Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       The Council, at its meeting on the 4th November 2019, considered a motion which had been moved by Councillor Mulholland and seconded by Councillor Smyth:

            ‘Following on from the 20th year of Parenting Week, this Council recognises the vital importance of parents to society.

            Furthermore, it notes with concern that 82% of parents indicated in the most recent ‘Big Parenting Survey’, that they felt that parents do not receive enough support.

            In order to bring attention to and in an attempt to redress this, the Council formally supports Parenting NI’s ‘Parenting in the Picture’ campaign and pledges to work towards implementing the promises and commitments contained in this campaign.

            To do this, the Council commits to conducting an audit of the existing initiatives which it delivers to support parents, with a view to working with the voluntary and community sector, as well as other partners, to explore if such initiatives may be improved, as well as seeking to bring forward new programmes to support our parents.’

            The motion was referred, without discussion, to the People and Communities Committee.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to:

                                               i.          Note the findings of the service audit outlining Council’s support/ provision for Parents.

                                              ii.          Agree that officers should work collaboratively with the Belfast Area Outcomes Group to explore the potential to enhance service provision to address parents’ needs in the city.

3.0       Main report

            Key Issues

3.1       The purpose of this report is to update Members on the recent audit of the existing initiatives which council delivers to support parents in the city. In addition, officers met with Parenting NI in order to discuss the range of possible actions that BCC and other relevant agencies might take to support the promises and commitments included in the ‘Parenting in the Picture Campaign’. (Attached as Appendix 1)

3.2       Council do not have the specific remit of developing and implementing Parent Support Programmes and, as such, does not deliver any targeted support programmes for Parents in the city.  There are, however, a number of current initiatives that have an impact on parents directly or indirectly.

            Direct Provision of Parenting Support Initiatives

3.3       We defined direct provision as an intervention directly delivered by Council where parents are the main target beneficiaries and the aim of the programme is related to their parental skills, abilities, confidence and knowledge.  The range of services delivered by council are:

·        Mother and Toddlers Groups: delivered by Community Services in our Community Centres. There are 13 regular M&T groups across the city meeting on a weekly basis. The groups run from September to June annually.

·        Outreach Play Programme: delivered by the Play Service to local voluntary and community groups and other Play Providers in the city. The outreach programme supports groups and parents with resources, information and advice on Play. The programme is implemented via weekly sessions for twelve consecutive weeks. There are around 19 programmes delivered weekly from Sep to Jun annually.

·        Playgroup Parent Support: delivered by the Play Service.  Programme to parents of statemented children. The group meets weekly for 15 weeks with parents participating in group discussions, information sharing, mindfulness and specific workshops on parenting and development.

·        Parenting NI Staff training:  Corporate HR provided staff introductory training to officers across council on effective Parenting and Raising a child during 2019.

            Indirect provision

3.4       Defined as activities and interventions that have an impact in supporting parents but that might not necessarily be designed initially to provide parent support.  There are a wide range of initiatives across Council, and the value of the contributions that they make should not be underestimated. Given the variety of interventions, we have provided an illustrative summary of the most relevant.

·        Council Network of Community Centres and other local neighbourhood facilities: There is a huge number of events and interventions facilitated in our local community centres and other local venues such as women’s groups, sports clubs, Crèches or particular parent activities such as art clubs, sports, informal training, children thematic projects and information sessions.

·        Officer support:  Officers across our community provision teams deliver a wide range of programmes which are supportive of parents in the city for example, afterschool projects, afterschool play provision and homework clubs.

·        Summer Scheme:  BCC host a summer scheme programme at each of our BCC community and play centres during July and August offering children a host of activities and play opportunities in safe and accessible environments.

·        Summer Scheme Grant programme:  Local community sector schemes have access to small grant funding and other support to extend the summer scheme offer in the city.

·        City Events: Programmes of large-scale free events across the city. Examples such as Halloween, Christmas Light switch on and a range of local events in our parks and open spaces.

3.5       Officers held a series of meetings with Parenting NI in order to explore opportunities to progress some of the commitments outlined in the ‘Parenting in the Picture Campaign’. We propose that the report and the note of the meeting with Parenting NI are shared with the Belfast Area Outcomes Group to explore the potential to enhance service provision to address parents’ needs in the city.  Some of the recommendations include:

·        Consider the need for a specific scope of parental needs in the Belfast area replicating the regional Big Parent Survey.

·        Expand the availability of the ‘wellbeing in the workplace’ seminars provided in the last year.

·        Establish a ‘parent network’ for employees.

·        Further train staff who interact directly with children, young people and parents in order to improve their ability to work with parents.

3.6       Financial & Resource Implications

            There are no financial or resource implications attached to this report, however any agreement on a Belfast specific scoping study and related activity will need to be considered in terms of resource implications for the council.

3.7       Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Assessment

            None.”

   The Committee adopted the recommendations and agreed that officers work through Corporate Communications to review the accessibility of information in relation to the Council’s direct and indirect provision through its website.