Policy adviser cites green paper goals

A national body to take a strategic overview of services for
children at risk may be proposed in the forthcoming children at
risk green paper.

Dr Joanne Drean, a policy adviser on the green paper team, told
conference delegates that the document would address whether a new
role of “children’s practitioner” should be introduced and whether
existing resources were being best used.

An effective system, she said, would focus on joint commissioning,
pooling budgets, joint training and a common assessment framework
to prevent duplication and multiple assessments of young
people.

It would also include information sharing to identify children at
risk earlier and place someone in overall charge of services with
the power to redeploy resources.