Visitors to the goodenoughcaring site may remember that in March, 2010 we were critical of the last government's decision to award a contract to the private consultancy organisation, theTribal Group. In order to fulfil this contract Tribal agreed to offer extensive support to the residential child care sector. At the same time the government ended the funding for the National Centre for Excellence and Residential Child Care (NCERCC). This was a decision which was met with wide dismay in the sector.
Yesterday, September 7th, 2010 the Department of Education announced,
"The department is today launching a new programme of work to drive improvements in children’s homes, which will be led by the sector and the department. As a result, the department will no longer be awarding an external contract to Tribal to deliver this work."
The department’s statement goes on to say,
"Considerable resources have already been spent trying to raise standards, and while there have been some improvements, there is much more to be done. Therefore, instead of reinvesting in an external contract, ministers have decided that the most effective and cost-effective way of achieving this change is to work in partnership with the sector to review what is working well and to identify areas for improvement."
In our view it is wise of the new government to seek to work genuinely with the sector because the latter carries the necessary expertise which Tribal patently did not. Our hope now is that the government will seek partnership not only with the senior leaders managers of the big statutory, voluntary and independent child care organisations as child care training and education bodies, but that they will genuinely engage with both operational managers and practitioners.
However this is one of those developments which perhaps calls for two cheers rather than three. We are mindful of what was lost at the time of the decision to award Tribal a contract and that was the National Centre for Excellence in Residential child Care (NCERCC). While the government says no new external contracts will be awarded, it is to be hoped that it will be seeking, in its search for the “most effective and cost-effective way” to “raise standards” and achieve change, discussions with the National Children’s Bureau and its residential child care section about the possibility of establishing within the sector something like NCERCC which was an initiative that was generally respected as a supportive and integral part of residential child care in England.
Nonetheless this news gives hope that the expertise which the residential child care sector holds within it will be now be heard, respected and used to develop residential child care services.
This item first appeared on the http://www.goodenoughcaring.com/ home page on September 7th, 2010
Comments
Noel Howard writes : It sounds like two cheers as you say but two better than none.
In Ireland at the moment there is a bit of a lull but much of the sentiment which persists about residential child care concerns the embargo on recruitment, cutbacks, closures and amalgamations of services.
Interesting isn't it that the UK government (and a Conservative one at that) has at least listened ? In our Irish the forthcoming issue of Curam there is a piece about Theresa May's welcome "about turn" from the previous government's policy on the vetting of child workers.
David Williams comments :It is good news that the United Kingdom government seems to be making a meaningful attempt to engage with coal face workers and practitioners in the sector as to raise standards and quality of care, although it is saddening to see in the midst of all the bureaucratic clammering the loss of the NCERCC. In Ireland at the moment we also seem to be at mercy of key departmental decisions in relation to re structuring our child protection and alternative care systems. However the Irish Association of Social Care Workers and othewr key bodies in ireland are attempting to ensure the voices of practitioners and more importantly vulnerable young people are heard,
John Burton writes : How do we get government to let the people who do the work to redesign it? It's what they say they would like to do but it's unlikely to happen because they have no experience of what it would really be like. But we can only go on trying!
Alan McQuarrie comments : This is a development which I think we should welcome, though I think there will still be disquiet about the way the UK Government has handled this and the fate of NCERCC. Over a number of years successive Scottish governments have been developing ‘centres of excellence’ for different branches of social care. The Centre for Residential Child Care, now SIRCC, was the first of these in 1994. Now there is talk of merging some of our work, but it is very vague and far off.
Mark Smith remarks : This is good news but as you say qualified good news - I wouldn't be too encouraged by the thought of most local authorities becoming the drivers of residential care services.
Jeremy Millar comments : the vagaries of neo-liberal agendas are a wonder to behold. If only we could separate cost effective from improving practice. Still, if they truly got their heads round real cost effectiveness they would tax the rich invest in disadvantaged communities and narrow the gap between rich and poor. Sadly they have no concept of true social justice.
