The reports from consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers looked at how thechildren's services market has responded to reforms launched by the 2003green paper Every Child Matters. This market includes childcare,children's homes, family support and activities for young people.
The consultants conclude that the Department for Education and Skillsmust set out more clearly what they want the market to look like. "Itwould be helpful for the DfES to provide a degree of guidance on whatlocal authorities should expect diverse provision to look like, based onits knowledge of best practice," says the report.
The report also calls on the DfES to encourage a level playing fieldbetween private, voluntary and local authority providers. One way to dothis would be to encourage greater separation between local authorities'role as both buyers and providers of services, says the report.Splitting the functions is recommended by the interim report of theConservative Party's Public Service Improvement Policy Group (See news,p2).
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