The Troubled Families programme which is supporting almost 400,000 families with multiple, high-cost problems is making significant and sustained progress, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP confirmed today (28 March 2019).

Building resilient families, the third Troubled Families annual report, details how the programme is spreading whole family working across local services. This means more families in need getting access to the early, practical and coordinated support they need to overcome their complex interconnected problems such as anti-social behaviour, mental health issues or domestic violence.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

The real strength of the Troubled Families Programme is that it’s not just trying to manage the challenges families in need face. It’s changing lives in the long term.

Troubled Families keyworkers are successfully engaging with the whole family to address not just the symptoms, but the underlying issues that have held families in need back, often for generations.

Almost 400,000 families have been helped by the programme’s whole family approach, winning the confidence of councils and their partners alike with its proven ability to give people hope and a brighter future.

That’s why I believe in the programme and want to see it go from strength to strength.

Rather than responding to each problem, or single family member separately, assigned Troubled Families keyworkers engage with the whole family. Through this approach they coordinate support from a range of services to identify and address family issues as early as possible rather than merely reacting to crises.

The programme of whole family working has achieved significant progress over the past 12 months:

• Local authorities have been funded to work in a whole family way with 380,426 families in most need of help as part of the programme. However, we know that local authorities are working in a whole family way with a far greater number of families.
• 171,890 families have achieved significant and sustained progress against the problems that were identified when they entered the programme. This is up 79,645 on the previous year.
• Of all families worked with since the beginning of the programme, in 20,366 families one or more adults have succeeded in moving into continuous employment. An increase of 6,459 since last year.

When compared to a similar control group, the programme of targeted intervention was found to have:

• reduced the proportion of children on the programme going into care by a third
• reduced the proportion of adults on the programme going to prison by a quarter and juvenile convictions by 15%
• supported more people on the programme back in work with 10% fewer people claiming Jobseekers Allowance

The Troubled Families Programme is geared toward reducing demand and dependency of families with complex needs on costly, reactive public services and delivering better value for the taxpayer.

Since the current programme began in 2015, local authorities and their partners have worked with almost 400,000 eligible families. This compares with only 5,000 families who had received whole family support in England between January 2006 and March 2010.

Local Government Minister Rishi Sunak MP said:

The success of the Troubled Families Programme is down to the tremendous efforts and tireless work of all those involved including the families themselves.

I have seen first-hand how the programme has made a real difference for families up and down the country, with fewer children going into care, fewer adults going to prison and more adults back in work.

When we strengthen our families, we strengthen society; because when families thrive, we all thrive.

This government will continue to champion families at every turn, helping them play their part in a society where no one is left behind.

The Troubled Families Programme with its emphasis on early intervention and its track record of tackling complex challenges also has a valuable role to play in addressing serious youth crime.

In February 2019 a new £9.5 million fund was launched to help focus attention on preventing young people getting drawn into serious youth crime.

A further £300,000 has also been made available to train frontline staff on how to tackle childhood trauma. The money has been allocated to community-backed projects in 21 areas across England.

Read the annual report Building resilient families: third annual report of the Troubled Families Programme 2018 to 2019.

This is the third annual report of the current Troubled Families Programme and meets the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government’s statutory duty to report annually on performance.

View the National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme 2015 to 2020 report.

Find more information on the £9.8 million Supporting Families Against Youth Crime fund.

The current Troubled Families Programme was rolled out in England in April 2015 and replaced the first programme which had been in place since 2012. The programme will continue support for disadvantaged families with complex problems and will work with almost 400,000 families by 2020.

Northallerton, which was hit with flooding in 2009 and 2012, now has four new Environment Agency flood warning areas, covering nearly 650 properties.

The new flood warning areas are for:

• Turker Beck: More than 300 properties on Turker Lane, South View, Mount Road, Crossbeck Road, Meadow Lane, Oak Grove, Turker Close and Forest Road
• Confluence of Sun Beck and Turker Beck: More than 100 properties on Alverton Lane, High Street (B1333), Friarage Street, East Road and The Friarage Hospital
• Sun Beck: More than 250 properties on Bankhead Road, Bankhead Close, Aslands Road, Ashlands Close, Ashlands Court, Valley Road, The Crescent and Brooklands Crescent
• Willow Beck at Low Gates: 11 properties along Willow Beck Road and Darlington Road

Kim Tan, Environment Agency flood resilience officer, said:

The Environment Agency is continuously updating its flood warnings. We use new data to get a more accurate picture to help at risk communities be better prepared for flooding.

In total, there are five watercourses running through the town – Brompton Beck, North Beck, Willow Beck, Sun Beck and Turker Beck.

These watercourses flow through a series of open channels and culverts in the town.

Flooding occurs when heavy rainfall causes excessive flows which the drains and minor watercourses cannot cope with.

