Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Acknowledged
We agree with successor programme evaluator Coram, that the key measure of success for the...
Conclusion
We agree with successor programme evaluator Coram, that the key measure of success for the Department’s Innovation Programme must be what has changed for children as a result.25 The Department told us that it cannot yet report any ‘perfectly causal line’ between the programme and improved outcomes for children. The Department highlighted encouraging data from one of its successor projects including a 38% reduction in arrests and a 57% reduction in A&E visits for the young people referred to the scheme, with similar good evidence from other projects.26 Understanding the impact of the scheme is made harder by the lack of clarity over the outcomes government wants for children’s social care. The Department has undertaken to provide a national framework of outcomes in response to recommendations of the Care Review.27
Government Response Summary
The department published Children's social care: Stable Homes, Built on Love on 2 February 2023, setting out the purpose and principles of practice, along with the outcomes that should be achieved with children and families. A draft Children’s Social Care National Framework and Dashboard for consultation were published alongside the strategy.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2.2 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. Alongside the strategy, the department published a draft Children’s Social Care National Framework and Dashboard for consultation. 2.3 The National Framework sets out, in one place, the purpose and principles of practice, along with the outcomes that should be achieved with children and families. The dashboard will bring together a suite of indicators, underpinned by data collection, which help to understand trends and progress towards the outcomes of the National Framework. This will support learning in the system. 2.4 The National Framework has been produced with the support of the department’s National Practice Group, made up of experts in practice, evidence, lived experience and multi- agency working. Findings from the department’s investment in children’s social care, including in the Innovation Programme, along with outcomes suggested by the Care Review, informed the outcomes and expectations for practice described in the National Framework. The National Framework will embed the use of evidence and learning across local authorities, helping to raise the quality of practice and deliver better help, protection and care to children and families. Following consultation, the department plans, in time, that the National Framework is issued as statutory guidance.