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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance has been issued by the Department for Education to local authorities about the transfer of children’s social care services to an arms-length trust; and what role the Department and its Ministers play in advising or approving local authority decisions to make such transfers, including provision of financial support.

Lord Nash

The Department for Education has not issued guidance to local authorities about the transfer of children’s social care services to a trust. The Prime Minister announced in December 2015 that, where Ofsted find persistent or systematic failure in a council’s children’s social care services, we will appoint a commissioner to review, within three months, whether services should be removed from council control. There is now a presumption that services will be placed outside of the Council’s control in these cases, unless the Commissioner identifies good reasons not to do so.

Decisions to transfer local authority children’s social care services to other organisations are subject to ministerial approval only where a local authority is in intervention following an inadequate Ofsted judgement. Other high-performing local authorities are also considering innovative delivery models, such as trusts, for their services. Financial support may be provided on a case-by-case basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes to local authority accountability for children’s social care services take place if these services are transferred to the management of an arms-length trust.

Lord Nash

Statutory responsibility for children’s social care services remains with the local authority, but its functions are delegated to and carried out by the trust on the authority’s behalf. The accountabilities are set out in a service delivery contract between the authority and the trust.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what Ofsted inspections of Birmingham City Council’s children’s social care services have been made since April 2014; whether Ofsted have indicated since then any major concerns about those services; and what information is available to the Department for Education Ministers to suggest that the City Council is not adhering to the three-year improvement plan approved by the City Council and the Department’s previous Commissioner in April 2015.

Lord Nash

The most recent Ofsted inspection of Birmingham City Council’s children’s services took place in March 2014. This inspection found services to be inadequate. Since then, Birmingham City Council has made some progress against its improvement plan, which ends in 2017. However, the current Commissioner for children’s services in Birmingham, Andrew Christie, and the council itself recognise that much more needs to be done. The Council is coming to the end of its current improvement plan and is exploring models for further improvement in future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities have had their children’s services transferred into arms-length trusts; whether these transfers cover all such services; what Ofsted reports are available on such transferred services; and what changes in performance these reports show.

Lord Nash

Doncaster Children’s Services Trust took over responsibility for delivering all children’s social care functions, apart from services for disabled children and universal early help services, on behalf of the council under Direction from the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in September 2014. Ofsted inspected children’s services in Doncaster in September 2015. The judgement was inadequate overall. However, the inspection found improvement since the previous inspection in 2012, when all sub-judgements were inadequate. In 2015, all sub-judgements were requires improvement, save for children in need of help and protection, which was inadequate; and adoption performance, which was good.

Slough Children’s Services Trust took over responsibility for the provision of children’s early help and social care functions along with specific special educational needs services on behalf of the council under direction from the Secretary of State for Education in September 2015. Ofsted inspected children’s social care services in Slough in November 2015, less than 8 weeks after the Trust went live. The judgement was ‘inadequate’ overall. Despite the short amount of time that the trust had been in operation at the time of the inspection, Ofsted commented positively on the impact of the Trust leadership. Their report described how the pace of improvement accelerated since it was established. Encouragingly the inspectors reported that there were clear signs that the Trust understands what needs to change and there is evidence that it can deliver the required improvements.

Achieving for Children is a social enterprise company that delivers all education support and children’s services, as well as integrated health services for children with disabilities, on behalf of Kingston Upon Thames and Richmond Upon Thames councils. Prior to the creation of this voluntary trust in April 2014, safeguarding and looked after children services in Kingston were judged to be inadequate in May 2012, and child protection services were judged to be inadequate in June 2013. Children’s services in Kingston were judged to be good when they were inspected again in May 2015. Children’s services in Richmond were last inspected in March 2012 when they were rated good.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2016-05-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when children’s social care services in Doncaster were transferred to a trust; what were the costs, including legal fees, of making the transfer; how long the transfer took to implement once the decision in principle was made; what Ofsted inspections have taken place in Doncaster since the trust’s establishment; and what was the Ofsted rating of the services in any such reports.

Lord Nash

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council was issued with a Statutory Direction in August 2013, which required the Council to cooperate in setting up a Trust. The Trust became operational on 30 September 2014. The Department for Education met the costs of setting up the trust, which came to £2.9 million.

Ofsted inspected children’s services in Doncaster in September 2015. The judgement was inadequate overall. However, the inspection found improvement since the previous inspection in 2012, when all sub-judgements were inadequate. In 2015 all sub-judgements were requires improvement, save for children in need of help and protection, which was inadequate; and adoption performance, which was good.