Council's Annual Report 2023-2024
Well-being Objective 1
Enabling our children and young people to have the best possible start in life (Start Well)
Overview of Progress
Supporting our children and young people to have the best possible start in life provides a strong foundation on which to limit inequalities. What happens in these early years has a long-term effect on health and well-being outcomes, educational achievement, and economic status. With 34.6% of Carmarthenshire’s children thought to be living in poverty, it is crucial that every child has access to the same the opportunities regardless of their background and that they receive the right support when and where they need it.
The Council is committed to doing its very best in this regard, with a focus on prevention and early intervention and a well-functioning education system which recognises that all children are individuals. An external inspection of our Education Services commended our clear vision and strong leadership which has a robust impact on improving education provision and learner outcomes. An identified culture of self-evaluation shows our commitment to continuously reviewing the service to ensure children and young people have the best start in life.
We continue our efforts to keep children at home with their families where possible, evidenced by the County’s comparatively low rate for Children Looked After. We are also taking proactive steps to address the identified shortage of foster carers in the County. The number of children on the child protection register has increased, but the level is still significantly below the Welsh average. Strategic planning is focussed on prevention and joined up thinking, with a notable example being the Regional Maternity and Early Years Strategy.
We recognise that the childcare offer in the County needs to improve, and appropriate steps continue to be implemented to address this. More areas will benefit from funded childcare places through the Flying Start childcare expansion and a Childcare Sufficiency Action Plan has been developed with a focus on increasing the offer generally coupled with a focus on strengthening the Welsh-medium offer.
Our education service delivers a well-rounded curriculum taking account of the individual needs of each learner. Pupils with additional learning needs are well supported through our strategic focus on providing an inclusive education offer and schools have responded well to reforms. Whilst attendance saw a dip following the Covid period we are seeing some signs of recovery; however, this is very much an ongoing priority to ensure further and sustained improvement. Attendance is closely monitored for whole school as well as for specific groups of pupils such as those entitled to Free School Meals and pupils with additional learning needs.
Teachers and pupils co-design a rounded curriculum that is based on the Curriculum for Wales. There is a focus on learning experiences which have raising educational standards at their core, effectively developing literacy, numeracy, and digital skills as well as bilingual Welsh and English skills. Areas for celebration and improvement were noted in a recent Estyn inspection which are reflected within this report.
Carmarthenshire has the highest childhood obesity levels in Wales with 30.5% of 4-5 year olds being overweight or obese. The Council’s commitment to doing all it can to support in addressing this issue is evidenced by the range of Actif initiatives in place to ensure that children and young people have access to activities which improve their health and well-being. In addition, the roll out of the universal primary free school meals offer continues to progress well, ensuring that children are provided with nutritious and balanced meals which support their development.
As a Council we focus on the following thematic and service priorities:
- WBO1a Thematic Priority: Healthy Lives – prevention /early intervention
- WBO1b Service Priority: Early years
- WBO1c Service Priority: Education
In Summary
The Council is committed to enabling children and young people to have a positive start in life, evidenced by the multifaceted approach to supporting the well-being and development of children and young people in the community.
Whilst there has been an increase in the number of looked after children, our rates are comparably low in the context of other local authorities.
The number of looked after children in foster placements has increased with the shortage of foster carers being a challenge, however, proactive efforts are being made to address this through collaboration with Foster Wales and a national recruitment campaign.
In recognition of the importance of being active at a young age the ‘Amser Actif’ programme develops primary school children’s confidence and physical skills, showing significant improvements in movement and manipulative skills among participants.
Achievements have also been seen in school swimming, with a notable percentage of participants achieving the ‘safe swimmer’ standard.
The Social Care and Health Protection team has worked to improve vaccination uptake among school pupils.
Our key focus is on ensuring children are safe through our investing in prevention and early intervention as well as innovative approaches to safeguarding. We have a strong workforce who are trauma informed and work in an attachment aware model which keeps children and young people at the forefront of what we do using signs of safety keeping families together wherever possible.
How are we doing?
We continue to have the lowest number of looked after children per 10,000 population under 18 years of age in Carmarthenshire compared to other authorities in Wales, and well below the Welsh average of 116.33. Our figure at the end of March 2023 was 51.80 per 10,000 population, this equates to 190 looked after children. At the end of March 2024 this increased to 259, a 36% increase. The comparative data for this per 10,000 population will not be available until late 2024, but we have been low in the context of other local authorities for many years.
