Welcome To Wirral

The new Department has forged close links with other organisations which provide services to children and young people, notably the health services, Connexions, Youth Offending Service, the police and the community and voluntary sector.

We plan for services for children and young people through 5 strategy groups, one for each of the outcomes in the 2004 Children Act.

• Being healthy
• Staying safe
• Enjoying and achieving
• Making a positive contribution
• Social and economic well-being.

In addition there are 3 cross cutting groups for

• Looked after children
• Children with learning difficulties and disabilities
• Early years and childcare.

Inter Agency Governance

We have set up a Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership Board. All the organisations which provide services for children and young people are represented on the Board. They are

• Wirral Council
• Wirral Primary Care Trust
• Wirral Hospital Trust
• Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust
• Greater Merseyside Connnexions Partnership
• Merseyside Police
• Link Forum (the voluntary community and faith sector)
• School
• Learning and Skills Council

The Chair of the Board is Councillor Phil Davies, the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning.

The Board’s terms of reference are

• to co-ordinate services for children and young people
• to identify the needs of Wirral children and young people in terms of the five outcomes in the Children Act 2004
• to determine the strategies required to improve the outcomes for children’s well-being
• to make recommendations to the Council, Primary Care Trust Board, Wirral Hospital Trust Board, the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership Trust Board, the Police Authority, the Connexions Partnership, the Probation Board and the Youth Offending Service with respect to the measures that are needed to improve children’s well-being.
• to recommend joint commissioning strategies and, where appropriate be responsible for pooled budget arrangements
• to be responsible for the arrangements to assess children’s needs
• to be responsible for the arrangement for the sharing of information about children and young people and the creation of a children’s index
• to maintain a Directory of Children’s Services
• to be responsible for the preparation of the Children and Young People’s Plan
• to monitor the delivery of the CYP Plan and its effectiveness
• to monitor progress on the Children and Young People’s block in the Local Area Agreement.
• to oversee the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) and the process for the Joint Area Review (JAR).

The Board meets in Wallasey Town Hall 4 times per year.

For further information about our planning for children and young people’s services, please e-mail children@wirral.gov.uk or write to:

The Director of Children’s Services
Hamilton Building
Conway Street
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 4FD.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S PLAN 2008 - 2011

Wirral's Children and Young People's Plan 2008-11 is now available online, and covers all the services provided for children and young people in the borough.

The Children Act gives the Children and Young People’s Department the responsibility to lead and co-ordinate the wider partnership for children and young people in Wirral.

The Department seeks to integrate efforts across the public sector, with Wirral Council, Connexions, Health, Police, the Voluntary, Community and Faith Sector and the Fire and Rescue Service building on excellent partnership working and identifying additional areas for joint work.

The Partnership focuses on improving the five 'Every Child Matters' outcomes for every Wirral child in all its work. It does this working directly with children and young people, indirectly by supporting families, and by supporting adults as learners in their own right.

This is reflected in the Children and Young People’s Plan 2008-11 approved by Council in April 2008. The Plan covers all the services provided for children and young people in the Borough and brings together all the plans that we have to improve their lives and enable them to achieve their potential.