31 October 2008
By Paul Dicken
The government has insisted the role of children's trusts will be clarified and strengthened after the Audit Commission said they had yet to show a positive impact and had led to confusion.
The commission's October 29 review was published four years after the 2004 Children Act provided the legal basis for the trusts. They were intended to facilitate joint working between local authorities, the NHS and other agencies.
The government made joint working on child protection and children's services a priority following the 2003 Laming Inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié. Lord Laming described the inquiry as 'a vivid demonstration of poor practice within and between social services, the police and health agencies'.
The commission's report said that in most areas collaborative working had improved.
But working arrangements for trusts had yet to 'settle down' and, 'as a result, there is little evidence that children's trusts, as required by the government, have improved outcomes for children and young people or delivered better value for money, over and above locally agreed co-operation'.
Despite active work to change the way children's services are managed, various pieces of legislation and guidance had led 'to local confusion' about trusts and whether the term meant a 'new statutory body' or 'mandated partnership working'.
Maggie Atkinson, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said establishing children's trusts had been difficult, but the will was there to make co-operation easier.
'It is important that the commissioning role of children's trusts is recognised, and making this a reality will require more pooled budgets and changes to budgeting practices.'
She said it was hoped that revised guidance on the role of trusts, directors of children's services and lead council members — being published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families next month — would address many of the concerns raised by the commission.
Children's minister Beverley Hughes accused the Audit Commission of going for 'headline over substance', and said fieldwork in the report had been overtaken by publication of the Children's Plan, with measures being taken to strengthen the role of trusts.
The report recommended that the government be more consistent in its approaches to children's services and align financial accounting and performance frameworks between public bodies.
Many representatives on trust boards 'lack a mandate for committing their organisation's resources', the report said.
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