These watercourses are tributaries of the River Wiske, which is in the River Swale catchment.

The four new flood warnings areas are in addition to two that already exist:

• Willow Beck: Properties at Chantry Road and Romanby Sewage Works. This warning area covers 10 properties.
• North Beck and Willow Beck: Properties on Finkills Way, Springwell Lane, Chantry Road, Beckside and Rowans Way, plus access to Cherry Croft. There are 51 properties covered by this warning area.

Mr Tan said:

By registering to the Flood Warning Service you will receive an advanced warning of potential flooding in your area.

This gives you time to stay safe, take action and prepare yourself and your property for flooding. Even if your property isn’t at direct risk, your access or your workplace might be.

You can receive a warning message as a phone call to your house, place of work or mobile, as well as an option to receive a text message or e-mail.

To check your flood risk and sign up to receive flood warnings, go to www.gov.uk/flood.

In December 2014, the Environment Agency completed a £3.1m project that reduced flood risk to 172 homes and businesses in Northallerton, plus the Friarage Hospital.

The scheme included the creation of storage areas at Turker Beck and Sun Beck and the installation of hydraulic control measures to reduce the risk of flooding further downstream.

The storage areas hold water after heavy rainfall, slowing the flow of water and reducing the risk of flooding in the town centre. They use the natural lie of the land to avoid the need for building large and obtrusive banks.

An innovative approach by Natural England to protect great crested newts and support sustainable development was today (28 March) launched in Cheshire.

Developers in Cheshire can now apply for a licence under District Level Licensing for great crested newts. This follows our announcement of a nationwide roll-out of great crested newts District Level licensing in 2017, which was officially launched in Kent last month. District Level Licensing is now available across 23 local planning authority areas, including in Woking and the South Midlands.

Whilst great crested newts are found throughout lowland England, the species needs suitable ponds to thrive. Although strictly protected by law, great crested newt populations continue to decline – over the last century there has been a dramatic decline in ponds within the UK. Approximately 50 per cent of ponds in the UK have been lost, and 80 per cent of current ponds are in a poor state leading to large declines in great crested newt populations.

The previous licensing system was focused on preventing harm to great crested newts on individual development sites rather than addressing the wider health of newt populations. Through District Level Licensing, developers can invest in mitigating the impact of a development by restoring and creating offsite compensatory ponds in areas of the county suitable for newts, rather than the species being squeezed in around the margins of a development. Importantly, this means the species benefits from an overall increase in breeding grounds to better support their populations over time.

Dave Bell, Natural England Area Manager said:

We’re really pleased to announce that our new county-level approach to licensing for these distinctive animals is now open for business in Cheshire.

The new approach will provide specially created habitat in areas where newts can thrive, bringing with it broader benefits for wildlife across the landscape. It will also mean developers can avoid costly delays in the planning system to build homes for communities.

I’d like to thank everyone involved for all their hard work. This county scale of working, championed in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, highlights our continued commitment to maintain the health and resilience of this protected species and ensure environmental regulation better serves both the natural environment and the economy. If we create the right conditions for nature to flourish, we will leave the environment in a better place for the next generation.

In partnership with Natural England, Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cheshire East Council and Cheshire Wildlife Trust have been working on the scheme in Cheshire. Funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has helped advance the project in Cheshire, contributing to the creation and restoration of 26 ponds ready for the launch of the scheme today. These new and restored ponds have been strategically located to join up and expand existing newt habitats, to help make newt populations more resilient.

Frank Jordan, Cheshire East Council’s executive director of place said:

Cheshire East has been pleased to engage with Natural England on the development of this innovative approach to protecting and enhancing the population of great crested newts within the borough.

For guidance on how to apply in Cheshire and Kent click here and to find out more about the scheme visit our blog

I am particularly pleased to be here today, to contribute to this important area of work from the perspective of the ESFA.

Colleges, I am sure we all agree, have the ability to transform lives. They are the core to any community, and give people of all ages the ability to prosper through education. Everyone here today plays an important role in ensuring colleges offer students the chance to shape their path in life.

This is a great responsibility, and one that we are all privileged to share in.

I am here today to set out my firm belief that good and robust governance must form a cornerstone of that responsibility.

This then is a welcome opportunity to share with you some of my thoughts as well as to hear from others in the sector and indeed, first-hand from those of you in governance roles.

I believe that good governance in education relies not only on our practise, but also, it won’t surprise you to hear, very much upon the quality of the people involved in it.

Of course, the two are interdependent, but my point is that good governance, as with good leadership, isn’t simply about following the rules or ticking the boxes.

It is about having a vision, setting direction, and building and nurturing a better way of doing things and being confident in deploying challenge.

But a governor is not simply about being a charismatic figurehead, social media savvy or posing for photo ops.

