Directors wary of board proposal

The Victoria Climbie Report’s key recommendation has received a
lukewarm response from the Association of Directors of Social
Services.

The ADSS says that the creation of a local management board for
children and families does “not sit easily with the structures that
will be in place in most local authorities”.

ADSS president David Behan said that, while directors welcomed Lord
Laming’s desire to embed the accountability of councillors
responsible for children’s services into the structures, this could
be best done through scrutiny by the local authority cabinet
system.

He also said there was an assumption that a large number of the
recommendations related to simple issues of best practice and could
be easily achieved. But, he said, it was not clear whether the
resources existed to implement them.

The ADSS also said that if area child protection committees were
abolished, they should be replaced by similar bodies with greater
statutory responsibilities.

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