Nottingham Early Intervention Partnership. The Early Intervention Foundation

Transcription

1 Joint statement of intent by Nottingham Early Intervention Partnership and The Early Intervention Foundation Version 1, Mar 2014

2 Introduction This document sets out how the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) and partners in Nottingham will work together during to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families by improving access to evidence based Early Intervention services. Our Shared Ambition Every child needs support to achieve their potential but some children require extra help along the way. Early Intervention is about getting additional, timely and effective support to children who need it - preventing costly, long-term and traumatic consequences and enabling them to flourish. Partners in Nottingham will work with the EIF, and with the wider network of Early Intervention Places, to lead the way in enhancing Early Intervention by improving both the quantity and quality of services. Through this collaboration we will test out what works locally and share our learning nationally. Our shared ambition is to change the culture locally and nationally from one of late reaction to early intervention, so every baby, child and young person can realise their potential. About this Partnership Partners in Nottingham have demonstrated a strong, formal commitment to early intervention, launching as an Early Intervention City in 2008 with a 20 year mission to develop effective services that will improve the social and emotional capabilities of children and young people, enhancing their wellbeing and quality of life both within and beyond the City. Work over the last 5 years has been supported by a positive trend around key performance indicators for the City as identified in the Nottingham Plan Annual Report However, it is acknowledged that the City needs to continue to shift resources into prevention and early intervention and to strengthen the early help offer which will be progressed through improvements to internal systems, the Strategic Commissioning Review process and our work as an Early Intervention Pioneering Place, supported by the Early Intervention Foundation. The Early Intervention Foundation The Early Intervention Foundation is an independent charity. We advocate for Early Intervention for children and young people and their families, rigorously assess what is known to work and advise those planning and delivering services. In all of this our aim is to ensure children, young people and families get the best support possible. The EIF aims to: convene and speak on behalf of all who wish to promote evidence-based early intervention with the aim of helping to take it from niche to critical mass; grow and improve the UK evidence base for early intervention; provide a single source of independent, comprehensive and authoritative advice on early intervention to government, local commissioners, investors and others; be a thought leader for early intervention, to which others will turn for inspiration and advice. Further information on the work of the EIF is available here:

3 Objectives Through this collaboration we will: Improve outcomes for children and young people by increasing access to effective Early Intervention services that prevent personal, social and economic cost. Increase the effectiveness and value for money of Early Intervention services in Nottingham through the increased use of evidence of what works. Build the evidence base on the interventions that work. Promote effective approaches to Early Intervention nationally. How the objectives will be delivered The EIF will support Nottingham by running collaborative workstreams involving other places and national experts and bespoke support from an EIF adviser and the wider team. Collaborative work will cover the following areas: 1. Improving Strategic Planning Nottingham and the EIF will strengthen and develop long-term plans for Early Intervention in Nottingham. This will include a clear strategy produced by Nottingham by August 2014 for sustained investment in Early Intervention, updating existing strategies and plans relating to Early Intervention. This will be informed by reviewing how the needs of children, young people and families are currently measured and by understanding of the drivers of costs in Nottingham and of the benefits of evidence-based approaches. This will address the areas of support requested by Nottingham around understanding better how to target services appropriately for maximum effect. The EIF will support partners in Nottingham to undertake an overall self-assessment of local progress on Early Intervention in early 2014 to identify practical steps that will be taken to drive forward local delivery. We will update this Statement of Intent once the self-assessment is complete to reflect the priorities that have been identified, and periodically as our work together develops. Leads from Nottingham will attend three workshops in February, April and July 2014 run by the EIF to hear about and present analysis of local needs and drivers of cost, at which Nottingham will share existing local analysis and current planned steps to improvement. The EIF will support this strand of work by providing expert advice on the causes of poor outcomes, the evidence on what works, the drivers of costs and evidence on the costs and benefits of Early Intervention. Nottingham will augment this work with local information and analysis. Partner agencies in Nottingham will use this evidence to demonstrably improve local strategy, priority setting, commissioning and budget decisions for 2015/16 and beyond, with the aim of increasing access to effective Early Intervention. This will include further developing a robust local business case, including addressing Nottingham s areas of priority around scaling effective interventions, and achieving a substantial shift in the maturity and impact of Early Intervention systems.

