Agenda item

The Board considered a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise which outlined the Governments proposals for tackling troubled families and the Council’s initial plans for delivering this new initiative in Halton.

 

The Board was advised that the Government had announced that almost £450 million had been made available in a cross-government drive to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families. The money was being made available to local authorities to fund a national network of Troubled Family ‘Trouble-Shooters’ and family intervention projects.  The trouble-shooters would oversee the programme of action in their area.

 

  The Board was further advised that a new Troubled Families Team based within the Department of Communities and Local Government, headed by Louise Casey, had been established to join up efforts across Whitehall, provide expert help to local areas, and drive forward the strategy.  It reported directly to Eric Pickles, the Secretary of State.

 

  It was reported that it was estimated that troubled families cost the taxpayer an estimated £9 billion per year, equivalent to £75,000 per family.  The initiative was intended to cut the costs of this to the state. 

 

  Furthermore, it was reported that It appeared that the troubled families programme would build on existing work, rather than some new, separate initiative being bolted on.  In Halton this meant augmenting  the ‘Team Around The Family’ approach in Widnes and Runcorn.  In addition, it was reported that all agencies, central and local, would need to work closely together to get over some of the hurdles in delivering more co-ordinated and effective services.

 

It was reported that it would  be challenging to achieve the  375 target by 2015 and success would depend on all public services in Halton  and Government departments working closely together.            Local partners, such as health and the police would also need to contribute.

 

The Criteria for defining a family as ‘troubled’ was still under development and the 375 families calculated for Halton had been based on an analysis from the 2005  Family and Children survey using the child welfare index and indicators of multiple deprivation,

 

The Board noted the Council’s initial response to the initiative set out in paragraphs 4.1 to 4.6 of the report.

 

The following comments arose from the discussion:-

 

·       It was noted that the troubled families programme would be integrated into the community safety activities;

 

·       Concern was raised at the 375 families for Halton which had been based on an analysis from the 2005 Family and Chldren survey using the child welfare index and indicators of multiple deprivation.  It was suggested that these indicators were stereotypical and represented a situation rather than a behaviour.  In reply, it was reported that not all of the 120,000 would be categorised as ‘Troubled Families’ as some issues would result in additional support and some would be directed to other projects i.e employment;

 

·       It was suggested that the initiative ‘Tackling Troubled Families’ had been based on out of date data and the name itself represented a master label and this could create problems;

 

·       After considerable discussion, the Board agreed that the initiative  ‘Tackling Troubled Families’ was inappropriate and should be named ‘Tackling Local Problems’;

 

·       The Board noted the urgency of identifying families with multiple problems as soon as possible.  In reply, it was reported, that work was already taking place to identify the actual number of people in the Borough with multiple problems; and

 

·       The Board noted the importance of receiving the definition of ‘Troubled Families’ from the Government and that this had been delay and was now anticipated in April 2012.

 

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)              The report and comments be noted;

 

(2)              The Council’s initial response to troubled families listed in paragraph 4 of the report be supported with the initiative being named ‘Tackling Local Problems’;

 

(3)              The Board receive a further report once consultation has been undertaken with key partners on the delivery of the ‘Troubled Families’ programme, and after the initial analysis of the 375 troubled families calculated by Government as living in Halton; and

 

(4)              the data outlining the families with multiple problems be undertaken as a matter of urgency.