An ambitious plan aims to radically change the way services work together for children, young people and their families in Cornwall. 

Senior leaders have come together to agree the ’One Vision’ Partnership Plan, which sets the foundation for a Children and Young People Transformation Plan 2017-2020 to shape the integration of education, health and social care services for children, young people and their families.

’This is not about cutting services,’ said Andrew Wallis, the Council’s lead member for children and young people.

iIt is about improving services and building on the success of projects such as the Early Help Hub and our Multi Agency Referral Unit where we are already working closely with our partners to deliver ground-breaking services which are changing lives.

’We know that parents and carers and young people are not interested in which organisation runs a service – they just want to know that the service will be there when they need it. 

’We already have strong relationships with our partners in health, schools, the police and the voluntary and community sector. 

’Developing the One Vision Plan will help us to deliver improved joined-up services which meet the needs of our children, young people and families.’

The One Vision plan has been produced jointly by Cornwall Council, the Council of the Isles of Scilly and NHS Kernow, with Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust. It is also fully in line with Cornwall’s Devolution Deal.

It covers education and early years services, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, community child health services, including child and adolescent mental health services, early help services, and children’s social care, including child protection, children in care and care leavers.

The plan is based on consultation with children and young people, parents and carers, practitioners and clinicians. 

Now the draft is being considered at meetings of the key partners over the next few weeks. This approval process will be followed by a series of engagement events for service users and the wider public between April and June.

More than one in three children and young people in some areas of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are living in poverty – higher than the national average.   

There is also a gap in the number of young people achieving at school, with only 37% of 11-year-olds reaching their goals in reading, writing and maths, compared to 51% nationally.

’Research shows that childhood poverty has a significant impact on the health and educational outcomes of children and young people,’ said Kathryn Hudson, Director for Integrated Commissioning at NHS Kernow.

’The aim of our One Vision is to ensure that partners work together for all children and young people in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to support parents to keep them safe and healthy and achieve a brighter future.’