Governors should be working for the interests of a college and be on their side, but this can sometimes mean acting not only as a supporter, but also as a challenger, the conscience of the organisation, guided by the interests of protecting the experience of learners and accountability for funding.

It’s a dual role – you have to be closely involved and central to the workings of a college but at the same time, able to pull back and deploy dispassionate and hard-headed analysis and challenge.

It’s a strategic and critical function and it requires high calibre people to support the sector because colleges are deserving of having the very best people in such roles.

Colleges are no less in need of commercial, managerial and other areas of expertise as their counterparts in other areas of the education system, public service organisations or indeed private companies.

In a sector that has already, and continues to, see massive change – college organisations must adapt and ensure they are in the best shape possible to respond to challenges.

The need for greater financial stability through good financial management and planning has been very well documented, and a good governing body is central to this.

The Chair of Governors has a particularly pivotal role in setting the tone and expectations of accountability, and again, building a culture that is not afraid to challenge.

I’d like to give some examples of the sort of approach that governors might need to take.

For example, not relying solely on information from the principal but triangulating this with information from other members of staff, students, and external sources such as Ofsted reports, ESFA dashboards, and AoC benchmarking reports.

Governors may need to make sure they understand how non-core activities, such as developments overseas, contribute both in terms of finances and the curriculum, and set and monitor performance indicators for these developments. They should also be willing to hold the executive to account over how they may support the college in delivering upon its core mission and purpose.

And governors should uphold the highest standards in relation to financial management and where necessary, challenge the executive when they don’t adhere to their own polices, or operate outside of good levels of understanding of what corporate governance and accountability should both look and feel like.

This is just a flavour of course but what I am setting out is a description of impressive and talented individuals – and I am delighted to have met so many governors who live up to just this billing.

Regrettably though I have also met too many during my time at the ESFA who have failed to uphold these challenges and, in so doing, have helped to support the conditions for colleges to move into situations of distress.

In such circumstances, I am always clear that I will hold both the executive and the Chair of Governors to account. The best governing bodies are representative of the college and communities they serve, and encompass people from a broad range of backgrounds. They bring different perspectives and energy for new approaches and challenges.

Whilst being a governor might mean asserting oneself or raising challenges, that doesn’t mean it is done in isolation or without support.

As I mentioned at the beginning of my speech, as well as having the right people, good governance also depends on having good practise, and an appropriate set of frameworks in place.

Whist it’s necessary and important for colleges to have the freedom to develop governance structures and boards that work for their individual organisations, there is guidance and resources to help set the structure for encouraging good practise.

The purpose of us providing these is not to challenge the autonomy or authority of governors, but to assist in good decision-making and effective oversight.

Last year, the ESFA published further education governance guidance and we are following on from this with a policy document on college oversight next month.

This will outline strengthened support and monitoring and intervention arrangements to identify issues with colleges at a much earlier point, aiming to prevent colleges from getting into a position of insolvency.

The key things we want the sector to take from this, and an important message to those in governance, is that the earlier that financial problems are raised with us, the earlier we can work with you and support you to resolve them.

I’ve spoken a great deal with the sector recently, about collaboration, and it is this approach that will allow us to make use of the full range of options available to help colleges make improvements.

Of course, every case will be assessed individually, but if we can be in dialogue we can offer suggestions on how to make improvements before serious signs of trouble emerge. This will also allow us to be more responsive to the individual circumstances and issues faced by each college.

It means that different options might be taken for different colleges, but that will be for good reason and we will evidence the action we take and the decisions we make.

We will play our part in the regulatory landscape and it is right that we do so. We lever compliance and change through conditions of funding, and provide assurance to other funding bodies and, of course, to the Secretary of State.

Our role in challenging how governing bodies have made decisions is part of the supply chain of accountability for spending public money, so we all have common cause to get it right.

But going back to our role of offering support – I want to remind you of the ESFA’s territorial teams, our “local” teams who offer a single point of contact for colleges and who have an overview of their individual circumstances. These teams work alongside financial and governance experts from the Provider Management Oversight team and also involve the FE Commissioner’s team where appropriate.

So again, I really want to emphasise that governors with any concerns should know the ESFA is their first port of call – and please do continue to make use of our team’s advice.

I’d like to finish by recognising the time, commitment and expertise involved in being a governor. It is an admirable calling and as volunteers to a position that carries a great deal of responsibility, my first-hand experience is that governors are passionate about their local college and are motivated by seeing people learn and grow.

Good governance makes a real difference in ensuring our colleges are places where young people and adults have the opportunity to fulfil their potential through quality education, in turn, helping local communities and strengthening vital skills in the local and national economy.

We undoubtedly need a strong and vibrant college sector to respond to the particular challenges of the times we live in. You all play a crucial part in helping to work towards this.

A sincere thank you to all of you who take up the challenge!