Maria Eagle, who is responsible for looked-after children as part of herportfolio, said spending had increased by nearly 30 per cent during thepast three years, while the number of children in residential care hadremained roughly static.
"As far as I and my officials can see, this huge increase in investmentdoesn't appear to have significantly increased the levels of outcomes.And that is a worry, something we should all be concerned about."
Speaking at Children Now's conference on residential care last week,Eagle added: "We must have proper value for money. I don't just mean Imust have proper value for money, although I must, but I meancommissioning services must."
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