{"id":89995,"date":"2018-03-15T12:05:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=3e7615223365ea12e765326a0a27acdd"},"modified":"2018-03-15T12:05:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-15T12:05:59","slug":"news-story-minister-announces-17-million-to-improve-childrens-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=89995","title":{"rendered":"News story: Minister announces \u00a317 million to improve children&#8217;s services"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi has today announced a package of support worth \u00a317 million to improve outcomes for vulnerable children.<\/p>\n<p>More than \u00a315 million will go to eight new Partners in Practice, to expand a peer support programme between local authorities to improve children\u2019s services.<\/p>\n<p>The government is also announcing \u00a32 million to improve leadership in children\u2019s social care services, which will be delivered through the Local Government Association (LGA).<\/p>\n<p>The funding is part of the Government\u2019s \u00a320 million improvement strategy for children\u2019s social care, and will see the Partners in Practice Programme \u2013 children\u2019s services which are rated \u2018good\u2019 by Ofsted \u2013 develop and share strong practice, and deliver hands-on peer support to other councils, to help improve outcomes for more children and their families across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Minister for Children and Families Nadhim Zahawi said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Social workers do an incredible job providing some of our most vulnerable children in our society with life-changing care and support.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">This investment for our Partners in Practice Programme will help the fantastic work councils are doing to deliver high-quality services and make a real difference to children\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I am also pleased to support the Local Government Association to drive good leadership, which is crucial if we want to support and encourage frontline staff to deliver excellent care for children and young people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This investment comes from \u00a320 million announced at the National Children\u2019s and Adults Services (NCAS) conference last year (October 2017), to provide additional support for councils at risk of service failure and to help create a system of continuous improvement. Through the funding, the LGA will create a package of support to ensure lead council members have the skills they need to scrutinise performance and drive improvement in children\u2019s services.<\/p>\n<p>Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Local Government Association\u2019s Children and Young People Board, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We are pleased that the Minister has backed the LGA\u2019s call for children\u2019s improvement funding. This will help to deliver an enhanced programme of sector-led support to councils, offering everything from regular \u2018health checks\u2019 and training for lead members and senior officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">The achievements of councils through the sector-led improvement approach demonstrate its success and shows what councils can achieve by working together and supporting one another.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Phil Norrey, the Solace spokesperson for Children and Families and Chief Executive of Devon County Council, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is welcome investment for children\u2019s services, good news for the children and families we serve and a vote of confidence in local government as a whole. Sector led improvement has proven itself effective in other areas and we are pleased by the recognition that chief executives and whole council leadership is needed to drive meaningful change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Solace looks forward to working with our partners on this bid \u2013 the Local Government Association, Association of Directors of Children\u2019s Services and Department for Education \u2013 to challenge and support our colleagues across the country.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The new Partners in Practice are Ealing, Camden, North Tyneside and South Tyneside in partnership, Essex, Stockport, Hackney, East Riding of Yorkshire and Doncaster Trust. The Partners in Practice Programme and the Innovation Programme are part of the government\u2019s ambitious reforms to children\u2019s social care, backed by to up to \u00a3250 million.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The funding will support councils to improve children&#8217;s social care services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}