Agenda item

Councillor Gwen Grahl (as Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools) introduced the report, which provided an update on the progress of Family Wellbeing Centres (FWCs). In introducing the report, she highlighted the following key points:

• She felt that FWCs were a crucial part of everything the Council did for children and young people and were a gold standard model now being replicated in many local authorities across the country.
• FWCs provided a whole family approach and range of services under one roof and were an important part of many outcomes such as supporting children with SEND, speech and language development, parenting programmes, youth activities, antenatal care with NHS partners, and the decreasing numbers of children looked after.
• In the reporting period, FWCs had delivered over 130 different activities and services, supported more than 18,000 families, and the integrated model meant that families were getting the right help at the right time.
• She extended thanks to the dedicated staff and partners who made FWCs work, highlighting that the feedback received about FWCs often revolved around outstanding staff members who had gone above and beyond to help families.
• In concluding her remarks, she welcomed the families who had attended the meeting that evening to talk about their experiences using FWCs.

Serita Kwofie (Head of Early Help, Brent Council) added that, although there had been a plateau in terms of new registrations to FWCs, there had been an increase in regular attendance at FWC activities, which she felt was a testament to the range of services offered at FWCs. She added that the report also detailed forward planning in light of the Best Start for Life work and the aims and ambitions of the Council to further develop FWCs. In concluding, she welcomed the families who had attended the meeting, highlighting the importance of hearing from families and service users on the successes outlined in the report as well as any areas for improvement they had identified.

The Chair invited Adela, CK and Uday to the meeting who had attended to speak about their experience of using FWCs. In providing an opportunity for them to speak, the Board noted the following feedback from the service users:

Adela advised that she had found out about FWCs when she was pregnant and attended her prenatal visit. The nurse had explained how Brent supported parents and families at FWCs, and from that time until now she had attended her FWC every week. She went 3-4 times a week and took part in different activities with her son, and she advised that she was very grateful for the service. Her favourite activities were Stay Play and Learn, Let’s Talk, Messy Play, Connection with Children and potty training. She had also taken part in other activities including visiting London Zoo, Kew Gardens, and summer and end of year parties. She did not have any suggestions for improvement but highlighted that families may not know about the FWCs if they had not been told at their prenatal visit.

CK informed the Board that her health visitor had told her about FWCs, and she had been attending activities for children under 5 and workshops for carers. She was grateful that the service provided opportunities for her child to take part in play-based sessions and for her to connect with other parents and learn skills. She highlighted that, unfortunately, the nurseries in her area were full, so she was bringing her child with her everywhere she went, meaning that having the FWCs to attend activities helped her and made her feel less isolated. She added that staff in her FWC were very supportive and helped and advised her a lot.

Uday had learned about the FWCs because his school had sent an email to his parents regarding a session called Teen Space which he had attended in 2023 and had been regularly attending since. He advised that this had helped him socialise with new people, learn new things and try new activities with different people. He had attended events such as Go Ape and park visits, and the activities had helped him gain more confidence around others. He had received advice from FWCs when doing his exams in school and found the staff very supportive and willing to help.

The Chair thanked the users for introducing themselves and invited comments and questions from those present, with the following points raised:

·       The Board asked to hear about the selection process for FWC steering groups, recognising that each FWC was very routed in the community it served with programmes tailored to the community. Serita Kwofie confirmed that steering groups were very localised to support FWCs in their particular communities and were made up of a combination of stakeholders from voluntary and community sector organisations that served those particular areas. For example, Granville’s FWC steering group would include someone from the South Kilburn Trust. Health colleagues also sat on the steering groups as well as senior leaders from local schools. Partners chaired the steering groups to ensure it was focused on the community it served rather than officer led, which helped to ensure stronger buy-in, consistency and commitment to the aims and ambitions that FWCs wanted to drive forward.

·       The Committee asked whether service users had used any of the advice services available through the FWCs. Service users had used Citizen’s Advice which they had found very useful, and advice about applying to nursery with support provided to in fill out the application form. Nigel Chapman added that Citizens Advice sessions were very popular within FWCs and always booked up, providing helpful advice and directing families towards Brent Hubs and other employment agencies. The Citizens Advice offer was due to be expanded to offer extra sessions around cost-of-living which would begin in the new year across all FWCs.

·       The Board asked for further information about the flow between FWCs to hubs and other agencies in terms of referrals. Nigel Chapman advised that there was a close link between Hubs and FWCs and people moving between the two, and he would provide more detail around the data regarding flow and referrals.

·       The Board noted the comments made by service users in relation to difficulties gaining a nursery placement. They heard that reception staff had been helpful in recognising that a service user’s child was of nursery age and recommended they sought a nursery place, but some nurseries had minimum hours requirements so if a parent could not afford that then they were unable to apply for the nursery. Other nurseries offered 15 hours per week but were very competitive and full.

·       The Board asked service users how FWCs could be made even better. CK advised that she had attended a workshop where a creche service was offered to support parents doing the workshop, allowing parents to take part without their children present, and hoped more of that could be offered, as well as workshops where children and parents could learn something separately. Uday suggested that 1 to 1 sessions for young people would help build confidence for those who struggled to socialise with others.

As no further issues were raised, the Chair drew the discussion to close, thanking FWC staff for the work they had undertaken and the service users for their presentations. He reassured service users that the Board had heard in a very practical way what had been achieved and where the opportunities for improvement were.