How we’re performing so far
We have advanced our Fairer Communities ambitions by continuing to implement impactful initiatives to reduce inequality, promote health and wellbeing, and foster welcoming, inclusive communities. A highlight has been the newly launched Enablement Hub at Victoria Library, in partnership with LDN London, supporting residents with learning disabilities and autism through workshops and activities, helping build life skills and social connections. Similarly, the Way to Wellbeing campaign, featuring an online Wellbeing Hub, is enhancing mental health awareness and access to local, affordable support services for all Westminster residents.
This quarter, we invested nearly £4 million in services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including the opening of Tresham South and the refurbishment of Tresham North. These facilities provide Short Breaks services and additional school places for autistic children. Meanwhile, educational performance continues to exceed national averages, with GCSE and A-Level results showcasing high achievement, including for Looked After Children and Care Leavers.
To further support children, we introduced targeted speech and language programmes for early intervention in schools and expanded Free School Meals auto-enrolment, ensuring more eligible children receive nutritious meals and associated benefits.
Community safety efforts have included deploying 34 CCTV cameras, with more installations planned, and collaborative projects such as the Black Fathers Unheard initiative, recognised in a positive inspection of youth justice services. Finally, participatory budgeting empowered residents to allocate 87 community grants, fostering local engagement and social value.
Below we have highlighted other ways we are progressing on our Delivery Plan from July to September this year*. Although progress continues to be made, we know there is still work to do as we deliver our Fairer Westminster strategy.
(* based on the latest positions available at the end of September 2024.)
Health and Wellbeing
Our aim is to improve people’s health and wellbeing, make physical activity more accessible and reduce health inequalities throughout the city...
During July to September this year, 1,577 hours were volunteered by Community and Maternity Champions. Community Champions recruit and upskill local resident volunteers (the Champions) to work with families, friends, neighbours and wider communities to increase health and wellbeing, address health inequalities and help communities thrive.
They work in partnership with a myriad of local services including the voluntary and charity sector (VCS), the council and the NHS. A key part of their role is to signpost residents as needed, collect insight from their local communities and improve access to other services. Maternity Champions specifically support expectant and new parents and encourage healthy lifestyle choices for parents and babies up to age one.
Education
Our aim is to support our schools to be more inclusive for young people and to help more young people into further education and training...
We have continued to support to families to ensure they understand the eligibility requirements and accessibility of the new Free Early Education Entitlement programme for children aged from nine months to four years. We are providing support promoting the new Free Early Education Entitlement to families through the work of the family and health navigators based within the family hubs.
The role of navigators is to help within our communities and schools in supporting access to services, for example, helping children and families link in to support at an earlier stage, provide trauma- informed support to children, families and staff, and in schools train staff in trauma- informed approaches. The campaign continues to make progress, and leaflets are widely available. We have received positive feedback from families and professionals, and our parent champion programme, which we will be rolling out this year, will support the promotion of the under-fives offer further.
Young People
Our aim is to support our young people into prosperous futures...
We have been reviewing our accommodation options for Care Leavers to ensure that accommodation is local and high-quality. We have been working collaboratively with our Housing team to understand and improve our Young People’s pathway.
95 young people being supported by our specialist team, with 71 young people being supported by the Specialist Team and 24 people supported by Assertive Outreach for the Blue Light and Churchill Gardens pilots. Our Artemis project is delivering the Virtual Coordination Team which is helping to coordinate support for prison leavers.
We are committed to being open and transparent and making information on our progress more accessible to everyone. This way you can always see how we're doing on delivering a Fairer Westminster. The above are just a few of the ways we're measuring how we're building Fairer Communities. You can also find out more at our Open Data page and by reading our Fairer Westminster Delivery Plan:
