In this video John Catron, Deputy Director for Achievement in Middlesbrough Children, Families and Learning, talks about the learning trust approach they used in Middlesbrough with the aim of improving attainment. This was carried out in the context of long standing deprivation and disengagement in the town and the initial impact is promising.

This video explains the approach to joint commissioning of domiciliary care for children with additional needs in Ealing. Maggie Wilson, Head of Children’s Commissioning jointly for Ealing Council and NHS Ealing explains the commissioning process and the impact this has had.

Murray Rose, Director of Children’s Services at Darlington Borough Council explains their whole systems approach to commissioning in schools which has led to greater collaboration to drive improvements.

In this video Paul McGinnety, Commissioning Manager at Durham County Council, explains their approach to involving service users and families in the commissioning of short breaks for disabled children.

Mark Gore, Head of Learning and Achievement at Warwickshire County Council explains the approach the council took to commissioning schools and academies in north Warwickshire in response to the poor levels of attainment and spare capacity in this deprived part of the county.

In this video, Sandy Hore-Ruthven, Chief Executive of the Kingswood Foundation, explains how he has worked with other voluntary sector partners in Bristol to establish a consortium to deliver services for disengaged young people. The Kingswood Foundation is a charity that works to inspire young people through arts based projects.

Linda Uren, Head of Commissioning and Pertnerships at Gloucestershire County Council, talks about her experience of commissioning services for children with complex needs. This began with needs analysis and the process enabled them to manage the market of providers to ensure sufficient high-quality placements.

Sandra Roberts, CEO of Southend Education Trust talks about how her organisation has moved into a different commissioning environment since its inception which means that their services are now commissioned by schools themselves.

Here, Councillor Alex Phillips of Brighton and Hove City Council explains the challenges that confront children and young people in the city. She explains the particular difficulties that are arising from efficiency savings and the potential for these to compound existing challenges for young people.

Chris Baird, Assistant Director of Children and Young People’s Services at Herefordshire Council explains their ‘no wrong door’ initiative. This approach is based on locality areas and is hoped to increase the sustainability of services for children and young people.

Ram Garimella talks about the commissioning of an integrated sure start services in Bexley. There was a need to ensure appropriate childcare provision for this deprived area of Bexley. Ram explains in detail the tender process with childcare providers from which the successful candidate was selected.

Les Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Children, young people and families at Birmingham City Council talks here about the role of commissioning in meeting the needs of children and young people.

Paul McGlone, Cabinet Member for Finance, London Borough of Lambeth, talks here about the commissioning in response to Lambeth’s priorities for children and young people.