4 2. Measuring Investment and Outcomes We will establish a clear picture of investment in Early Intervention in Nottingham and the outcomes that are being achieved through it. Nottingham will work with the EIF to quantify spending on Early Intervention by partner agencies in Nottingham in order to support our understanding of the quantum of existing service provision and to support the development of an estimate of national spending on EI. Nottingham will provide information to the EIF on our current framework of measurement of need, cost and outcomes for our populations and service provision and explore how this might be improved to enhance our evaluation and strategic frameworks. The EIF will support this by advising local partners on the measures relevant to the place with the strongest evidence base and helping them prioritise. This will address Nottingham s request for support in developing a single agreed joint outcomes framework, supported by local indicators and strategic priorities that are put into action. Local partners will use this analysis to update measures they track and report. Subject to a discussion about local priorities, the EIF will undertake comparative analysis of Nottingham s population, outcomes and services using these measures, in order to assess and improve local strategy. 3. Early Years Integration We will design local systems to commission and deliver an enhanced integrated early intervention system for Nottingham from conception to age 5, sharing learning with the wider Early Intervention Places network to develop commissioning advice and make national recommendations to support future developments. The EIF will support this work by identifying current and developing systems and practices through the collation of existing and emerging models from our EIPs. This will be informed by evidence reviews on the effectiveness of integrated systems, outcomes, programmes and workforce. The EIF will facilitate the development of local systems, tools, frameworks and commissioning plans through a series of themed work groups, bringing together experts and Places. A final report will be produced in summer 2014 which will include findings and recommendations from the work stream on future models and systems. Nottingham will provide information on current local systems, any models in development and evidence on how these have positively impacted upon outcomes by completing the information template to inform initial work. Nottingham will take part in the themed work groups and other tasks as appropriate, sharing local learning, initiatives and plans and contributing to the development of national advice and recommendations. Nottingham will use the recommendations to further develop their 0-5 delivery model and inform commissioning plans for an integrated early years service in Social Investment

5 EIF will coordinate a national group of places working in this area and convene experts to provide advice in workshops. EIF will produce reports, tools and guidance to support places considering the use of social investment for EI, which draw from the latest learning and practice available. Through this, EIF will support places to identify EI areas where social investment may offer opportunity, to build partnerships to deliver this, and to establish effective outcomes and commissioning arrangements that can support social investment in the future. Nottingham will undertake an appraisal of the local viability of social investment and where it proves promising will test approaches for social investment for early intervention and building social investment into future service planning where it has been evidenced that this is feasible. Nottingham will share learning from this process with the wider EI Places network including and producing information on current and planned innovative finance approaches for workshops and research purposes. Sharing with EIF and other places involved in the work stream local expertise, good practice, learning, and solutions to challenges from existing and planned projects using social investment approaches will be central. 5. Demonstration Project Nottingham has nominated The effectiveness of an asset-based approach to working with our families, as a national EI demonstration project. At a workshop in February the EIF will provide guidance on evaluation design, measures and tools to support you and local partners to implement a robust framework for demonstrating the nature of this work and for evaluating impact. Technical and evaluation leads from Nottingham will also attend workshops in May and July to set out and discuss plans for evaluation. The EIF will provide support through expert guidance and also where necessary and feasible through supporting partnership development with local evaluation experts. The EIF will consider with Nottingham the nature and extent of wider interest in this work and opportunities to showcase it. 6. Bespoke local work The EIF will support Nottingham to develop specific areas of work relating to their EI Plan and its implementation as required, through negotiation and in accordance with the resources available. Key milestones and deadlines for the above work are set out in Appendix 1.

6 Signatories Candida Brudenell Director of Quality & Commissioning Carey Oppenheim Chief Executive of the Early Intervention Foundation Cllr David Mellen Chair of the local partnership

7 Appendix 1 Key milestones and deadlines 2014 January - March Complete self-assessment using maturity matrix internal discussions and workshop with partners to identify current position, areas for development, overview goals for EI Place. Agree Statement of Intent. Develop scope and plans for demonstration project. Build evaluation partnership for ESRC bid if relevant. April - June Preparation for and workshop at EIF Places event reviewing needs assessment, strategic priorities, commissioning plans, outcomes measures. Follow-up actions to further develop these areas and draft Strategy. Set-up working group to review existing EI Plans, decision-making, and develop options for agreement by partners on what future EI definition, vision, Plan and governance should be. EIF to support with advice/information/challenge as relevant. Possible EIF Development Day visit for local senior partners to provide tailored support on priority areas for development (timing, content and focus to be discussed). Develop demonstration project. Submit ESRC bid for evaluation partnership if relevant. July - September Finalise a draft Early Intervention Plan, including approaches to outcomes measurement, future needs assessment, evaluation, and commissioning. Continue implementation and evaluation of Demonstration project. October-December Approve and begin to implement EI Plan January - March Review maturity matrix and journey of past 12 months. Implement Plan and action plan, outcomes framework. April - June Tbc (future update of SOI will confirm)

8 Appendix 2: Lead Contacts The primary points of contact for this collaboration at the EIF and in Nottingham are: EIF Lead Ann Griffiths Implementation Adviser Early Intervention Foundation Nottingham Strategic Lead Katy Ball Head of Service Early Intervention and Market Development Nottingham Main lead Chris Wallbanks Programme Manager for Early Intervention and Partnerships Nottingham Analytical Lead Luke Murray Insight Manager Nottingham Finance Lead Ceri Walters Finance Service Partner Nottingham Early Years Integration lead Simon Down Lead Commissioning Manager Nottingham demonstration project lead [tbc] [name] TBC [job title] [organisation]

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