The Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on Thursday 5 March 2026 to discuss progress on incorporating young people's voices into policy-making, review the Youth Justice Plan, and receive updates on the Families First programme. The committee also considered performance reports for Quarter 3 of 2025/26, including data on children's social care, education, and family hub performance.

Motion 976: Incorporating Young People's Voice, Participation and Co-Production into Council Policy-Making

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of Council Motion 976, which aims to better integrate the views of young people into Gloucestershire County Council's policymaking processes. This initiative stems from a recognition that policy decisions can impact young people differently than adults, and that their voices are often underrepresented. The report detailed the consultation approach and early findings from testing a youth survey, co-produced with young people and partners. The committee was asked to approve the proposed survey questions and methodology, which favoured face-to-face engagement in trusted settings like schools and youth clubs over online methods. The aim is to develop a final report for Full Council in May 2026, outlining young people's views and requirements for sustaining this work as standard practice.

Youth Justice Plan 2026/27 and Prevention Measures

The committee was scheduled to provide feedback on the Youth Justice Plan for 2026/27 and receive an update on prevention and early intervention measures. The Youth Justice Service (YJS) operates on a 'Child First' framework, supporting children aged 10-17 who are involved in or at risk of offending. The plan for 2026/27 builds on a three-year strategy, focusing on workforce integration, victim support, the 'Child First' principle, inclusion, and health and wellbeing. The report highlighted key achievements from 2025/26, including progress in workforce harmonisation, strengthening victim response, implementing the 'Child First' framework, and establishing a multidisciplinary Health and Education Intervention Panel. Gloucestershire YJS continues to perform well against national measures for first-time entrants and reoffending rates. The report also detailed areas for development into 2026/27, informed by recommendations from a recent HMIP inspection, and provided an update on the Turnaround Programme, a Ministry of Justice initiative focused on early intervention, which has secured multi-year funding.

Gloucestershire's Families First Partnership Programme

An update was scheduled on the progress of the Families First Partnership Programme, a national reform initiative aimed at transforming children's social care through earlier, integrated intervention and stronger multi-agency collaboration. The programme encompasses three main strands: Family Help (merging targeted early help and child in need services), Multi-agency Child Protection Teams (MACPTs), and Family Group Decision Making (FGDM). The report outlined the emerging operating model for the Education Directorate, which has not been reviewed since 2017/18 and is facing increased demand and changes in national policy. The proposed model focuses on a place-based community approach, with a school-based service, an integrated targeted early help support service, and area-based family help services. Enhanced multi-agency arrangements include a unified front door to children's services and the establishment of MACPTs. The programme also includes a re-focusing of prevention resources, with investment in services for children harmed outside the home and a unified education service for children requiring coordinated support.

Quarter 3 2025/26 Performance Report

The committee was scheduled to review the Quarter 3 2025/26 performance report for Children's Services. This report provided a strategic overview of the council's performance, including scorecards for Children's Social Care and Education. Key performance indicators (KPIs) for Children's Social Care covered areas such as the number of social workers in a child's life, audit quality, re-referral rates, and the timeliness of contact activity and assessments. For Children in Need and Protection, measures included the completion of single assessments, the duration of child protection plans, and strategy discussions. Performance for Children in Care focused on placement stability, review timeliness, and the number of placements. The report also detailed performance for care-experienced young people, specifically regarding suitable accommodation and engagement in employment, education, or training. The Education section of the report presented data on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), including the number of plans in progress, timeliness of assessments, and the rate of EHCPs per 1,000 children. It also covered pupil absence rates, the proportion of good or outstanding early years settings, and rates of permanent exclusions and suspensions. The report also included a Corporate Strategic Risk Monitoring Report, highlighting key risks such as failure to develop sufficient placement capacity, increased demand for EHCPs, and inadequate safeguarding arrangements.

Family Hub Performance

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the performance of Gloucestershire's Family Hubs, which include Children and Family Centres (C&FCs), Youth Hubs, outreach services, and the Virtual Family Hub. The report covered data from April to December 2025 for C&FCs and January to December 2025 for Youth Hubs, with Virtual Family Hub data from July 2025 to February 2026. The report highlighted strong engagement across C&FCs, with high demand in urban areas and growing complexity of need, particularly related to SEND and parental mental health. Rural inequalities were noted as an ongoing challenge. Youth provision showed increasing demand, with a rise in 1:1 emotional wellbeing support. The Virtual Family Hub demonstrated high activity levels, with significant interactions, page views, and user sessions. The report also detailed the commissioning pot for community capacity building, the range of provision and partnership working, and key themes such as increasing demand for SEND support and parental mental health. Provider performance was mixed, with Gloucestershire Gateway Trust and Aspire Foundation showing strong performance, while Family Action, operating in rural areas, faced challenges. The report concluded with recommendations to note the performance, endorse KPI improvements, and agree the frequency of reporting to the scrutiny committee.