Agenda item

The Cabinet considered the proposed 'go-live' date for the establishment of a Wholly Owned Council Company for Children's Social Care.

In the ensuing debate, the following principal points were raised:

·         The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families introduced the report and commented that the Council's aim was to improve children's social care so that the service was in a good position to be taken over by the new company. The timetable had now changed so that the service would be in shadow form in April 2019 and go live in October 2019. This would allow time to focus on the priority areas for improving the service. The wholly-owned company was the most appropriate arrangement for the service. The DfE had contributed £3.5m to the transition arrangements. To date, good progress had been made on the 13 work streams. He was confident that the arrangements would not be subject to VAT whilst the Council was the subject of intervention

·         The name of the company "Worcestershire Children First" was entirely appropriate given the Council's responsibilities for children in the county. The Council was fulfilling its statutory responsibilities and was grateful for the additional funds from the DfE

·         The chairman of the Scrutiny Panel commented that it was ironic that by the time the services were transferred to the company they would be good or approaching good. She was concerned that any commitment from the Government in relation to VAT should be binding and whether the ADM could achieve what was required within the Medium Term Plan budget. The  Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families responded that VAT relief had as yet only been promised for the period of intervention

·         The Leader indicated that the financial matters relating to the Company needed to be set out in a report to Cabinet in the autumn. Further clarification on VAT implications was needed because there could be longer term VAT cost to the Council. He welcomed the additional funding from the DfE for the set up costs of the Company

·         The change of the 'go-live' date was welcomed because the existing proposed dates coincided with the introduction of a new social care management framework

·         A member from outside the Cabinet commented that the change of 'go-live' date was appropriate to avoid a negative impact on service improvements and causing confusion to the detriment of the end user

·         The Leader recognised the risks associated with the introduction of a new system and the potential impact on the creation of a new Company and this point had been made to the Government. He emphasised that the statutory direction had not been revised yet and discussions were being held with the Government.

RESOLVED: that

a)    the proposed change in 'go-live' date for the establishment of a Wholly Owned Council Company for Children's Social Care ('the Company') to 1 October 2019 and the high-level overview of the implementation plan be noted;

b)    the name of the Company as 'Worcestershire Children First' be approved;

c)    the legal form of the Company as outlined in paragraph 21 of the report be approved and its formation be endorsed; and

d)    the development of the Company and its governance arrangements be delegated to the Chief Executive, in consultation with the DfE's appointed Children's Commissioner, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families.