Agenda item

The Cabinet considered the further development of Worcestershire Children First (WCF). The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families introduced the report and explained that although the Council had been directed by the DfE to create a Wholly Owned Company for Children’s Social Care, it was felt that an integrated service shoud be created to include education services.

Children’s Services had been working on two strands, firstly to improve services for children’s social care and secondly to form the Wholly Owned Company. The two strands would converge on 1 October. Children Social Care had already made a ‘substantial step forward’ according to the Children’s Minister and the Ofsted Director, in improving services and a lot of hard work had been put into creating the new Company. The Cabinet member wished to pay tribute to Catherine Driscoll, Tina Russell and Hannah Needham for their hard work on improving the service and developing the new Company.

It was underlined that Worcestershire Children First would belong to the Council and the Council would retain responsibility, meaning that every Councillor would remain a Corporate Parent. The additional money for social care and special needs, and the continuation of Troubled Families that had been detailed in the Spending Review, was very welcome.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills explained that he would be a Non-Executive Director on the Worcestershire Children First Board, along with the Cabinet Member for Transformation and Commissioning. As such he believed two things were important, firstly improving outcomes for children in a stable and sustained way and secondly, that services were effective and efficient and value for money. He welcomed the additional money from Government, which should include around £7 million for special educational needs and thanked the Senior Team for their hard work in the lead up to the go live date.

Cabinet was pleased that children’s services had improved but noted that there was more work to be done. The work of the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families was recognised and it was hoped that he would continue in his role. The Leader clarified that the CMR’s role remained outside the Company so that he could provide the necessary challenge. The input of other Councillors, such as Scrutiny members was also noted. The Leader was pleased that the new Company was wholly owned by the Council and that the fact that services for vulnerable children had been turned around had been recognised by Ofsted.

RESOLVED THAT CABINET:

(a)        noted the progress made in developing Worcestershire Children First, and workstream update;

(b)        approved the Company Board appointments and location of Worcestershire Children First;

(c)        approved Worcestershire Children First’s Interim Business Plan;

(d)        authorised the Chief Executive, in consultation with the Department for Education appointed Children's Commissioner, Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Education and Skills and Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families, to take all appropriate steps on behalf of the Council in relation to the development of Worcestershire Children First and the commencement of its operation,  including agreeing the Service Delivery Contract, Articles of Association Service Support Agreement, and Governance Side Agreement; and

(e)        approved the proposed contract sum for 2019/20 to Worcestershire Children First as set out in paragraph 28 of the report and authorised the Chief Finance Officer to make the budget transfer to Worcestershire Children First accordingly, and noted the indicative contract sum for 2020/21 and 2021/22.