC). This is helping to ensure a coordinated

partnership approach to protecting Fife’s most vulnerable children and young people.

A comprehensive self-evaluation framework, developed through the work of the joint Children

in Fife/Child Protection Committee Self Evaluation Group, has been developed to monitor

progress. This is helping to make continuous improvement through self-evaluation integral to

all service provision.

Internet safety is a key focus. Training is being delivered on all youth diversion programmes

co-ordinated by Safer Communities Team. Young people referred from the YOMG to the

Safer Communities Team for offences committed online are provided with an internet safety

intervention, relevant to their needs. A multi-agency training programme has been developed

to provide CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) internet safety training to

practitioners working with children and families. Once qualified they are supported with

information on trends and risks, ensuring advice remains relevant to the rapidly changing

pace of the internet.

Improving outcomes

Significant progress has been made to make

the communities of Fife safer for our children,

young people and families.

Overall level of crimes and offences has

reduced significantly over the past 5 years,

and at a faster rate the rest of Scotland.

Accidental dwelling fires have reduced

significantly; Fife has the second lowest rate

amongst mainland authorities. There has

been a significant decline in deliberate fire

setting due to programmes like DiversiFIRE.

Rates are significantly lower than national.

Road safety is a major strength of Fife’s partnership work. Safe Drive Stay Alive was

pioneered in Fife, and is now used nationally – it has led to a significant reduction in road

casualties.

The per capita rate of crimes and offences

in Fife is lower than National and has

reduced more rapidly over recent years.

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

CP

Os

per

10,

000

child

ren

Fife Scotland There has been a significant reduction in

recorded charges due to the work of

Fife’s Youth Offender Management

Group (YOMG) over a number of years.

New measures have been introduced,

following the establishment of Police

Scotland. A like for like comparison of

the overall number of young people

offending shows a reduction from 1288

(in 2013/14) to 916 (in 2014/15).

There was a decrease in the number of children placed on the Child Protection Register at the period end from 214 in March 2015 to 157 in September 2015, as the Child Wellbeing Pathway has become more embedded across the Children’s Services landscape.

The number of non-offence referrals to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) has fallen steadily over the last few years. The reduction in lower tariff referrals allows greater attention to be paid to children, young people and families at greater risk.

There has been a significant and sustained reduction in the use of Child Protection Orders across Fife. The number of Child Protection Orders per 10,000 children in the population is now lower than national, having been significantly higher as recently as early 2014.

Progress against the Children’s Services Plan 2014-17


81 in 12 months – 18

in 6 months

Youth Offending

A significant reduction in the number of children and young people with 5 or more

separate referrals for offences in a six month period from 81 in 2015 (12 month

period of reporting) to 18 in 2015 (6 month period of reporting) . The restorative

justice process, coupled with wellbeing assessment has contributed to this

reduction.

499 – 500

MARAC Risk Management

A small increase in the number of children benefiting from a risk management plan

through MARAC from 499 in 2013 to 500 in 2015.


Partner agencies are struggling with available capacity to increase the number of cases discussed at MARAC on a fortnightly basis. MARAC is working with the Council’s Process Excellence Team to identify ways to streamline processes without comprising safety and the quality of risk management plans.

We are continuing to work with the Children’s Reporter to ensure that Child Protection Orders are at an appropriate level to support our preventative approach to child protection.

A peer mentoring programme is being introduced to build on Police Scotland’s cyber

prevention work, aimed at promoting Safer Virtual Communities and developing the Choices

for Life prevention programme. Mentors will be a mix of young people aged 15-17 and adults.

The rate at which Child Protection Orders

are being used has reduced steadily and

significantly over the past two years.

Our Children and Young People: The Child’s Voice


Partners value the views of our children and young people, involving them and their families in the way we plan and deliver children’s services.

We regularly seek the views of children, young people and their families on children’s services in Fife, in order to better understand their views and their needs.

We model respect for our children and young people and successfully foster an expectation of mutual respect.

There is a clear recognition by the partnership of the importance of the child’s voice, through forums, consultations and surveys involving children and young people in service design and delivery, including: the 2B Heard forum, the “Get On My Level” consultation, the consultation on the vision and values of the Education and Children’s Services Directorate, the NHS Fife Children and Young People Health and Wellbeing Strategy and the Pupilwise survey of school pupils.

