Sure Start children’s centres, working closely with health visitors, were ideally placed to identify children and families for an early offer of help to families that do not meet the criteria for receiving social care services, the report said.
The Government’s forthcoming policy document on the Foundation Years will promote effective early intervention, so that families can get help as early as possible, the report added.
Its response, ‘A child-centred system’, sets out a move away from central regulation and prescription to an approach to allow professionals more freedom and responsibility to use their skills on the front line.
The Government has accepted Professor Munro’s 15 recommendations, made earlier this year, to reform the child protection system.
Children’s minister Tim Loughton has written to all early years providers, schools, and directors of children’s cervices to set out the changes.
Mr Loughton said that the Government’s response was not ‘a one-off set of recommended solutions’ imposed from the centre but ‘the start of a shift in mindset and relationship between central Government, local agencies and front line professionals working in partnership’.
Key points:
- reduction in central regulation with locally designed rules and procedures
- slimmed down statutory guidance by December 2011, including removing timescales for assessments and removing the distinction between initial and core assessments
- a chief social worker for children and adults in post by the end of 2012
- the Department for Education to set out a joint programme of work with the Department of Health by September 2011 to make sure children’s safeguarding is central to health reforms
- by July 2012 all local authorities will appoint a practising social worker as a principal child and family social worker
- local authorities to assess and redesign child and family social services based on feedback from families
- more work on Serious Case Reviews will be carried out to consider the evidence and opportunities for using systems review methodology for Serious Case Reviews to help all local services learn from them
‘This is a new mindset and a new relationship between central Government and local services. I am determined that we build on the excellent work of Professor Munro and I trust the workforce to deliver the reforms without working to prescription.
‘We have worked openly and collaboratively with professionals and children’s leaders to create reforms that are sustainable in the long term. The Government is not in the business of telling local services how to implement the reforms - as has happened in the past - because this has been shown by Professor Munro to result in unintended consequences.’
The Government said that with greater freedoms comes greater responsibility and consequently it has also set out plans to improve inspection.
All local services - health, education, police, probation and the justice system – will be inspected on how well they protect children.
The experiences of children and families will be put at the heart of Ofsted inspections, focussing on how effective help has been, rather than whether certain processes have been met.
Professor Munro will continue to advise the Government and will undertake an interim assessment of child protection reforms next year.
