DfE refuses to ditch independent trust drive
Neil Puffett
Thursday, October 13, 2016
The Department for Education has dismissed calls for it to stop taking responsibility for failing children's services out of local authorities' hands until there is evidence that it improves standards.
A report by the education select committee following its inquiry into social work reform stated that government proposals to change the way children's social care is delivered are "untested" and recommends there should be no expansion of the independent trust model "until there is proof it works".
The government's response to the report, published today, states that it will "continue to take whatever action is required" to ensure that children in areas that have their children's services rated "inadequate" twice in five years, or are found inadequate on all key judgments, are safe.
It states that while the decision to remove service control should not be taken lightly, in cases where local authorities are judged not to have made sufficient progress or have seriously failed, a children's services commissioner will be put in place to consider removing services from council control for a period of time.
"We believe that this is a proportionate and imperative drive to secure improved services for the most vulnerable children in the country and the seriousness of failure, in our view, precludes the kind of pause the committee is seeking," the report states.
Under these circumstances, local authorities retain responsibility for children's social care services, the DfE states, but "day-to-day operational control" will transfer to independent trusts.
It states this is the best way to bring about "sustainable long-term improvement".
Last month, it was announced that staff at Birmingham City Council's children's services, which have been rated inadequate since 2009, would be transferred to a trust.
In September 2015, an independent trust was set up by Slough Council to run children's services, the second to make such a move after Doncaster Council in October 2014.
The government also dismissed the committee's calls for there be one chief social worker sitting outside departmental structures, as proposed by the Munro Review of child protection, rather than separate chief social workers for adults and children.
"Child and adult services have different priorities and issues, and it is only right that we bring the appropriate level of expertise, tailored to the distinct parts of the profession and working from the most relevant department," the response states.
In response to the committee's recommendation that retention problems within social work must be prioritised, the government said a number of things are being done including attempts to attract highly-skilled individuals to the profession, and ensuring that social workers are better prepared at the start of their careers.
Neil Carmichael, chair of the education select committee, said: "In our report we made it clear that children's social work is under immense pressure and in need of effective reform.
"While it's welcome that the government plans to consult on their reforms, their response to us suggests a concerning lack of detail about how to tackle the trickier issues, such as the pressing need to keep social workers in the profession.
"Social worker caseloads need to be addressed and it's disappointing there is no immediate action from the government on this front.
"One of our recommendations, rejected by government, was that the government should help to establish a new professional body for social work, which could be trusted to take the lead on bringing about the improvements needed.
"I look forward to pressing the minister on this, and other issues from our report, in next week's Westminster Hall debate".
