On Thursday 11^th February, there was a special meeting of the Education, Children and Families Committee to consider the recommendations outlined in the new report on Children & Families Revenue Grants to Third Parties 2016/19.

The meeting papers are available here and you can watch a recording of the Committee Meeting here.

EVOC made a deputation at the Committee Meeting based on this briefing paper. We recommended that the Committee establish a Checkpoint Group to review the impact of the grants decisions on all organisations involved and to put together a report on the ‘lessons learnt’ from this process.

We will keep the sector updated on any progress.

Kate Kasprowicz from EVOC leads on SO6, but joined the group after much of the work on the action plans had been carried out. As a result there is a disproportionate focus on the contribution of the public sector.

Kate would like to redress the balance and ensure the work of the Sector is included when the plan is refreshed next year. She is looking for voluntary sector representatives to get involved in the work of SO6 and help highlight the excellent work of organisations committed to tackling the impact of poverty and inequality on children and young people.

Further information can be found in the documents below:

• Child Poverty SO6 Strategy (2)
• SO6 Action Plan – Places 08 15
• SO6 Action Plan – Pockets August 15
• SO6 Action Plan – Prospects August 15

If you are interested, passionate and enthusiastic – please contact Kate Kasprowicz.

The Edinburgh Children’s Partnership have published the Integrated Plan for Children & Young People 2015 – 2018.

The Edinburgh Children’s Partnership directs the strategic planning, development and delivery of children and young people’s services on behalf of the Edinburgh Partnership. 

The Partnership’s vision is that all children and young people in the city enjoy their childhood and fulfil their potential whatever their circumstances. To achieve this we place children, young people and families at the heart of all our services and provide support when it is needed throughout childhood and the transition to adulthood. The Edinburgh Children’s Partnership comprises representatives from City of Edinburgh Council (CEC), Voluntary Sector (through EVOC), NHS Lothian (NHS), Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA), Police Scotland and Edinburgh College

Read the Integrated Plan for Children and Young People 2015-2018.

Working in Partnership to support Children and Young People  

The Edinburgh Voluntary Sector – Led Training Programme will take place over the months of April/May. The events will have a GIRFEC focus and include the following sessions:

2nd April – GIRFEC, the Voluntary Sector and Culture Change
23rd April – Families Outside – Out of the Shadows
24th April – The Work of Counselling Children
1st May – Joint Seminar dedicated to adolescent development
5th May – Working with Children and Their Families Affected by Child Sexual Abuse/Exploitation
14th May – Supported Parenting – Getting it right for parents with learning disabilities
21st May – Sharing songs and rhymes with babies and young children – How to deliver a Rhymetime in any setting

These events are all free and are open to all working within Edinburgh Children’s Partnership, however please be aware spaces are limited and early booking is advised. More information about each course can be found by clicking on the relevant link above. You can also download and share the Voluntary Sector Led Training Programme.

The Network is looking to fill a number of vacancies in its Third Sector representation on various partnership meetings.  A list of the vacancies and further information about the partnerships themselves are listed below. 

Representatives are there to represent the Sector as a whole rather than their own organisation. Reps will be expected to write a short feedback note about the meetings for circulation to Network members and to be a frequent attendee at monthly Network meetings. Further information about the role of a Network Rep can be obtained from Louise Rogers louise.rogers@evoc.org.uk.  You will be expected to sign a code of practice which outlines the expectations and responsibilities of the role in more detail.

 Expressions of interest in any of the below vacancies should be sent to Louise at the above email. 

Mentors in Violence Prevention Steering Group – NEW VACANCY

 The MVP programme is a peer-mentoring project that uses a Bystander Approach to prevent gender violence and bullying. It is delivered in partnership with school staff, youth and voluntary sector staff, CLD and Police. It is a whole school/organisation approach and leadership programme that creates a culture and climate where the behaviours and attitudes that can lead to gender violence, homophobia and bullying are challenged and prevented before they escalate. Young women and men are not engaged with as victims or perpetrators but as friends, classmates and teammates. MVP focuses on prevention by exploring gender norms, making these explicit and exposing their connection to violence in relationships, homophobia and bullying.

The MVP programme covers domestic abuse, rape, sexual assault and alcohol & consent, bullying, homophobia, sexual harassment, controlling behaviour, healthy relationships, gender stereotypes, media, attitudes and behaviours that lead to violence all through the lens of a Bystander. In particular MVP engages young people in a way that motivates them to challenge abusive behaviour among their peers and become part of the solution to reducing gender violence and bullying.

 The four aims of the MVP programme are:

1. Raise awareness of the issues.

2. Challenge thinking by countering mainstream messages about gender, sex and violence.

3. Open dialogue by creating a safe environment for boys and girls to share their opinions and experiences.

4. Inspire leadership by empowering participants with concrete options to effect change in their communities.

MVP has a steering group in Edinburgh made up of representatives from Children’s and Families, Elected Official, Health, Edinburgh’s Violence against Women Partnership, Police Scotland and Education Scotland. This group feeds into the Edinburgh’s Children’s and Community Safety Partnership. We are looking for a representative from the Voluntary Sector to join this group.

