21 January 2005
Seven more councils could be encouraged to contract out their struggling social services to other local authorities if a groundbreaking £3.6m rescue deal proves successful.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has indicated that other authorities with zero-star ratings from the Commission for Social Care Inspection could follow Swindon Borough Council, which this week signed a deal to outsource control of its core management responsibilities to three-star Kent County Council.
Senior officials at Bedfordshire, Birmingham, Cumbria, Ealing, the Isles of Scilly, Oldham and Plymouth councils will watch the deal with interest, after ODPM sources told Public Finance it would encourage wider use of the franchising arrangement if the Swindon-Kent pilot is successful.
Department sources said similar arrangements were likely only at councils with little potential to improve.
A spokeswoman for the department said: 'The success of the pilot will need to be established before any decision can be taken as to whether this [format] can be used elsewhere.'
Zero-rated Swindon announced on January 17 that it would pay £2.6m to Kent, led by Local Government Association chair Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart.
Middle managers from Kent will visit the Wiltshire authority two or three days a week to provide advice on the financial controls and backroom systems used to monitor local care.
Cabinet members and officers at Swindon will also be 'mentored' by their counterparts at Kent. Swindon has set a target of achieving a two-star rating by 2007.
The deal was brokered by local government minister Nick Raynsford and Department of Health officials, who between them will pay Kent an extra £1m.
ODPM officials have been advising the council on broad management issues, such as education, since 2001. Swindon improved its Audit Commission Comprehensive Performance Assessment rating from 'poor' in 2003 to 'weak' in 2004.
But Ian Dobie, the council's lead member for social services, accepted that improvements in his field had 'not come quickly enough'.
Swindon scored just one mark out of four for children's social services and two for adult care in December's Comprehensive Performance Assessment.
Dobie said: 'Neither Kent nor ourselves can afford to make mistakes, but we are extremely confident about this partnership.'
PFjan2005
