Appendix 3
Mapping Getting it right for every child on to the National Performance Framework
In November 2007 the Scottish Government launched the National Performance Framework to guide public reporting on progress towards achieving the five cross-government strategic objectives - Healthier, Wealthier & Fairer, Safer & Stronger, Smarter and Greener. Linked to each strategic objective are National Outcomes and linked to each Outcome are National Indicators. In all there are 15 National Outcomes and 45 National Indicators.
Four of the National Outcomes are very specifically linked to children's services. However, others represent either:
- Long-term outcomes that can only be achieved if appropriate provision is made for children and adolescents (e.g. "We live longer, healthier lives").
Or
- Outcomes related to those social, economic and environmental factors which directly and indirectly impact on the delivery of children's services.
The four key National Outcomes for children's services are:
"Our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed."
"We have improved the life chances for children, young people and families at risk."
"Our young people are successful learners, confident individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens."
"Our public services are high quality, continually improving, efficient and responsive to local people's needs."
While only seven of the 45 National Indicators focus specifically on children and young people, those Indicators which are concerned with service users' experiences of public services clearly also apply to the young, while other indicators, like some of the National Outcomes, focus on improvements in the life chances of adults which depend to some extent on early interventions or they focus on changes in the social, economic and environmental factors which impact on children's lives (e.g. "Decrease the proportion of individuals living in poverty".)
By the end of June 2009 all 32 Local Authorities in Scotland had signed Single Outcome Agreements ( SOAs) which set out how they intended to take forward the National Framework within their localities.
At the national level it is clearly both valid and valuable to be able to ascertain to what extent Scotland's children are safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. It is equally valid and valuable to be able to make similar statements for populations of children and young people in each local authority and health board. At the same time it is also valuable to be able to ascertain how many pre-school centres, schools and area child protection committees, across Scotland and in each locality, have received positive inspection reports. However, most of the data on these outcomes at the local and national level cannot be easily disaggregated in order to tell us whether or not we are Getting it right for EACH child. Even if there is some overlap between different sets of statistics we cannot simply assume that, for example, the lowest attaining 20 percent in schools are also the ones experiencing all the other problems and disadvantages. There may well be correlations here but the different databases being employed locally and nationally and the absence of any kind of multi-level statistical modelling prevent us from finding out.
On the other hand, the child's record and plan is a potential source of data on outcomes that would provide a more holistic picture of how each child is doing as well as enabling direct links to be made to the specific interventions and support provided. This possibility becomes more realisable once electronic recording and planning is available.
This Appendix attempts to map the kind of data potentially available from the child's record and plan on to the National Performance Framework.
Map 1 : Getting it right for EACH child and young person
At the core of this map is a triangle, where the left side represents child development (as in the My World Triangle), the right side represents the system changes and new or improved processes in children's services that are proposed in the Getting it right approach, while the base of the triangle represents the child's environment and the factors within it which might positively or negatively affect any attempt to satisfactorily meet that child's needs.
Here the focus is very much on Getting it right for EACH child. The boxes linked to Child's Outcomes highlight the potential categories of outcome that could be recorded on the child's record and plan: those which are specific to the concerns that have been raised about the child, their progress in relation to the Well-being Indicators, whether or not they are on track to meet their developmental milestones for their age or stage and whether or not the interventions and support are helping them to become more resilient (particularly important not only when they are highly vulnerable but also if they have disabilities or debilitating conditions that prevent them from meeting those developmental milestones which are considered to be the norm for specific age groups). Map 1 also includes Process Outcomes relating to service-user satisfaction and the extent to which the child and family feel that they have been listened to, their concerns taken seriously and they have been kept in the information loop throughout the process.
Map 2 : A potential relationship between Getting it right for every child and local policy priorities.
Here we can see the potential for aggregating some of the data from children's records and plans for purposes of local evaluation, performance monitoring and self-evaluation by area and team managers. More specifically this also allows the possibility of collecting process outcome data around the key principles of Getting it right: reducing the number of planning meetings and plans per child, reducing unnecessary referrals, reducing waiting times for diagnosis and assessment, etc.
Finally the aggregated outcome data on protective and adverse factors for children and young people could be related to local outcome indicators and targets aimed at reducing inequalities, social exclusion, homelessness, crime, and so on.
Map 3 : Mapping Getting it right for every child on to the National Performance Framework
Here too the distinction is made between Getting it right for EACH child and Getting it right for EVERY child. The inner ring around the triangle relates to Map 1 and reflects the kinds of data that could be collated from individual records and plans. The second ring comes from Map 2 and relates to outcome measures and process measures which a local authority might choose to employ to ascertain if they are getting it right for EVERY child within their care. The third and outer ring relates to the National Performance Framework and seeks to show how the outcome data collected through the inner and second rings could feed into and inform many of the National Outcomes and Indicators.
The main implication of this discussion is that the child's plan and record is a potential source of outcome data on each child. Furthermore this also raises the possibility that data could be collected that would circumvent the problem of how to relate the outcomes for each child to the outcomes for every child.
