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 Programme). The Department has overall policy responsibility for children’s social care and is accountable to Parliament for ensuring that the social care services local authorities provide is of adequate quality to protect and support children.1 In 2019–20 local authorities spent some £9.2 billion on children’s social care.2