Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Accepted
The Department believes the impact of the Innovation Programme on the sector has been ‘transformational’.
Recommendation
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.
Government Response 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.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: December 2023 1.2 The Department for Education (the department) agrees that it should continue to promote and nurture a culture of evaluation. It will do so through two main mechanisms: firstly, a commitment to evaluate new proposals in the Care Review implementation strategy; and secondly, funding and support for a children’s services What Works Centre. 2 1.3 The department published Children's social care: Stable Homes, Built on Love on 2 February 2023 which is an implementation strategy responding to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. It includes new initiatives looking at areas such as Family Help services, and children looked after placements. The department will assess the development and delivery of these proposals through a programme of rigorous evaluation where appropriate. Departmental analysts are working with their policy counterparts, the Evaluation Task Force, HM Treasury and local authority (LA) practice leaders to ensure evaluation and the associated insight and learning is at the heart of the reforms. 1.4 The Early Intervention Foundation and What Works for Children's Social Care recently merged. The new merged organisation is operating initially under the working name of What Works for Early Intervention and Children’s Social Care (WWEICSC). The department is continuing to fund the newly merged WWEICSC. The new centre will use its expertise and knowledge to promote both the generation and use of evidence to deliver more effective universal, targeted and specialist services for families. To date: • WWEICSC maintains an evidence store with at-a-glance ratings for overall programme effectiveness: it receives more than 3,000 unique downloads a month; and • WWEICSC has had 80% of local authorities involved in evaluations to date and its interventions have reached over 1,100 schools. 1.5 Work is also ongoing to nurture and support the culture of evaluation within the department following the publication of the department’s evaluation strategy in June 2022.