Councils to be liable for new practices

At the launch of the Children and Young Persons Bill last week, junior children's minister Kevin Brennan said accountability will be legally shared by the social work practice and the local authority that commissions the service.

But when asked by CYP Now whether this diluted the concept of accountability, he said: "Social care practices will be commissioned by a local authority. When they commission a service, the local authority usually retains responsibility. We will issue guidance that makes it absolutely clear that local authorities maintain accountability."

Last month, the Local Government Association called for clarity on who will be held accountable for the activities of the new social work practices (CYP Now, 3-9 October), which are to be piloted from next year.

Lord Laming's inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie said clear lines of accountability were essential to avoid future child protection tragedies.

Under plans for social work practices outlined in the Care Matters white paper, a practice could be a voluntary or community organisation or a private business, which would be responsible for employing social workers. The practices would be commissioned by local authorities to fulfil statutory social work functions.

"The pilots will run for three years and we will assess whether they are having a beneficial impact," said Brennan. Details of the structure will be left until regulations published after the Bill enters the statute books.

Last week children's social care charity Tact became the first organisation to publicly state it would like to run a social work practice. But Tact's chief executive Kevin Williams said there are many issues the Department for Children, Schools and Families must still resolve.

"We understand that local authorities will be accountable in relation to the corporate parenting role. But when running the social work practice, we want the freedom to work in the way we think is best for children and young people. We still need to know how power issues will be resolved." he said.

- See Analysis, p13.