The 2BHeard Forum

The 2BHeard forum is a means by which Fife’s care experienced young people, aged 12 and over, can express their views about the services that they receive, and be assured that – through direct links to the Corporate Parent Board – these views will be listened to. Some of the young people are still in care and others are care-leavers.

The group was established in February 2014 allowing the care experienced to express their views on the services they receive in a variety of ways, most notably through their ‘Wish List’. This has supported awareness raising, and has not only focussed attention on listening to their views, but has also led to a response from the Corporate Parent Board, in the form of a ‘Pledge’ and the ‘Listen Up’ Strategy and action plan, leading to service change.

They have also contributed to a review of the ‘Having Your Say’ forms, which allow children and young people to give their views about their care plans when these are being reviewed – a selection are given below. Work is now underway to refresh these forms taking full account of the work of the Forum.

Plans are also in place to gain the views of Forum members on what services can do to support children and young people to keep themselves safe from child sexual exploitation.

The “Get on My Level” consultations

Consultations were undertaken in 2014 on ‘Get on My level’: a tool developed to work with young people and gain insight into young people’s views on sexual health and relationships.

Work within the Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood programme (RSHP) has been developing, with a particular focus on 4 targeted school communities (based on teenage sexual health data, particularly teenage pregnancy rates). Pioneering approaches have been developed using the national standards of community engagement to ensure that the consultation process is respectful of the young people, consulting with them to develop a greater understanding of the issues affecting young people within their locality, and including them in this process. The consultation has provided valuable insights into the knowledge, attitudes, choices and pressures in relation to sexual health and relationships for young people.

Outcomes have been measured using WEMWEBS and through personal learning logs and impact statements. They include:

Pupil surveys

Pupilwise is a survey of all school pupils, undertaken every two years by the Education and Children’s Services Directorate of Fife Council. It provides feedback on the experiences of children and young people, allowing schools and the wider partnership to identify key issues locally and across Fife. The survey allows children to identify if they are in care or have care responsibilities for others. This information allows the responses of looked after children and young carers to be compared with those of other children and young people.

Feedback from the survey is used to inform improvement activity, and to provide a focus for work to improve the experiences of children and young people. The survey itself is also being continuously improved. The most recent survey (conducted in 2014) was further developed to make it more inclusive and accessible to younger children and pupils with additional support needs.

Education Scotland also survey children and young people, before conducting a school inspection. The results of these surveys are used as a benchmark for the pupilwise data (providing evidence to confirm areas for improvement and a comparison with feedback form children and young people nationally).

Encouragingly, the responses from Fife’s children and young people compare strongly with the rest of Scotland. Fife’s responses are more positive than those for the rest of Scotland across all questions.

75% of the S2

year group felt it

supported their

learning in

RSHP

90% believed that it

had increased their

understanding of

underage sex and

the law

In the peer education section of the programme, participants gained Silver Youth Achievement accreditation.

Education Scotland pre-inspection

questionnaire feedback

Our Children’s Services Professionals: Feedback from Staff

As part of the Joint Inspection of Children’s Services in Fife, a survey was issued to staff identified

as a Named Person or a Lead Professional. Some 594 members of staff responded to the survey

giving an exceptionally high response rate of 93%. Across the 54 questions posed in the survey

75% of responses were positive or extremely positive about Fife’s services.

Results were broadly consistent across Health, Social Work and Education. 97% of respondents

strongly agreed that they were clear about their service’s vision for children, young people and

families. Staff also reported a strongly positive response to the implementation of GIREFC in Fife.

Most importantly 84% of respondents agreed with the concluding statement in the survey “I am

positive about the future for services for children and families”.

An Overview of the Joint Inspection Report

In summary, the Joint Inspection of Children’s Services in Fife concluded that:

Our children’s services have a clear vision

“The partnership in Fife had developed a clear vision that was well understood and received

by the workforce. The overwhelming majority (97%) of respondents … were clear about their

service’s vision for children, young people and families.”

“We found an admirable focus on addressing poverty and disadvantage and ensuring that

children get the best possible start in life.”

They are well led

“Leadership of improvement and change was very good. The Children in Fife group was

providing very positive leadership to children’s services. It was successfully overseeing the

implementation of a Getting it right for every child approach, which had been well received by

staff at all levels across the partnership and which was clearly enhancing joint working.“

They are having a significant impact on the lives of families, children and young people

“The Partnership’s impact on families was very good. Families were benefiting from

responsive, supportive help and guidance from a very broad and varied range of quality and

accessible services that worked well together”

They are showing clear evidence of success in tackling inequality

“Approaches aimed at early intervention and prevention were showing signs of success and

partners were able to demonstrate the impact of important work to tackle inequality and close

outcome gaps.”

