To ask the Minister of Health to outline how the delivery of the Together for Families model will be monitored to ensure consistency across Health and Social Care Trusts.

Together for Families model is a new transformational model of supporting children and families that marks a decisive shift towards earlier intervention, stronger family support and more joined up working. The model was developed in close collaboration between the statutory, community and voluntary sectors and provides a framework to drive change in a co-ordinated and consistent way.

The model has whole system support. It is an output of the Family Support Workstream of the Children’s Social Care Services Reform Programme which is made up of leaders from across statutory and voluntary children’s social care who are working in partnership to deliver change.

Engagement with Trusts has been a key part of ongoing work to finalise the design of the model in preparation for implementation. A number of workshops have been held, bringing relevant Trust staff together to agree specifications for each of the core components of the model, with the aim of ensuring consistency across Health and Social Care Trust areas.

The governance structures that are being put in place to oversee implementation of the Together for Families model will also be critical to consistent service delivery. This will include a Steering Group and a Programme Board which will include Trust representation.

Together for Families will be supported by a robust evaluation framework with the intention that this will be put in place from the outset of implementation. A Data Analyst will also be integral to the implementation team, who will be responsible for the collection and analysis of data on a regional basis. This will support the evaluation process and enable us to easily identify regional trends and potentially any disparities that exist. A Regional Partnership Board and Local Partnership Panels will also be put in place as part of implementation of the model.