Every child matters : ninth report of session 2004-05. Volume 1, Report together with formal minutes.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Education and Skills Committee
Date:
2005
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Every child matters : ninth report of session 2004-05. Volume 1, Report together with formal minutes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the country where there will be a shorter history of multidisciplinary working and less, therefore, to build on. Exemplars, or the circulation of best practice, could be of assistance in these areas and may provide the stimulation necessary to bring about innovation on the ground. We understand that guidance on multi-agency working will be published in April 2005 and we welcome this. It is easy to under-estimate the practical complexities of moving towards co-located, multi-disciplinary teams, and we are concerned that some localities may interpret the absence of direction as a licence to avoid the issue entirely. Lead professional 65. Every Child Matters proposes that multi-disciplinary teams will be led by a Lead Professional who will co-ordinate support for the child and serve as a point of contact. While again there is generalised support for the concept of a Lead Professional and agreement with the aims of such a role, criticism has focused on the lack of conceptualisation to date of how this role will operate in practice. This has led to some understandable worry, with some representative organisations concerned that the Lead Professional role may impose significant extra responsibility and a heavier workload on the selected person. The Association of Teachers and Lecturers wrote that with regard to teachers in particular: “it is absolutely correct to see the teacher as the first point of contact, [but] the consequence of the Workload Agreement is to sharpen the focus of what teachers should do to emphasise the classroom and teaching [...] The lead professional role is different in nature. We can envisage teachers accessing the necessary support from a lead professional rather than as a general rule undertaking that role.”° 66. While we do not believe at all that it is the DfES’s intention to ‘foist’ the lead professional role on teachers and other school staff, the ATL submission does resonate with other evidence we have heard about the potential workload and responsibility implications of the Lead Professional role. Inter-professional working is a notoriously complex area and the Lead Professional role will require sensitive handling. In particular it needs to be decided if the role is primarily one of service co-ordination or professional leadership, but in either case there will be important implications for training and development, capacity, resources and authority to act. We note that one of the findings from the early evaluation of the Information Sharing and Assessment trailblazer pilots was unwillingness to take on the Lead Professional role because of the workload implications, and thought needs to be given as to whether such a role is a new post or simply a ‘bolt-on’ to existing responsibilities.“’ If it is to be the latter, we are concerned that it may not be undertaken effectively; if the former, we need to know the resource implications and how they will be met. Draft guidance on the nature and operation of the Lead Professional role was published in March 2005. This has been developed in consultation with authorities that are already involved in integrated service provision at the front line, and goes some way to recognising and addressing the issues raised above. 40 EVCM 23, para 23. 41 Department for Education and Skills,.Developing Information-Sharing and Assessment Systems, Cleaver et. Al, 2004.
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