Agenda item

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families and the Director of Children, Families and Communities attended the meeting to update the Panel on Alternative Delivery Models (ADM) for Children's Social Care.

The Panel received a presentation from the Assistant Director of Children of Children and Families and Communities and were reminded that:

·       no decision had been made yet on the preferred ADM.  The decision was scheduled to be made by Cabinet on 29 March 2018, with the full business case being submitted by 31 March 2018 and implementation to commence on 1 April 2018 and being operational by April 2019

·       programme governance oversight was provided by the Department for Education (DfE) appointed Children’s Commissioner and would feed into the democratic processes

·       two options were being Twin Tracked ie one business case that considered both options ie a Wholly owned council company and Strategic Partnership with another Local Authority (yet to be named).

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·       the amount of Government funding which may be received and costings of the ADM were yet to be clarified

·       the point was made that whilst the ADM was being worked on, it was important to remain focused on the improvement plan for children's social care

·       members of the Panel were concerned about the morale of staff and the uncertainty that the ADM brought.  The Assistant Director confirmed that that was a major concern for the Directorate and that staff were concerned about terms & conditions and pensions.  However regular drop in sessions for staff were being run to keep staff informed about the ADM

·       only those services under direction and/or essential to improvement work or day to day business were included ‘in-scope', so neither the Babcock Contract or virtual school were included at this point

·       the Panel was concerned that there may be potential additional costs involved in the development of the ADM which were not included in the budget for 2018/19. 

·       the point was also made that there may be a risk to the budget for the future, in that whatever form the ADM took, it may lead to a requirement by that body for additional funding, which had not been planned for

·       in terms of how long it was envisaged that the Statutory Direction would remain in force, the Assistant Director advised that it would remain in place whilst the Authority were inadequate, after which it wasn't clear when it would be lifted as this varied on a case by case basis

·       there were two main options which would be considered for the Director of Children's Services role:  the function would either be retained in the Council, whilst the Company recruited its own Chief Executive or the Director would be seconded to the ADM to take on the Chief Executive role

·       it was suggested that the Service Contract should include reference to the views of children and young people

·       possible partners being considered for the strategic partnership were Shropshire, Staffordshire and Wolverhampton

·       it was confirmed managing the impact on staff of the new model was a challenge and risks would be minimised wherever possible and performance management applied if necessary

·       the Scrutiny function for the chosen model would remain within in Worcestershire.

The Panel requested the opportunity to look at the full Business Case when it was available and make comments to the Cabinet Member at this time.