Recommendations & Conclusions
5 items
2
Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating inno…
Accepted
We are not yet convinced the Department’s dissemination of learning from the programme is delivering widespread improvement. The Innovation Programme and its successor schemes have spread practice from six promising innovations across 57 further local authorities. There is some evidence that practice from the schemes is being taken up outside …
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We are not yet convinced the Department’s dissemination of learning from the programme is delivering widespread improvement. The Innovation Programme and its successor schemes have spread practice from six promising innovations across 57 further local authorities. There is some evidence that practice from the schemes is being taken up outside the scope of the funded programme. There is encouraging early data indicating the potential impacts of projects in these successor schemes. The Department does not yet have a complete picture of the impact of the programme on outcomes for children, however, and the evaluations from the successor schemes are only due between Autumn 2022 and 2027. The Department recognises the need to balance the tensions between the time needed for its formal evaluations to report, and the desire in the sector for early action. Understanding impact is also complicated by the lack of a coherent set of outcomes for children’s social care. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care considers that the programme’s ‘scale and spread’ approach is limited in the absence of fundamental change and that there is sufficient evidence already for investment in new approaches, warning the costs of inaction are too high. Recommendation: The Department must set out a coherent set of outcomes it expects from the sector in its response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, and further report on the impact of the innovation programme and successor schemes in supporting these outcomes. Recommendation: The Department should set out how it will secure a better understanding of the take-up of learning by local authorities across the country.
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed and stated its strategy addresses the recommendation by promoting take up of well-evidenced models, using Practice Guides, establishing learning events, testing Family Network Support Packages, and delivering a fostering recruitment and retention programme.
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HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating inno…
Accepted
The Department does not yet have the data it needs to understand the impact of the innovation programme. Systems that provide high quality information to everyone involved can contribute to a culture of evaluation and an understanding of 6 Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care what is working. Lack …
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The Department does not yet have the data it needs to understand the impact of the innovation programme. Systems that provide high quality information to everyone involved can contribute to a culture of evaluation and an understanding of 6 Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care what is working. Lack of data has proved a challenge for many Innovation Programme projects. Furthermore the small scale of projects within the Innovation Programme risks creating statistical challenges understanding the impacts of these schemes on particular minority groups. The Department needs to balance support for local authorities collecting the information they need locally, with considerations for what is required nationally to understand the effectiveness of these schemes across population groups. More widely, the Department concedes there is not currently a shared view on what data needs to be collected across the children’s social care sector. The Department reports it has work underway in response to recommendations around data raised by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. Recommendation: The Department should set out the standards it expects for local data collection, and make clear the benefits for local authorities of collecting good quality data. The Department should also use its new outcomes framework to shape its own data collection strategy.
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed and will publish a Children’s Social Care (CSC) data strategy by the end of 2023, developed with local authorities and sector experts, to improve data collection, transparency, and use for better outcomes.
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HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating inno…
Accepted
Potential innovation risks being hampered by inflexibility in the wider system of children’s social care. The Department intended the Innovation Programme to both improve outcomes for children in the social care system and produce savings. Residential care in children’s homes is especially expensive, while outcomes for children appear better for …
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Potential innovation risks being hampered by inflexibility in the wider system of children’s social care. The Department intended the Innovation Programme to both improve outcomes for children in the social care system and produce savings. Residential care in children’s homes is especially expensive, while outcomes for children appear better for those supported in kinship settings. The Department intends its response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care to promote support for keeping children in kinship groups or foster care as preferred alternatives. However, we have seen many examples of local barriers to supporting children in these settings, including inflexibility around the costs required to accommodate children taken into kinship care or foster homes, and help around the work and lifestyle changes required to effectively support them. The local government funding system is not always good at adapting to these needs, which risks resulting in more expensive residential provision being required. Recommendation: The Department should work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities and HM Treasury to develop plans for addressing the local funding boundaries and barriers that stop children getting the help they require.
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Government response AI summary
The government agreed and stated its implementation strategy addresses the recommendation by working closely with DLUHC and HMT, pivoting service use to early family help and support, testing Family Network Support Packages, and delivering a fostering recruitment and retention programme.
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating inno…
Accepted
A challenging funding environment requires that government maintains its commitment to evaluation, and applies its learning to secure better outcomes. As the Innovation Programme and its successor schemes move towards the end of 14 years of funding by 2027, the Department wants to see innovation and learning activity move into …
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A challenging funding environment requires that government maintains its commitment to evaluation, and applies its learning to secure better outcomes. As the Innovation Programme and its successor schemes move towards the end of 14 years of funding by 2027, the Department wants to see innovation and learning activity move into mainstream practice. The phasing out of dedicated funding comes at a time the Department accepts is challenging for local authority budgets. The Innovation Programme has demonstrated that quality evaluation is expensive, but we share the Department’s view that it will usually represent what it called a ‘rounding error’ when set alongside the value of mainstream services. The need for the best evidence to support the most impactful practice remains, and it is vital that the opportunities to secure better outcomes created by the Innovation Programme are not lost. Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care 7 Recommendation: The Department should set out how it will demonstrate the benefits of its spending on innovation and evaluation for local authorities and other Departments to secure the full benefits of this spending. 8 Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care 1 Delivering impact through innovation and evaluation Introduction
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and will demonstrate the benefits of its spending on innovation and evaluation by publishing a National Framework and Dashboard for consultation, and through continued support and funding for the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care.
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating inno…
Accepted
The Department believes the impact of the Innovation Programme on the sector has been ‘transformational’. It describes the demand stimulated by the programme, having received over 200 applications for the first funding round of a programme where evaluation was a condition of funding.15 The Department also described issues caused by …
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The Department believes the impact of the Innovation Programme on the sector has been ‘transformational’. It describes the demand stimulated by the programme, having received over 200 applications for the first funding round of a programme where evaluation was a condition of funding.15 The Department also described issues caused by the limited capacity and expertise in the market to provide the evaluations the programme required, and the decision to set up a What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care in 2017 to take this agenda forward.16 The Department told us there is more of that capacity as a legacy of the Innovation Programme.17 What Works for Children’s Social Care also emphasised the work it now does through its Evidence Hubs, sharing research findings with front-line practitioners and aiming to ensure the importance of evidence is understood by senior leaders in the sector.18.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees to continue to promote and nurture a culture of evaluation through evaluating new proposals in the Care Review implementation strategy, and funding and support for a children’s services What Works Centre. A departmental evaluation strategy was published in June 2022.
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HM Treasury