'Partnership and Joint Commissioning' is a joint Sandwell MBC and Primary Care Trust (PCT) team that supports Directors in their roles in leading work where this involves a number of partners, especially Sandwell PCT Trust and other health services.  The Directorate also supports the Children and Young People’s Trust Partnership (C&YPTP) ensuring that C&YPTP structures operate effectively. It makes sense that, as we all want improved lives for children and young people – that we work closely together.

To find out more about Joint Commissioning, click on the menu link.

We work to the Governments Every Child Matters agenda, which looks at outcomes for children and young people aged 0 – 19 and to young people upto 25 if they have special needs. The 5 outcomes are:

• Be healthy
• Stay safe
• Enjoy and achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well-being

Most children and young people achieve these outcomes with support from families, friends, schools and from within their local communities. For those children who need more help to achieve these outcomes it is important that services are provided effectively and in a manner that considers the whole needs of the child rather than putting those needs into separate compartments.

Children’s Trusts have been set up across the country. This means that the organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups - will be teaming up in new ways, sharing information and working together, to protect children and young people from harm and help them achieve what they want in life.

Our team

We were known as the Children’s Trust team, but as we are all in the Children’s Trust we changed our name to Joint Commissioning & Partnership Directorate to make it less confusing.

Our team is split into four smaller teams: Joint Procurement & Performance, Joint Commissioning, Participation & Planning and Children’s Centre’s.