Children and Young People's Plans
The Children Act 2004 places a duty on all top tier local authorities to co-operate with partner agencies in providing, planning and developing services, and to publish a Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP). CYPPs are designed to help deliver the ambitions of the DCSF's Children's Plan. Specifically, they should:
Drive better local integration of services to children and young people.
Help to strengthen local partnership arrangements by broadening their consultation to include all partners in the Children's Trust.
Describe what improvements will be achieved in the local area, and when these improvements will be delivered.
Local CYPPs have been in place for some years but are now being revised to take account of recent new guidance which anticipates a step-change in improving outcomes for children and young people. Research carried out in 2007, as part of the VCS Engage programme, showed that arrangements for engaging the VCS in Children's Trusts varied considerably; from some Children's Trusts which support a local infrastructure, to those where the engagement is sporadic and un-coordinated. As such, the engagement of VCS organisations in the production of CYPPs has not been either uniform or consistent. In tackling this and other challenges, all relevant local authority areas will need to develop new CYPPs by 2011. The relevant top tier authorities in the East of England are set out below, together with links to their most up to date CYPP documents:
Bedford Borough Council - as a new unitary council from 1 April 2009, the authority has yet to produce a CYPP. A link will be provided as soon as a plan is available.
Cambridgeshire County Council
Central Bedfordshire Council - as a new unitary council from 1 April 2009, the authority has yet to produce a CYPP. A link will be provided as soon as a plan is available.
Essex County Council
Hertfordshire County Council
Luton Borough Council
Norfolk County Council
Peterborough City Council
Southend Borough Council
Suffolk County Council
Thurrock Council
