CHILDRENS PLACEMENT STRATEGY

1
CHILDRENS PLACEMENT STRATEGY PROGRESS
REPORT OCTOBER 2006
2
A brighter future for our children and young
people

• A commissioning strategy delivering
• Better prevention - family support
• More quality placement choice locally, including
  intensive and specialist provision
• Improved placement planning and stability
• Better needs, trend and forecasting analysis
  forward planning
• Benchmarking placement quality, outcomes and
  cost achieving best VFM to control cost and
  effect shift of resources to prevention
• Improved multi-agency support to placements

3
Work undertaken so far

• In 2006/07
• Improvements to systems and monitoring
• Solihull LAC needs analyses in partnership with
  Carola Bennion and PwC
• UASC needs analyses in-house
• Procurement function established
• Lean Transformation pilot
• Engagement with the West Midlands Placements
  Partnership
• Further CHESS bid for younger children
• Development of the LAC Outreach Team
• Review of services for children with an Autistic
  Spectrum Disorder

4
Achievements

• In 2006/07
• Vision and Strategy agreed
• Enhanced Directorate monitoring in place budget
  and activity
• Procurement efficiencies of 100k
• Sustained lower level of placement activity and
  cost so far!
• Agreement to establish joint planning and
  commissioning unit with PCT
• External challenge to Placement Panel
• Implementation of private fostering requirements
• Draft Complex Needs Protocol
• Positive Fostering inspection

5
Ongoing issues

• 2006/07
• Holistic approach to the strategy to address
  health, education and social care dimensions
• Unpredictability of UASC
• Rising trend nationally (and locally) for LAC
• Increasing responsibilities arising from recent
  legislation
• Court processes/requirements
• More carers, not just re-distributing from
  independent to in-house
• Provision of services to family, friends, carers
  and private fostering
• Implications of the Care Matters Green Paper

6
Next steps

• Move from planning to delivery by
• Establishing long term functionality in need,
  trend and forecasting analyses
• Commissioning and procuring against the current
  and forecast needs analysis especially
  prevention services
• Further developing internal and external support
  and challenge
• Sign off Complex Needs protocol
• Embedding Lean Transformation or equivalent BPR
  approach

7
The corporate contribution

• Corporate ownership of the red risk leading to
  re-alignment of resources to deliver the strategy
• Creation of commissioning leadership and
  expertise
• Establishing the relative priority within the
  Council and Directorate Plan for future
  investment or disinvestment
• Understanding the complexities and the changing
  context