childrems services

Although this article is about the local authority of Doncaster (some of which is rural) the interesting part for anyone in the public sector is the suggestion that under performance in key areas can be remedied by compulsory mutualisation. I do not envy the poor public sector staff facing having to run this part of the council as a pseudo business – and once that has happened what democratic role remains for the elected representatives of the area? Food for thought! The article tells us:

A council has been stripped of its powers to provide child protection by the education secretary, Michael Gove, after the latest in a series of damning reports found its services could not overcome a persistent culture of “failure and disillusion”.

Children’s services in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, will be “spun out” into a staff-owned, not-for-profit trust independent of the council, while strategic oversight for the service will be provided by a commissioner appointed by the secretary of state.

The creation of the trust, expected to be up and running by April 2014, is thought to be the first time an entire children’s social services department has been removed from local authority control in this way.