Better Children’s Services: the Education Select Committee

This is going back a few days (it’s been a busy week); on Tuesday I gave evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee on aspects of the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill. I was there in my role as Children’s Services spokesperson for the County Councils Network (CCN), although I also made reference to experiences in Kent, and was alongside representatives from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers and the charity Kinship.

This was to some degree a repeat of the evidence that I gave to the same Committee (albeit with entirely different membership) in March last year. As before, this covered the problems of cost and service availability in children’s services. This was the subject of the well-regarded Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, chaired by Josh MacAlister (now a Labour MP), followed by a White Paper and a number of initiatives under the previous government. The difference this time is that there is now legislation under consideration, and that the evidence session focused on the Bill’s provisions in relation to management of the market, the development of Regional Care Cooperatives, kinship care, the expanding role of Virtual Schools and care leavers.

While I am critical of some of the education provisions of the Bill (some of which the government has had to row back on), the approach to children’s services is sensible and a welcome example of continuity between governments and across parties. In particular, the problems in the provision of children’s social care (highlighted in a report by the CMA some years ago) are best addressed through strengthening local authority commissioning and increasing the supply of places, as argued in a report (The Way We Care) commissioned by CCN last year. The bill gives the Secretary of State powers to introduce a profit cap, but it is very much a reserve power if other measures fail. That is a right and pragmatic approach; a cap now, without the introduction of other measures, could simply reduce the available provision.

At the end of the session, I highlighted “the elephant in the room”: the £2.5 billion in funding that Josh MacAlister highlighted as necessary to deliver the reforms that the Independent Review advocated. The previous government’s White Paper, Stable Homes, Built on Love was well-received but did not commit to this funding. In the autumn budget and subsequent local government financial settlement, the government established a £270 million Children’s Social Care Prevention Grant. I urged that this should be viewed as a down payment on the funding needed to deliver a comprehensive programme of reform.

You can find the evidence session on the parliamentary TV channel here.

The Way We Care

Across the country, we are seeing more children in care (and spending more time in care) and much greater reliance on residential care as foster care numbers plateau. The end result is that many care placements are costly, not tailored to children’s needs and all too often a long distance from home.

These were some of the findings of ‘The Way We Care’, a report by specialist consultants IMPOWER and commissioned by the County Councils Network (CCN). It was launched yesterday morning at the CCN Annual Conference. I chaired the launch as CCN spokesperson on children’s services; in that role, I was involved in the development of the report, including chairing an advisory group that helped shape it. 

The report identifies the need to reduce the number of children, interim care, lead to increase those safely, leaving it. This builds on the work of Josh McAlister’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which has been official government policy for sometime, but which needs to be funded adequately to be delivered. 

However, the report also highlights the need to address the severe challenges of commissioning and provisioning of placements, including the impact of registration and regulation, the pricing regime, and the need for a more long-term, strategic approach to commissioning. 

This is an important piece of work; the government has indicated its openness to reform in its statements attached to the recent budget, and this now needs to be given substance. I found it particularly valuable to cheer the advisory group, whose members had enormous experience and expertise, and two of its members – Nick Barnett of the Caldicot foundation, and Brenda Farrell of Barnardos - took part in the launch yesterday morning. 

Children’s placements are one of the areas that threaten the financial stability of local government; the issue needs to be addressed for that reason, but above all to ensure much better service and better outcomes for the children who come into our care. 

You can find CCN’s media release, and a link to the report here.

 

Children’s Services under pressure

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to give evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee on the pressures facing local authorities’ children’s services. I did so in my role as Children’s Services spokesperson for the County Councils Network (CCN), though there was quite a bit of reference in the discussion to our experience in Kent. I gave evidence along with John Pearce, President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (and Director of Children’s Services at Durham County Council) and Stuart Ashley, Director of Children’s Services at Hampshire County Council, who gave evidence remotely. 

In the hearing, I set out the pressures experienced by councils which have seen expenditure at CCN members almost double over the last decade. There has been an increase in the number of children in care (though in Kent our numbers, excluding asylum seeking children, have been fairly steady) but the bigger effect has been from rising costs. There has been a shift from councils’ own fostering arrangements to independent fostering agencies, from fostering to residential provision, and a big rise in very expensive placements of young people with very severe needs that are not being met elsewhere.

The well-received Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, chaired by Josh MacAlister, reported in May 2022 proposing major reforms to address these challenges. The White Paper issued by government in response, ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ sets a good overall policy direction, but does not commit the funding  needed to deliver these changes as a rapid pace. Addressing these challenges will remain a matter of vital importance for Kent County Council and other local authorities, and I was glad to be able to have the chance to make the case. 

You can find the meeting on the parliamentary channel here.

The rising costs of school transport

Today at the County Councils Network annual conference, I chaired the launch session for a new report, commissioned by CCN from the ISOS partnership, on the rising costs of home to school transport, in particular for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The increase in costs - SEND transport costs at CCN member authorities are set to treble over the decade to 2027-28 - is one of the biggest factors threatening the financial stability of county and unitary councils.

The increase reflects the much larger number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans following reforms introduced in 2014-15, and the shift to more special school places, in many cases at greater distance from the family home. All this has taken place within the framework of a school transport system unaltered in its fundamentals from the provisions of the 1944 Education Act.

I have taken on the role of CCN’s spokesperson on children’s services, and so have been part of the report’s launch. It is a rigorous, high quality and important piece of work. Today was the official launch, but the media release was some days ago and the underlying arguments have been presented to government still earlier. Which is important, because while the report sets out proposals for longer-term reform, it also urges a short-term cash injection from government to meet the immediate pressures. We will see from tomorrow’s Autumn Statement how the government responds.  

You can find more about the report and its release here.