Conclusions and recommendations
The new Department
1. While
joint working across Government is of course not new, the extent
to which the DCSF is involved with other departments is possibly
unique. There are two areas where it has sole responsibility for
policy and funding—early years and 5 to 13 schooling—but
on everything else it has joint responsibility and varying degrees
of control. On 14-19 education it has joint responsibility with
DIUS, but sole responsibility for funding. On matters such as
child poverty and health the funding and policy levers are largely
in other people's hands. (Paragraph 5)
2. We welcome the
new Department's focus on children. The problem with joint responsibility
is that it might mean no effective responsibility, with each part
of the system doing its own work but with no-one ensuring that
it does all add up to coherent policy and actions. The DCSF has
been given the leading role, which appears to be an acknowledgement
that ultimately someone does have to take decisions. The challenge
for the Department and for the Secretary of State will be to ensure
that they are able to lead and to require decisions to be made.
(Paragraph 9)
3. This issue of how
well education, health and other services work together at the
local level is one that we will want to monitor, as it is crucial
to the success or otherwise of the government's plans. The mechanism
for achieving effective joint working at the local level is the
Children's Trust, and we plan to undertake an inquiry into Children's
Trusts later in the year. (Paragraph 11)
4. Given the importance
of Diplomas, clarity over who is responsible is vital. We ask
the DCSF to set out each department's specific responsibilities
towards Diplomas. The success of the Diplomas is vital to improve
levels of attainment. We shall be taking further evidence on progress
in implementing Diplomas later in the year. (Paragraph 13)
5. The key issue for
the Department is to make joint working a reality at both national
and local level, and the extent to which it is able to achieve
effective joint working will be the main determinant of whether
the aims of these policy initiatives will be achieved. (Paragraph
14)
6. It will clearly
be our main task to hold the Secretary of State accountable for
how well these new arrangements work, given his key leadership
and co-ordinating role. We have decided to invite the Secretary
of State, his opposite number at the Department for Work and Pensions
and a Treasury minister to give evidence jointly later this year
on the issue of child poverty. We hope that this will both provide
an opportunity to see how well these different departments work
together to achieve one of the Government's most challenging policy
objectives, the halving of child poverty by 2010, and demonstrate
our determination to pursue scrutiny of children's issues across
Government. (Paragraph 15)
The Children's Plan
7. The
lack of priority amongst objectives and the absence of a timetable
for implementation are weaknesses which need to be rectified,
otherwise the Children's Plan runs the risk of being simply a
wish list rather than the mission for the Department of which
the Secretary of State spoke. If it does not do so before, it
should use the progress report later in the year to set out in
greater clarity when it hopes to achieve some of its main policy
proposals. In order to keep track of progress on the Children's
Plan, we intend to take evidence for the Secretary of State again
when the progress report is published. (Paragraph 18)
8. If there is to
be long term planning it is important to stick to objectives.
The way in which the DCSF sees the ECM outcomes being linked to
the objectives in the Children's Plan needs to be clarified as
soon as possible, and the new strategic objectives need to be
maintained for the long run. The fact that there are now three
sets of indicators that the Department is using—five Every
Child Matters outcomes, six strategic objectives and five PSA
objectives—is unsatisfactory. The Department needs to be
clear both for the sake of its own work and that of the wider
children and families workforce which objectives it is primarily
working towards. (Paragraph 22)
Public Service Agreements
9. If
targets are to be respected, the way in which they are decided
must be more transparent. For that reason we ask the Department
to set out in its annual report or in the response to this report
the basis on which the targets for indicators under the new PSA
objectives have been determined. (Paragraph 30)
10. The new Department
needs to be explicit how it intends to drive improvements in services
for children and families. In particular, Ministers will need
to spell out how their desired outcomes will be hastened and delivered
by the various different performance drivers currently in use.
In some cases, there may be conflicts between 'choice' as exercised
by parents and the demands of PSAs. (Paragraph 32)
11. There are still
tensions between the Government's desire to secure collaboration
and co-operation between institutions, and financial incentives
and performance requirements which stimulate competition. These
two policies need to be carefully managed. Where competition is
introduced it is important that it does not lead to fragmentation
of provision. (Paragraph 33)
Schools' Funding
12. We
will want to be kept informed of the review of schools funding
as it goes through its different stages. With funding growing
more slowly in the current CSR period than in the previous one,
decision on calculating and distributing schools funding will
be even more critical. The changes in funding to the 16-19 sector,
and the implications for 14-19 funding, will also need to be examined
carefully. (Paragraph 40)
Efficiency and productivity
13. We
are keen to see the detailed assessment of the achievement or
otherwise of the Gershon targets in order to establish how much
more effectively the education and children's services systems
are operating. We will also wish to see how the new efficiency
targets in schools are monitored and the extent to which they
are achieved. (Paragraph 45)
14. We ask the DCSF
to set out what it anticipates the new Public Value Programme
will require of the Department, and of schools and other children's
services providers. (Paragraph 47)
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