Agenda item

To receive an update on progress made regarding Priority One for 2019/20.

Pete Campbell presented a verbal report on the Update on Priority One (Give Every Child the Best Start in Life/First 1000 Days) for 2019/20 (agenda item 9).  He referred to the Children’s Delivery Group which had struggled to find its identity as there had been some overlap with the Children’s Safeguarding Board.  He reported that change was expected in three areas as follows: 

(1)       Trauma informed experiences – provision of appropriate training for schools, communities and organisations so that they become trauma informed.

(2)       Earlier help approaches – timely and multi-agency with good collaboration. A reduction in higher Tier 3 and 4 interventions were being seen.

(3)       School performances – being more resilient and making healthier choices

Going forward there would be therapeutic informed commissioning. Formation of the brain in the early stages of life had an impact (first 1000 days). Studies had taken place which showed that if childhood development fell behind at an early stage then it  was difficult to catch up or the gap could even widen. The  Domestic Abuse Bill picked up on the importance of the first 1000 days.  A conference workshop had been booked for late April to share initiatives and to explore opportunities. The project was ongoing and would last well beyond the calendar year. He stated that the name might be changed to something which better reflected the group and what it wanted to achieve.

Councillor Martha Vickers asked if Health Visitors had the capacity to undertake prevention work. She had attended a lunchtime education session and there had not been any Health Visitors in attendance which had used  to be the case. This was a good opportunity for networking and she hoped that they had been invited to the session. Matthew Pearce responded that Public Health was undertaking a health need assessment and how services could meet that need. This would be a public document  He also added that a national bid had been submitted a couple of weeks ago which would provide a system approach to improving Early Years Health and Wellbeing.

Matt Pearce referred to self-harm – this was an area that West Berkshire had benchmarked poorly in and he hoped that this could be a focus in the future.

Andrew Sharp commented that the voluntary sector was struggling to cope and this needed to be highlighted as a problem somewhere as if they were being asked to take on additional duties that might risk the chance of success.  Dr Bal Bahia accepted that there was a need to focus on interaction with other agencies. It was necessary to ensure that agencies did not work alone as it was better to bring them together to ensure an informed approach. He felt that Domestic Abuse and Child Protection should be prioritised. Councillor Lynne Doherty asked if anything was being done around prenatal and antenatal. Pete Campbell confirmed that the first 1000 days included prenatal and antenatal and the clock starting ticking from day one of a pregnancy.

Councillor Rick Jones commented that the report provided a good update and was pleased that the objectives had been revised.  He expressed hope that the next Health and Wellbeing Strategy would focus on Young People and Children in order to address the balance.