All Together pages provide one stop shop of family support and safety advice

Children, young people and families can have access to a wide range of information, advice and support as a new online platform went live last week.

Wiltshire Together: All Together is a new set of webpages which provide a one stop shop of information from a range of key partners so that children, young people and families, as well as those working with them, can quickly and easily access information about things to do, places to go and who to talk to if they need support.

The All Together website has been developed through the Families and Children Transformation (FACT) Programme and will sit on the existing Wiltshire Together platform. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner sits on the FACT Programme along with Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Council, health partners and voluntary and community groups.

Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: We are always seeking to improve the services we provide for our children and young people to help them live safely in their own families and communities, and the FACT Programme is a great example of multi-agency working to achieve this common goal. The new All Together webpages are a great signposting tool for young people and their families to be able to access information on the support services available, including support for child victims of crime.

“As well as the work with the FACT Programme, my office is ensuring all key stakeholders are working together - through the work of our recently appointed Serious Violence Duty Co-ordinator - with our first focus on working with our partners to create a Youth Safety Strategy. 

“This puts in place the long-term and evidence-based solutions to reducing serious youth violence by engaging with children, young people and their families who are at the greatest risk and I hope communities can remain assured we are all working hard to tackle these problems from the root upwards.”

Jenn Holton, Neighbourhood Harm Reduction Lead for Wiltshire Police, said: “This is a really good all-encompassing one stop resource for people who need to access support - whatever that is. Like the council and its partners the police are of course very much part of our local communities here to help.  You'll find a whole host of police information in these pages, including advice on what support is available if you are a victim of crime, what to do if you have to give evidence at court, and how we can help young people through schools and colleges learn more about the law and policing. 

“These pages will continue to be updated so we can bring our communities the latest information to tackle crime and keep people safe.”

Cllr Laura Mayes, Cabinet Member for Children's Services said: “We know families prefer to access information and support in a variety of ways. Face to face is still invaluable and it's important we retain those resources. However sometimes you want to access the information in the evening, perhaps when you've put the children to bed, or check out advice or activities while on the go. For a young person having the support digitally when they want it can be a real benefit.

“We have asked our families and young people how they prefer to access help and support and this request for a mixture of both face to face and digital is very clear. These new pages are a great way to share really important information. It's about support and advice but there's also information on activities and what is happening locally. We hope people find it a useful tool and tell us what they think so that we can develop it further in the future. It is very much a joint venture and we're thankful to all the partners who are supporting this initiative.  It's a real bonus that these pages are hosted on the wider Wiltshire Together community website which provides residents with access to an even wider range of information on the same website and underlines the importance of joint working.”

Hazel Malcolm, Senior Commissioning Manager for Children's Services at Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) said, "It is important that families and young people have access to the information they need to lead healthy lives and the new All Together pages offer a quick, easy and reliable way of finding the help and support that is available from trusted partners in our local communities."

Amber Skyring, CEO of Wessex Community Action said: “Our communities tell us they lack up to date information about services and support available to them, so our challenge is keeping information up to date and current. Wiltshire Together/All Together is managed by the community and partners who take responsibility for posting and sharing their information, support and activities, so it's in their interest to keep it current and accessible so they can be accessed and reached easily. It's very much a team effort where everyone is pulling together.”

Published Wednesday 29 November 2023