There were 209 looked after children in foster placements as at 31 March 2024, compared to 149 the previous year. There continues to be a shortage of foster carers both locally and nationally which impacts on placement stability. The department works collaboratively across the region with Foster Wales and a national foster carer recruitment campaign received significant media attention.
For progress and data on this thematic priority see pages 4-7 -
In Summary
The preventative work conducted in Carmarthenshire and our ongoing commitment to keeping children at home with their families where possible is evidenced by our comparatively low rate for Children Looked After.
Our Family Support Strategy is under review to become an Early Years Strategy, ensuring early intervention services meet the needs at the right time.
The Regional Maternity and Early Years Strategy has been launched, with local priorities for maternity and early years transformation being implemented.
Flying Start childcare expansion is being rolled out to provide quality funded childcare to more areas, with a focus on promoting Welsh language and culture.
In recognition of the importance of a sufficient childcare offer and the depleting number of childcare places in the County between 2022/23 and 2023/24, a Childcare Sufficiency Action Plan has been developed.
Additionally, efforts are being made to ensure a stable workforce within children’s services, with a re-alignment of the management team, implementation of an experienced practitioner progression framework, and recruitment of new social worker trainees.
How are we doing?
8.5% of children in care in Carmarthenshire during 2023/24 had to move 3 or more times during the year, this equates to 22 out of the 259 children, compared to 7.4% (14 out of the 190) in 2022/23. There was a 36% rise in the number of Children Looked After on 31 March 2024 to 259 compared to 190 the previous year.
There are 213 registered childcare providers offering 4,214 childcare places delivered by childminders, day nurseries, cylchoedd meithrin, Flying Start, After School Clubs and Holiday Clubs. Our 5th Statutory Childcare Sufficiency Assessment summary report continues to be shared with prospective childcare providers and is also available on the Family Information Service website.
10,461 individuals were supported from the Families First programme, of which 6,234 (60%) were new individuals.
78.1% of child attendance at an allocated Flying Start free childcare placement for eligible 2-3-year-olds to prepare for school readiness which exceeded the target of 75%.
97% of families with additional social welfare needs linked to poverty, living in a Flying Start area receiving time specified interventions from the wider Flying Start Team.
1.5% of unauthorised absence at an allocated Flying Start free childcare placement for eligible 2-3-year-olds to prepare for school readiness. It is encouraging to see families reporting absence and engaging with childcare settings in reporting absence.
For progress and data on this service priority see pages 9-12 -
In Summary
Attendance has improved in 2023-24, and an Attendance Strategy is in the final stages of development, with further refinement and development of support resources for schools ongoing.
Numbers of Year 11 and 13 leavers not in Education, Employment, or Training have increased during the year. The Youth Support Service has delivered post-16 transition youth work in line with the Welsh Government Youth Engagement and Progression Framework.
We continue to strive to make sure that every child and young person is valued and valued equally and to deliver our ambitious priorities.
As one Education and Children’s Services team we have worked effectively to ensure that our children and young people were successfully supported to access their education and all the services they required.
This was evidenced by the various inspections undertaken during 2023/24. Estyn’s Inspection of our Local Authority Education services noted: ‘Carmarthenshire’s education services are led robustly by senior leaders and elected members, who share a clear vision for education within the authority. This is supported by an open and positive culture and self-evaluation and improvement planning processes that are rigorous, on the whole. Through this, leaders have a positive effect on improving education provision and learners’ outcomes in most of their areas of responsibility and are able to set a clear direction for further improvement in the future…’
How are we doing?
The Council maintains 1 nursery school, 94 primary schools, 12 secondary schools and 1 special school which provide education for over 27,000 pupils.
Our 2023 residents survey received almost 4,000 respondents, with most agreeing that local schools provide children and young people with a good education with a score[1] of 0.41. This is a slight decline on the 2022 score of 0.52 but continues to be an overall agreement.
There is a significant increase in the number of Year 11 leavers not in Education, Employment or Training during 2023/24 with 2.3% (46 out of 1,987) compared to 1.9% (36 out of 1,914) the previous year.
For progress and data on this service priority see pages 14-28 -
