Five year wait for joint commissioning

It will take some areas five years to achieve joint planning and commissioning of children’s services, the government predicted today.

The Department for Education and Skills makes the prediction in a new guide to joint planning and commissioning for children, young people and maternity services designed to improve current procedures, launched by children’s minister Beverley Hughes and care services minister Liam Byrne.

The guide says that in order for areas to implement the guide’s measures a number of challenges needed to be solved. These include the shift to preventative services, valuing and encouraging user participation and joining up the different levels of commissioning.

It adds that it does not solve these challenges and therefore more support will be made available for children’s trusts including tools, emerging practice and in-depth guidance.

The guide is based on developments of the 35 children’s trust pathfinders and is written by over 150 experts.

Joint planning and commissioning framework for children, young people and maternity services from: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/strategy/planningandcommissioning