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New group announced to promote Family Intervention Projects across the country

Ed Balls today signalled an end to intervention in Bradford and Hackney local authorities and has agreed they will now submit succession plans to drive forward improvements to the quality of education and services in their areas.

Ed Balls said that while he will always respond swiftly to secure improvements where there is evidence that a local authority is failing to deliver children’s services to an acceptable level, equally he recognises that when improvements have been made he will act promptly to end Government intervention in authorities where there is clear evidence of sustained improvement overseen by strong leadership.

Speaking at the National Children and Adult Services conference in Harrogate, Ed Balls said:

“I will do what I can to support local authorities and to strike the right balance between support and intervention.

“I don’t want there to be formal intervention in any local authority for any longer than is absolutely necessary and it will always be a last resort. One of the ways that local authorities can help make this happen is by stepping up to the plate and driving improvement from within the sector.

“Where we do step in, I don’t want us to be involved for any longer than we need to be. That’s why I’m pleased that following the improvement in Bradford and Hackney and I am minded to end our involvement there as soon as I am convinced that the necessary support is in place to ensure that progress will continue.”

Ed Balls also announced plans for a National Family Intervention Strategy Group to help make the case for Family Intervention Projects (FIPs) around the country.

FIPs are specialist family interventions targeting the most at-risk families. They have been shown to reduce poor parenting, debt, eviction and domestic violence and reduce the risk of family members getting involved in anti-social behaviour and youth crime, having poor school attendance and behavioural problems.

These families often require intensive support from a wide range of services. It makes sense for leaders in each of these services to work together to maximise the rollout out of FIPs across the country, to help to reduce costs and provide high quality support for children and families.

He has asked the President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), Kim Bromley-Derry, to invite a small group of DCS’ to lead this work and Kim Bromley-Derry will take this forward.

Ed Balls said:

“Since last April, Family Intervention Projects have challenged and supported over 2,400 families, since April, to turn their behaviour around.

“I believe FIPs are an excellent way not just of tackling crime and anti-social behaviour, but intervening early to prevent problems that we would otherwise be storing up and which become much more expensive to deal with later on.

“We announced last month that FIPs would be expanded to reach all families who need them – that’s 10,000 families every year from 2011. I’m delighted that every local authority is now planning to set up a FIP. We also asked local authorities to match the funding that we’ve put in and many areas have done so, but not all as yet.

“I’m pleased that the ADCS has agreed to lead a new National Family Intervention Strategy Group to drive the agenda at local level and I hope this group will help to draw out learning from FIPs more widely and show how investment in FIPs makes a real difference, not just in preventing problems but also in the longer-term in reducing youth offending and also in savings to budgets.”

Mr Kim Bromley-Derry, President of ADCS, said:

"I really welcome the opportunity to lead a group of representatives of the relevant organisations, including DCSs, in assessing the experiences of family intervention projects around the country.

"Where these projects work well, they are an important tool in working with some of the most chaotic families and complex needs, so we must ensure that all local authorities have access to the learning from the projects already underway."

The Group will help to gather, promote and disseminate best practice from FIPs across the country to support those working to help the most at-risk families. Representatives will be invited from ADCS, ADASS, the LGA and other stakeholders from sectors such as Housing, Health and the Police. They will be asked to:

• seek out national and local communities of interest likely to benefit from rolling out the FIPs approach
• identify opportunities to use the FIPs approach to improve value for money, as well as improving outcomes for children and families
• receive reports on progress, including case studies and problem solving, in relation to the national roll-out of FIPs
• help disseminate good practice from FIPs

Ed Balls also gave an update on National Challenge progress reviews in Suffolk and Kent. In September we announced that expert advisers would work alongside Kent and Suffolk local authorities, to consider what more they needed to do to accelerate progress on the National Challenge.

He announced that Graham Badman will work with Suffolk and George Gyte and Rob Briscoe will work with Kent. They will report back to the DCSF and the local authority by mid November and the local authority will then produce a response and implementation plan within a month.

Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to 'England'

Bradford: The Council was directed to enter a 10 year contract with Education Bradford (Serco) which is due to end in 2011.

Hackney: The Council was directed to enter a 10 year contract with The Learning Trust, a not for profit organisation set up for the purposes of the intervention, which is due to end in 2012.

Both decisions on ending intervention will take full account of the Councils' plans for succession arrangements which will need to clearly demonstrate how they and their partners will continue to improve the quality of education across schools in their areas and that schools and wider partners have confidence in the Councils' succession arrangements.

ADCS, the Association of Directors of Children's Services, is the professional leadership association for Directors of Children's Services, who hold statutory accountability under Children Act 2004, and their senior management teams.

The Prime Minster recently outlined a commitment to provide FIPs for all families who would benefit from such services. This would need a ‘four fold increase’ on current provision so that 10,000 families are supported each year. We’re on track to achieve this and an additional £26m funding has been identified for 2010/11 to support this.

173 FIPs are now operational (76 new FIPs since April) and 77 more new FIPs expected in the next few weeks.

2,400 families have been supported since the end of April (against an end of year target of 3,666)

This group will be supported by the DCSF, the Home Office, Communities and Local Government, Ministry of Justice and Department of Health.

The review in Suffolk, which will be led by Graham Badman CBE, a member of the National Challenge Expert Adviser Panel.

The review in Kent will be led by George Gyte and Rob Briscoe. George Gyte is a former head teacher, chief inspector of schools in Northamptonshire, and lead advisor at the then Teacher Training Agency. He is currently working as an adviser on the London Challenge programme. Rob Briscoe’s previous roles include head of school improvement in Tower Hamlets. He is currently working as a City Challenge adviser in London and Greater Manchester.

The reviews are intended to support the authority with increasing the pace of improvement in the National Challenge and reaching final decisions on developing sustainable solutions.

Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk