Press release - 10 July 2003

City to pilot Children's Trust

Brighton and Hove has been chosen by the government to be among the first areas in the country to work towards creating a Children's Trust.

This will effectively merge the work of the City Council and the city's NHS Primary Care Trust in planning services for children.

The advantages of this are seen as:

• More streamlined management
• Less money spent on bureaucracy and fewer meetings
• A single set of service priorities
• Clearer accountability
• Improved service delivery through pooled budgets and expertise
• A single referral and assessment framework

The city already has its first ever Children's Services Commissioner. James Dougan's post is jointly funded by the NHS and the council. He will be responsible for commissioning children's services on behalf of both the City Council and the city's Primary Care Trust.

Work on the Children's Trust will begin shortly and will be implemented stage by stage over the next three years, involving a complete review of all the services which affect children to see if they would be improved by being part of the Children's Trust. For example:

• Disabilities
• Mental Health
• Child Protection
• Community paediatrics
• School Nursing
• Health Visiting

Councillor Pat Hawkes, chair of the council's children, families and schools committee, said: "This is an awful lot more than a bureaucratic reshuffle - it's about putting children right at the centre of how services are delivered.

"I believe fully integrated children's services will result in more effective child protection services and better preventative services to tackle little problems before they become big problems.

"I would in turn expect these improvements to be reflected in better education results as children who have problems outside school benefit from improved support, and ultimately a reduction in juvenile crime.

"Having teachers, social workers, primary health workers and family support staff all working together towards the same priorities under the same management has to be a good thing."

The chief executive of the Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust, Gary Needle, said: "We want services to be organised for the benefit of children and their families, rather than for the convenience of the organisations who provide the services.

"The Children's Trust is an exciting vehicle to enable us to bring together all the organisations to achieve this."