Haringey Council is reviewing the services it provides for children under the age of one, with a focus on ensuring equitable access and meeting the needs of this crucial developmental stage.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on Monday to discuss the scope of a review by the Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel. The panel aims to understand the current provision for children aged 0-6 months and 9-12 months, assess service uptake, and determine if the provision meets the demand across the borough.
The review will examine both children's services and public health services, including:
- Commissioned health visiting service performance
- Immunisation uptake
- The Anchor Approach (Team Talk)
- Local uptake of the national Healthy Start programme
- The infant feeding programme
The Children and Young People's Scrutiny Panel will conduct six to eight evidence sessions between October and December, with the goal of setting recommendations in January. The final draft is expected to be signed off in early February.
The key lines of enquiry for the review include:
- What services are available for the 0-6 months and 9-12 months age ranges?
- What is the health visiting offer, especially for children in the younger 0-6 months' group, and is it sufficient?
- Where can you access provision?
- What is the take-up like? Are we reaching the people we want?
- In relation to the 30 hours free childcare do we have the provision to meet the demand for everyone that wants it?
- How do we compare to the government's vision and with other local authorities?
The review also aims to identify best practices and potential areas for improvement, with a focus on equitable access across Haringey.
The Children & Young People Outcome Areas that this review will link to are:
- Best Start in Life (Increase the number of childcare places and increase families' take up of their free entitlement to childcare).
- Happy Childhoods (Deliver two further Family Hubs: identify sites, agree service delivery model which has a close alignment with Localities and Community Hubs).
- Happy Childhoods Public health programmes to promote the health and wellbeing of children and young people: Oral Health Promotion.
- National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP).
- Anchor Approach – implement across ages, phases and sectors to improve mental health and wellbeing.
- Integrating public health services in Family Hubs.
The Children & Young People's Scrutiny Panel includes Councillor Anna Lawton (Chair), Councillor Grosskopf, Councillor Isilar-Gosling, Councillor Abela, Councillor Amin, Councillor Dunstall & Councillor Paton, Christine Cordon (Statutory Education Co-optee), Camilia Borwick-Fox (Statutory Education Co-optee) and Amanada Bernard (Haringey SEND Parent Carer Forum).
