Child protection outsourcing plans ‘dead in the water’, claims Loughton
Controversial plans to allow councils to outsource child protection services are “dead in the water” following the departure of Michael Gove from the Department for Education, former children’s minister Tim Loughton has claimed.
Gove was replaced as Education Secretary last week by Nicky Morgan as part of a major government reshuffle prior to next May’s general election.
Conservative MP Loughton, who served as children’s minister from 2010 to 2012, told CYP Now that while he does not foresee any major policy changes in relation to schools, certain children’s social care initiatives at the DfE could “lose momentum” under Morgan.
Proposals to allow councils to outsource child protection services, the consultation for which ended on 31 May, received mixed responses from the sector. A number of organisations said they would only support them if those delivering services cannot make a profit.
Prior to Gove’s departure, the government backtracked, announcing that only non-profit organisations would be allowed to deliver statutory child protection services.
The plans are set to be debated by peers and MPs later this year, but Loughton said they faced an uncertain future now that Gove has gone.
“The response to the recent proposals on the consultation on contracting out responsibility for some children’s services went down very badly,” he said.
“In my view [the proposals] were borne out of ideology rather than pragmatism and were driven quite a bit by Michael Gove. The government had to do quite a quick U-turn.
“That one is pretty dead in the water [without Gove]. The plans will lose momentum.”
Meanwhile, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) has made fresh calls for the proposals to be dropped following Gove’s departure.
“We are concerned that proposals to change the law on children’s services provision will leave vulnerable children at the risk of the vagaries of the global market economy, which any responsible society should reject,” BASW chief executive Bridget Robb said.
Robb also called for clarification on additional child protection duties that have been handed to Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead, Mike Penning, who is now responsible for child online protection as part of his brief as the new minister for policing, criminal justice, and victims.
“We want clarification on this responsibility and want reassurance that child protection investigation is not going to become the sole responsibility of the police,” Robb said.
“We have already seen the demise of most of the joint police and social worker investigation arrangements.
“We hope this is not going to be institutionalised through this ministerial separation of responsibility.”
The outsourcing children’s services proposals were laid before parliament last month and are set to be debated in the House of Lords before being voted on by MPs. If passed, the government wants to introduce them in October.
A DfE spokesman said there has been no change in government’s aim to improve the quality and efficiency of children’s social care.
“Some councils are already using external expertise to improve their work, while others have asked us to extend these freedoms so that they can look at other ways of delivering services,” the spokesman said.
“There will be no obligation for councils to take up these freedoms and any that do will still be held accountable by Ofsted.
“The draft regulations are currently before parliament and are due to be debated in both houses in due course.”
Source: CYPNow
