Diverse structures trigger concerns

Flexibility over the way children’s trusts are set up may cause
problems for inspectors.

Liz Atkins, head of policy at the NSPCC, told a conference this
week that “children’s trusts may be different entities across
different local authorities, which will make it difficult for a
common framework for assessment to capture best practice”.

She warned that this would mean the integrated inspection
framework, which will bring together, among others, the Commission
for Social Care Inspection, Commission for Healthcare Audit and
Inspection, and Ofsted, would not be “the catalyst for improvement
it was intended to be”.

Atkins said she accepted that more flexibility in the children’s
trust model had been needed but that too much could create
problems.

She added that the NSPCC was also concerned about the decision to
relax the deadline for the creation of trusts by extending it until
2008, warning that it would delay progress when there should be “a
sense of urgency”.

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