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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    7 Integrated strategy and governance Pacing change 127. The Government has set out a series of demanding milestones and targets that will need to be met by local authorities and others between now and 2008 for the successful implementation of Every Child Matters. These include the expectation that most local areas will have Children’s Trust arrangements in place by 2006 and that all will have them by 2008. Setting a challenging pace is entirely laudable, but there is an awareness at the front line that rapid change could produce unintended negative consequences. The Local Government Association told the Committee that that one of the potential ‘elephant traps’ they foresaw was that “people would move too fast and be too enthusiastic about [...] change, and [would] then fall over themselves.”* 128. This is still clearly an issue that resonates with local strategic bodies, as is evidenced by the response of the Association of Directors of Education and Children’s Services and partners to a recent Government consultation on statutory guidance on the implementation of the reforms: “we think it [statutory guidance] should reinforce the need for authorities to achieve necessary changes at a pace that suits local circumstances and which places an emphasis on maintaining performance generally and particularly with regard to safeguarding. We are anxious that the guidance may kick-start a rush of changes within authorities which may not be properly prepared nor mirrored, as will be necessary, among relevant and other partners in the area. The guidance should make clear statements about the need for authorities to introduce change in a measured way which suits local circumstance and which promotes rather than jeopardises improvements to children’s services.””° 129. In their oral evidence, the Association of Directors of Social Services were explicit about the specific risks to the most vulnerable children which might follow from ‘rushed’ implementation: “there is a set of issues around the fragility of safeguarding services for child protection concerns, and our concern would obviously be that the majority of authorities which are committed to this arena will work gainfully to protect their children, but there are inevitably going to be children who will slip through the net, and we have to give this agenda time to work forward, and support those authorities that may be struggling with their local competing forces.””” 130. Our visit to British Columbia in January 2005 further alerted us to the need to ensure change takes place at a reasonable pace. There, we spoke with officials who had observed S58 Q)173 96 ADECS, ADSS, Barnardos, Connaught Group, LGA, NCB, NHS Confederation, NSPCC, Children’s Society and the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, Joint response to ‘Consultation on draft statutory guidance on the role and responsibilities of the Director for Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children’s Services’,2005. The ADSS has recently argued that the draft statutory guidance on Children’s Trusts should emphasise that structural change is not a necessity—and that a focus on structure could detract from provision of front line services during transition. 97 Q166
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