Cabinet considered the report regarding the approval for the implementation of the preferred early help model of the integrated Family Hub Service.

The Chairman informed Cabinet that Mr Andrew Hill had registered to speak on this item and asked him to address the meeting.

Mr Hill said that the paper mentioned the Maidenhead Community Centre and the Marlow Road Youth Centre whose futures were linked.  The report said that legal advice had been sought on the Child Care Act but he was concerned if this advice had been taken before or after the decision was made to move the youth centre.  Lots of people valued the youth centre as shown in the report.  He said in the consultation question 25 was to retain the centre as a family hub, you consulted to retain but are now proposing to remove it.  He felt that would require a separate consultation. He also questioned what were the limitations of both being on the same site.

The Deputy Chairman of Cabinet, Adult Social Care, Children’s Services, Health and Mental Health informed Cabinet that the Family Hub Service would bring together a range of services that would focus provision on targeted support to our most vulnerable children, young people and families. The aim of the remodelling was to strengthen support for those families that most need it and in doing so reduce the demand for statutory intervention. It was designed to give better outcomes to those that need support.

As part of the approval we were seeking a decision about the retention or closure of specific children’s centres and youth centres and the resulting lease arrangements for those spaces.  The decision will result in a significant restructure of the roles required to deliver the new service.  The final proposals were based on an initial 12 week public consultation that took place January to March 2020 and a further eight week public consultation from July to September 2020. The feedback received is summarised in this report and has shaped the final proposed model.  He thanked everyone who took part in the consultation. 

The preferred model is to bring together services being run by children’s centres, youth centres, the parenting service, health visitors, school nurses and the family resilience service so that residents can get all the help they need from one Family Hub.  The preferred model was to establish two main Family Hubs, one in Windsor and one in Maidenhead. In addition, there would be a number of sub-venues across both Windsor and Maidenhead. Children’s centre services and youth services will be delivered from these venues, other community venues, in people’s homes and via other outreach in the community.  The model was based on best practice from the Government.  It was important to have flexibility to meet demands and requirements of young people.

The Director for Children’s Services informed that the rational for the proposals had been through Cabinet previously.  With regards to the planned sites when looking at them it became clear that each site had some benefits to some users, so we had chosen a set that offered the best value for access and support.  During the consultation the opportunity to work with the Maidenhead Community Centre became clear and there was also the opportunity to move the office element of the youth service from Marlow Road to Reform Road and free up space for the community service.  It was proposed to remove Marlow Road as the designation of the service and legal advice was appropriate after the report was delayed for one month before coming to Cabinet.  it was proposed to move resources from the maintenance of buildings to providing targeted support to residents.  Coming out of this process was the opportunity to re purpose the Pinckney’s Green centre to create a smaller more comfortable space to meet with vulnerable children.

The Lead Member for Housing, Communications and Youth Engagement focused on Pinkneys Green as it was a good news story and had key benefits, the enhancements of services, releasing property for social housing by moving services to this site and provide targeted support.  He thanked Mr Gilmore for his positive engagement on the use of this site.  It showed how constructed engagement benefited the community. 

The Chairman said that this was an excellent strategy that had a lot of work put into it.  It was about services and not buildings.  He also thanked Mr Gilmore for his role.

The Deputy Leader of the Council, Resident and Leisure Services, HR, IT, Legal, Performance Management and Windsor said that she though that this was an excellent paper that yielded many dividends.  She was delighted that Windsor was retaining a strong hub support and especially the  poppies nursery that was important to our armed forces. In Eton Wick some residents have come forward with suggestions of running their own youth club. 

Cllr Tisi said that the transformation was a huge undertaking and will have an impact on our residents so she stood by the decision to call the paper in earlier on in the year.  Because of this there was the second consultation that gave residents a chance to say what they felt about potential closures.  Despite reservation it was accepted that the hub system would be introduced and she hoped the transformation succeeds.  There was a role for voluntary organisations and she asked how secure the council was that these groups had the capacity especially with C-19.

The Lead Member said the second wave of consultation had already been planned but he welcomed the scrutiny of the proposals.  The Director also said it is hard work for volunteers to run groups but there would be capacity from the youth service to work with groups and also sign post services.

Cllr Werner welcomed the change in direction but remained concerned about the loss of universal services. He was glad that Pincknys Green centre was to be retained.  He was concerned about the loss of the large hall and way it was used and asked for certainty if there would remain a hall after the changes to make it a youth centre.

The Lead Member replied that he was pleased the proposals had been well received.  The design of the building was currently being undertaken.  The Director also said that changes to the centre was required for service delivery for smaller groups.  All opportunities to maximise the space for public use would be considered.

Cllr Price said that with regards to the Lawns Children’s Centre were on page 196 it said that it was the only user of the site.  Family Friends also used the site.  She was informed that they would remain on the site the reference in the report was to space used for the children’s centre.

Resolved unanimously:  that Cabinet notes the report and:

i)          Agrees to the proposed model of an integrated Family Hub Service as set out in the consultation documents in appendix 2.

ii)         Agrees to the proposals de-designating a number of children’s centres, along with a number of changes to leases and rental agreements at a number of sites as set out in section 3.3.

iii)        Confirms that Achieving for Children should commence implementation including staff consultation for the proposed new model.