Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 26 Jul 2022 Closed: 24 Feb 2023 Parliament page
Since 2014 the Department for Education has provided over £300 million of funding to a range of “innovation projects”, intended to help local authorities improve outcomes for children and improve value for money children’s social care. In June 2024, the National Audit Office noted DfE’s exemplary approach to evaluation and … Read more
5 Recommendations
14 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
1 Event
Activity timeline 3 events
24 Feb
2023
Report published
23 Nov
2022
Report published
8 Sep
2022
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
8 Sep 2022
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Evaluating innovation projects in children’s social care
Isabelle Trowler · Department for Education Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education Suzanne Lunn · Department for Education
Recommendations & Conclusions
19 results
2 Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
We are not yet convinced the Department’s dissemination of learning from the programme is delivering...
We are not yet convinced the Department’s dissemination of learning from the programme is delivering widespread improvement. The Innovation Programme and its successor schemes have spread practice from six promising innovations across 57 further local authorities. There is some evidence … Read more
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3 Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Department does not yet have the data it needs to understand the impact of...
The Department does not yet have the data it needs to understand the impact of the innovation programme. Systems that provide high quality information to everyone involved can contribute to a culture of evaluation and an understanding of 6 Evaluating … Read more
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4 Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
Potential innovation risks being hampered by inflexibility in the wider system of children’s social care.
Potential innovation risks being hampered by inflexibility in the wider system of children’s social care. The Department intended the Innovation Programme to both improve outcomes for children in the social care system and produce savings. Residential care in children’s homes … Read more
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5 Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
A challenging funding environment requires that government maintains its commitment to evaluation, and applies its...
A challenging funding environment requires that government maintains its commitment to evaluation, and applies its learning to secure better outcomes. As the Innovation Programme and its successor schemes move towards the end of 14 years of funding by 2027, the … Read more
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1 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Education (the Department), including its Chief Social Worker for Children and Families, about the Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme (the Innovation … Read more
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6 Recommendation
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Department believes the impact of the Innovation Programme on the sector has been ‘transformational’.
The Department believes the impact of the Innovation Programme on the sector has been ‘transformational’. It describes the demand stimulated by the programme, having received over 200 applications for the first funding round of a programme where evaluation was a … Read more
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7 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Department concedes there is further to go to embed the culture of evaluation it...
The Department concedes there is further to go to embed the culture of evaluation it wants to see in children’s social care. The Department and the sector have learned that quality evaluation is expensive and can take a long time … Read more
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8 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Department intended the Innovation Programme to achieve replication of successful new approaches, better life...
The Department intended the Innovation Programme to achieve replication of successful new approaches, better life chances for children receiving help from the social care system and better value for money across children’s social care. The Department funded 94 projects through … Read more
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9 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
We agree with successor programme evaluator Coram, that the key measure of success for the...
We agree with successor programme evaluator Coram, that the key measure of success for the Department’s Innovation Programme must be what has changed for children as a result.25 The Department told us that it cannot yet report any ‘perfectly causal … Read more
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10 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Care Review, while recognising the role the Innovation Programme has played in creating stronger...
The Care Review, while recognising the role the Innovation Programme has played in creating stronger practice, asserts that the impact of its scale and spread approach is limited in the absence of more fundamental change. The Care Review considers the … Read more
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11 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The lack of high-quality data was one of the significant challenges and common limitations identified...
The lack of high-quality data was one of the significant challenges and common limitations identified in the Department for Education’s (the Department’s) independent assessments of evaluations of Innovation Programme projects.31 We share the Department’s view that systems that give better … Read more
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12 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
There are particular data challenges where evaluations of small-scale innovations make it statistically difficult to...
There are particular data challenges where evaluations of small-scale innovations make it statistically difficult to understand the impact of schemes on particular population groups. We received evidence from the Traveller Movement, a population disproportionately represented in children’s social care, highlighting … Read more
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13 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Department could point to examples in other work where it has used technology to...
The Department could point to examples in other work where it has used technology to reduce the burdens of data collection, and shared data back with front line organisations in ways that incentivise local use.35 The Independent Review of Children’s … Read more
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14 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Innovation Programme was intended to both improve outcomes for children in the social care...
The Innovation Programme was intended to both improve outcomes for children in the social care system and produce savings. The Department accepts that residential care in children’s homes can be expensive and it is often a last resort where they … Read more
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15 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
We have seen many cases of the potential for better outcomes and potential savings being...
We have seen many cases of the potential for better outcomes and potential savings being blocked by inflexibility in the care system. These typically involve the costs of the space required to provide kinship or foster care, or support with … Read more
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16 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The Department told us it wants the care system to be more flexible, and accepts...
The Department told us it wants the care system to be more flexible, and accepts the system is currently not very good at adapting to innovative or usual requests. The result is that the child will often end up in … Read more
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17 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
Having started out in 2014–15, the delivery phases of the Innovation Programme and its successor...
Having started out in 2014–15, the delivery phases of the Innovation Programme and its successor schemes are approaching their end. Programme funding is expected to finish in March 2024, with the remaining evaluations reporting by 2027.46 The Department stresses that … Read more
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18 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
The phasing out of dedicated funding for evaluation comes at a time the Department accepts...
The phasing out of dedicated funding for evaluation comes at a time the Department accepts is challenging for local authority budgets.50 The Department described how the Innovation Programme has helped both the Department and the wider sector understand that quality … Read more
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19 Conclusion
Twenty-Seventh Report - Evaluating…
We would not want to see financial pressures making it harder for local authorities to...
We would not want to see financial pressures making it harder for local authorities to make the case for building evaluation and learning into their future ways of working.53 The Local Government Association stresses the need to build on the … Read more
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