They involve our children, young people and families well

“The extent of participation by children, young people, families and other stakeholders was

very good. Partners demonstrated a clear commitment to developing and sustaining a culture

of meaningful engagement across services.”

They are improving lives and building the capacity for further significant improvement

“We are confident that as a result of the services being delivered by the community planning

partnership the lives of many children and young people growing up in Fife are improving.”

“We are very confident that partners in Fife Council area will be able to make [further

improvement]”.

Particular Strengths identified by the inspection team:

The Family Nurture Approach which was embedded across the area and was having a

positive impact on families.

Participation and engagement of wide groups of children, young people and families which

was making a difference to how services were being delivered.

The breadth of approaches that were in place to address disadvantage and tackle the

impact of poverty.

Developing approaches to self-evaluation leading to demonstrable improvement in

practice.

Evaluations of Quality Indicators for Children’s Services in Fife

The table below shows the evaluations for the nine quality indicators published in the report on the Joint Inspection of Children’s Services in Fife.

How well are the lives of children and young people improving?

Improving the wellbeing of children and young people Good

Impact on children and young people Good

Impact on families Very Good

How well are partners working together to improve the lives of children, young people and families?

Providing help and support at an early stage Good

Assessing and responding to risks and needs Good

Planning for individual children Adequate

Planning and improving services Good

Participation of children, young people, families and other stakeholders

Very Good

How good is the leadership and direction of services for children and young people?

Leadership of improvement and change Very Good This report uses the following word scale to make clear the judgements made by inspectors.

Excellent outstanding, sector leading Very good major strengths Good important strengths with some areas for improvement Adequate strengths just outweigh weaknesses Weak important weaknesses Unsatisfactory major weaknesses

Summary overview

The report shows:

a strong, “good” to “very good” profile across each of the three key areas of self-evaluation;

8 of the 9 reported quality indicators evaluated as good or better – placing Fife in the top-

quartile nationally for improving services to children and young people.

Planning for Further Improvement

Children’s Services Plan 2017-20

It is a key requirement of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 that all CPPs

produce a Children’s Services Plan for the CPP area.

Fife has a long history of planning for Children’s Services in this way and has produced at least 4

plans, each spanning a 3 year cycle. Fife’s current Children’s Services Plan already addresses

many of the expected requirements of the Act and may only need minimal revision as we move

towards the next planning cycle, 2017-20.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 outlines a number of new requirements for

Children’s Services planning across all Community Planning Partnerships. The guidance to

support these additional requirements for Children’s Services planning is not yet available.

Children in Fife will review the new guidance relating to Children’s Services Planning in

preparation for the new Children’s Services Plan (2017-20) when it becomes available and use

this to construct the next plan.

Children’s Services Inspection: Areas for Further Improvement

The Joint Inspection of children’s services in Fife highlighted the following areas for further improvement:

Review the accessibility and availability of important family support services and resources, so children and young people can get the help and support they need when they need it.

Ensure that the quality of planning for children and young people is focused on both risk and need and that all partners fulfil their responsibilities in meeting need as outlined in the child’s plan. Managers should ensure that mechanisms to hold staff accountable for progress against actions within plans and to challenge any delays are robust. Greater focus on quality assurance should assist in achieving this.

Develop and implement a collective response to reduce the proportion of looked after children and young people who are placed outside Fife, at some distance from home, and which supports those children and young people who are able to return to do so successfully.

Our Joint Action Plan for Improvement 2016-17

The self-evaluation of children’s services in Fife and the recent joint inspection of Fife’s

children’s services have both highlighted a number of areas for further improvement.

The Children in Fife Partnership Group is currently developing a joint action plan for

improvement in 2016-17, which:

Reflects the progress made within the current Children’s Services Plan 2014-17;

Builds on the learning gained from our recent self-evaluation of children’s services in Fife;

Addresses the issues raised in the joint inspection report on our children’s services;

Provides a basis for developing Fife’s next Children’s Services Plan 2017-20.

· page 4 the policy framework for children’s services the national outcomes for children and...

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