It is difficult to know what effect stripping Doncaster
Council of its children social care responsibilities for up to ten years will
have.
Children and Young People Now also reports that Michael Gove’s decision to have the troubled
department run by an independent trust will bring to a very premature end the
Council’s contract with consultants Impower,
who had been chosen in a £1.8 million deal to help the Council reinvigorate its
failing children’s social care services. http://www.cypnow.co.uk/cyp/news/1077535/doncaster-brings-impower-fix-childrens-services
Ripping it all up and starting again seldom turns out to be
the right decision. On the other hand, outsourcing the service can also result in
outsourcing its problems. Certainly I can’t see how Doncaster Council will ever
be in a position to take the service back in-house, especially if it loses as
much as ten years experience while the service is run by another organisation.
A great deal turns on how ‘independent’ and how
‘accountable’ the new trust will be. These are complex issues that are
discussed, in my view inconclusively, in the report recommending this
solution. http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/safeguardingchildren/a00223342/improving-childrens-care-doncaster
Existing staff and systems will be transferred to the new organisation,
but they will work to a new board comprising some representation from both the
Council and central government.
Will that work satisfactorily? Who knows?
My view is that these are
uncharted waters. While it will be interesting to see what happens in
Doncaster, it will inevitably be an uncertain and risky future. Let’s just hope
that children and young people benefit rapidly from the changes and do not
suffer as a result of them.
