Recommendation 18

The phasing out of dedicated funding for evaluation comes at a time the Department accepts is challenging for local authority budgets.50 The Department described how the Innovation Programme has helped both the Department and the wider sector understand that quality evaluation is expensive, but we share the Department’s view that the costs 40 Care Review p.94 41 Q 78 42 Q 81 43 The independent review of children’s social care, Final Report, p. 104 44 Q81–82; The independent review of children’s social care, Final Report, p. 47, The Case for Change, p.59 45 Q81 46 C&AG’s Report, paras 9, 20 47 Q 14 48 Q 46 49 EPC0003 p.1 50 Q 51 Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care 13 often represent a ‘rounding error’ when contrasted with the £9 billion local authorities spend on children’s social care each year.51 A sense of potential savings is indicated by a participant in the successor schemes citing early evidence of 40% reductions in children being taken into care, with estimated cost avoidance of £117 million over 5 years.52