ADCS: Government Should Scrap Independent Trust Drive
23/08/2016
ADCS: Government Should Scrap Independent Trust Drive
The vice-chair of the Association of Directors of Children's Services has criticised the government's drive to hand over responsibility for struggling local authorities' children's services over to independent trusts.
The organisation's vice chair Alison Michalska said that instead of creating independent trusts, the government should attempt to work closely with local authorities to improve service provision and create better outcomes for children.
Writing in a blog for Children & Young People Now, she went on to say that there was very little evidence that setting up independent trusts result in improvements, and instead just generate more expense over the year-long set-up process.
She said: "Besides a general message that 'something must be done' there is little evidence to date to support the ability of the independent trust to improve services so they deliver better outcomes for children."
Michalska's comments come in the wake of the education select committee calling for a halt to the government's drive to turn children's services into independent trusts earlier this week.
The Department for Education had previously pledged that one in three local authorities' children's services will be ran under a different model than their current arrangements - including via independent trust - by 2020.
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