The group meets four times a year and is responsible for the strategic lead on how MVP develops within the City of Edinburgh. The majority of the members are at management level so an equivalent level from the Voluntary Sector would be appropriate. We are looking for someone with a background in youth work, experience of working with or a good understanding of some/all of the following issues; peer mentoring, bullying, violence against women, homophobia and delivering/developing training programmes. 

Edinburgh Children’s Partnership Strategic Objective 4 sub group- Healthy Lifestyles Advisory Group – PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED July 14

We now have a vacancy as Network Representative on the Strategic Objective 4 Healthy Lifestyles Group of the Children’s Partnership.

The Children’s Partnership comprises of a series of oversight groups. Each oversight group has responsibility for a particular Strategic Outcome within the Edinburgh Children’s Partnership’s Integrated Plan for Children and Young People.

The SO4 group main aim is “Our children and young people are physically and emotionally healthy”.  The group looks to provide support, service and resources that enable and equip children and young people to make healthy lifestyle choices, and reduce exposure to, and therefore the negative impacts of, risky behaviours such as obesity, unsafe sex, unintended pregnancy, smoking and substance misuse. 

The group contains representatives from Public Health, City of Edinburgh Council, Community Nursing, Education, CAMHS and the voluntary sector

Early Years Collaborative Workstream 4 (Years 5-8) – PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED July 14 

The Early Years Collaborative is a group of partners from services including police, education, health, social work and third sector professionals committed to ensuring that every baby, child, mother, father and family in Scotland has access to the best supports available.

Workstream 4 includes factors influencing a child from start of primary to the end of P4.  The aim of this workstream is to ensure that 90% of all children in each Community Planning Partnership area have reached all of the expected developmental milestones and learning outcomes by the end of Primary 4, by the end of 2021.

Edinburgh’s Early Years Collaborative is keen to include the third sector in its workstream 4 group.  The attached mind map (see below) gives an indication of the range of issues that the group have identified as priorities and influences.

This will be a key role for a Network representative, with an opportunity to influence the priorities of the group and ensure that third sector views are canvassed and fed in.

Edinburgh’s Early Years Collaborative Mind Map: WKS 4 What are the barriers to reaching developmental milestones

Child Protection Committee Quality Assurance sub group – PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED MAY 14

Robust performance management, self-evaluation and quality assurance processes need to be in place across services so that Chief Officers and Child Protection Committees can assure themselves that the needs of children at risk are being met and that services are improving outcomes for all children, and in particular vulnerable children in both the short and longer term.

The Quality Assurance Sub-Committee is inviting expressions of interest to join the group from a suitably experienced individual, who can represent Edinburgh’s thirds sector through the EVOC network. It is crucial that the individual will be able to effectively contribute to the core functions of the group:   

• Oversight of significant case reviews, commissioned by the Child Protection Committee; consideration of appropriate recommendations; and monitoring of any recommendations agreed by the Child Protection Committee
• Systematic approaches to self-evaluation and quality assurance, which focus on the experiences and outcomes for children and families
• Establishing effective systems to monitor the quality of key child protection processes, such as core groups, risk assessment and child protection plans
• Involving all key stakeholders, including children and families, in self evaluation and review
• Implementing and monitoring improvement plans effectively, following external scrutiny or internal assessment to ensure improvements in services and outcomes for children
• Communicating learning effectively to staff, including learning from self-evaluation
• Building capacity among the workforce by supporting the development of practitioner fora and other methods of sharing good practice
• Providing an overview of management information and statistics relating to children and young people on the local Child Protection Register, which includes analysis of trends to inform a strategic assessment of service need; and
• Ensuring that management information and statistics reports inform the development of inter-agency child protection policy and practice.

Quality Assurance Sub-Committee membership

The QA Sub-Committee meets monthly at 0830 or 1500hrs. The membership is:

• NHS Lothian / Community Health Partnership (Assistant Director, Public Protection) (Chief Nurse, Edinburgh CHP)
• Police Scotland (Detective Chief Inspector, Public Protection Unit)
• Children and Families (Senior Education Manager); (Head Of Service, Support to Children and Young People), (Service Manager, Support to Children and Young People); (Senior Performance & Information Officer)
• Health and Social Care (Chief Social Work Officer – Chair)
• Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (Locality Reporter Manager)
• Lead Officer: Child Protection
• Public Protection Administrator

Other vacancies will be advertised shortly

• Edinburgh Play Forum
• City of Edinburgh Mentors in Violence Prevention Steering Group

 

We are exploring options around running a series of informal peer led learning/information sessions in the autumn and would be grateful for your views.  The sessions could be an hour as breakfast, lunch or twilight session, or perhaps a half day, and could be an opportunity to share knowledge and raise awareness of issues important to you and your organisation.  Topics suggested so far include

• Child Sexual Exploitation
• Self Directed Support
• Honour based violence
• Female Genital Exploitation
• Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

But we’re sure there are others.  The sessions would primarily be awareness raising around the issues, but we would try and highlight places to go for more information on the topic, and opportunities for more formal learning as well.

Give us your views here. It’ll take no more than 30 seconds to complete.