
ACCOUNTABILITY AND INTEGRATION
JOHN COUGHLAN, director of children's services, Hampshire County Council
I'm a tough marker. You could make a case for being more generous given all that's been achieved, but there's a real concern about consistency and the need not to sound complacent.
Accountability is stronger. Local government and its partners immediately picked up the gauntlet of Every Child Matters and the pace of organisational change was remarkable. The buck-stopping role of the director of children's services is a clearly understood and privileged, if often terrifying, job. Children's trusts are in place, if functioning variably.
The forthcoming legislative push will help. There's an improved sense of shared ownership of safeguarding; whether that will stand the test of the inevitable tragedies remains to be seen. Integration is trickier - it's not an end in itself, just one route to improving outcomes. We've a long way to go to improve joint working, understanding and information sharing. Children's centres are the quiet revolution. So, pace and direction is definitely right, but there is more to do and, please, no more soup-or-salad metaphors.
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