The Scottish Government

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Introduction

Scottish Ministers issued for consultation 23 proposals for the reform of children's services and invited all those with an interest to let us know what they thought. Over 600 individuals and agencies did and we welcome the high levels of support expressed in those responses. Scottish Ministers are committed to ensuring every child in Scotland gets the help they need when they need it. We are committed to reducing the bureaucracy that gets in the way of ensuring children are protected. Children must have their needs met and, where necessary, action must be taken to protect others from children's behaviour.

We plan a three-pronged approach:

• Practice change: In consultation with parents, children and professionals we will develop the tools professionals need in order to do their jobs better - a single assessment record and plan, practice guidance and skills development. We will provide information for parents and practitioners. We will support a number of 'pathfinder' projects that will work differently with families and children, placing their needs at the centre.
• Legislation: We will place new duties on agencies to co-operate with each other and share information. We also plan to place a new duty on professionals to be alert to the needs of children and take action to meet them.
• Removing barriers: We will find out what gets in the way of joined-up working and what prevents more timely and appropriate responses. We will undertake change where this is necessary - structural, financial, legislative, cultural. The pathfinder projects will provide an opportunity to identify these barriers and identify those which require changes from the centre and those which can be tackled locally.

The implementation of Getting it Right for Every Child is an ambitious programme and a significant challenge for all those who work with children. It requires a fundamental shift in how children are helped and supported. This will take time. Scottish Ministers will develop and disseminate further information on what these changes will mean in practice.

What the Scottish Executive will do

Practice changes

Many of the proposed improvements can be taken forward under existing legislation through practice change and an increased focus on the child. The Scottish Executive will support this change in a number of ways.

Supporting staff

• We will provide guidance for professionals and panel members on their new role, the assessment record and plan, legislation and new ways of working. We will also provide information on how the reform programme is progressing - what works and what does not.
• We will assist all areas and agencies across Scotland to become 'change ready' by disseminating the learning from the pathfinder areas.

National implementation and oversight

• We are restructuring the mechanisms for engaging with stakeholders across all children's services, through the creation of a Children's Services Steering Group. The membership of this group will include key stakeholders from children's services, health, the voluntary sector and police. This group will have a strategic overview of implementing reforms in children's services including child protection, domestic abuse and youth justice.
• Working groups, with membership from all sectors, will consider the detail of legislation and implementation plans. This will include work to consider the specific changes proposed to the Children's Hearing system.
• The Scottish Executive will work with community groups, and families and children to ensure that their voices are heard in this process. We wish to build on existing community networks and organisations and are considering appointing a young person to work with the Scottish Executive team. We are developing other ways of reaching these groups such as websites and e-zines.

Legislation

• We are committed to legislate on a duty to share information to protect children at risk.
• The detailed provisions of the draft Bill to implement Getting it Right for Every Child will be presented for consultation towards the end of the year. All children's services will be covered by its provisions, as well as proposed changes to the Children's Hearing system. If introduced in June 2007, the Bill should be fully implemented by 2010 with the supporting legislation and guidance in place and training in the new systems undertaken. This Bill will legislate in the following key areas. To:
  • place a duty on agencies to be alert to the needs of children and to act to improve a child's situation;
  • place a duty on agencies to co-operate with each other in meeting the needs of children and to establish local co-ordination and monitoring mechanisms;
  • require agencies involved to agree an action plan and keep it under review where a child's needs are complex or serious and multi-agency input or compulsory measures are likely to be needed;
  • require referral to the Children's Hearings system to meet two tests: significant needs and a need for compulsion. One of the indicators of significant need will be a pattern of behaviour which gives rise to concern.

An outline timetable for the next few years is attached at the end of this document.

What Getting it Right for Every Child will mean for you if you are a child

How we will know if we are getting it right

We will know if we are getting it right for every child if:

For Children, families and communities

• Children get the help they need it when they need it. Help is proportionate, timely and appropriate.
• Action improves each child's situation and reduces risk.
• The approach supports the achievement of good outcomes for all children, demonstrated through Children's Plan targets.
• Children and families experience a co-ordinated and unified approach to having their needs met.
• Children and families say they know about the services and support available to them, have confidence in using them; believe their needs are being addressed and their views heard.
• Communities are engaged in activities that support children.
• Communities are more confident about the responsibilities of services.
• Communities are more confident about how their concerns are being dealt with.

For Staff

• Staff at all levels have more time to spend on activities that will improve outcomes for children, and less in duplication and overlap, including fewer reports, meetings and discrete records.
• Staff know what to do if they have a concern about a child, the response pathways are clear, and they can be confident of the response of others in the child's network.
• Staff are supported by their agency and other professionals and have the skills, knowledge and tools to improve children's lives.

For the Agency

• There are effective policies, processes, structures and tools for the delivery of good outcomes. These are integrated into practice at all levels and are sustainable beyond the efforts of individuals.
• Agencies individually and collectively know how well they are doing, can account for their agencies performance and there are mechanisms in place to resolve difficulties, improve performance.

What it will cost

The Getting it Right for Every Child proposals envisage significant reductions in bureaucracy, a freeing up of front-line staff to get on and help children, and greater authority to take action. The application of a single system of assessment, access to one record and a single plan for each child will lead to a better use of resources. The number of cases where information is provided to the reporter, with all the accompanying paper work, should reduce significantly. Professionals should have to attend only one planning or review meeting for a child where all the child's needs will be addressed. This may require more preparation and will be more comprehensive but such meetings should be fewer in number.

The use of Action Plans will help agencies identify what programmes or resources need to be available and should ensure more effective planning and funding processes at a local level. Agencies will need to ensure resources and activities are not duplicated.

The Scottish Executive will invest in the:

• development of the single assessment, record and plan
• national tools for use by staff
• training and awareness materials
• evaluation of the pathfinder projects and the programme
• communication strategy to ensure that all those working with children are kept informed.

Getting it Right for Every Child is about doing things differently, rather than doing more of the same. We expect agencies to invest in practice changes and realign their resources to meeting need. Through the pathfinder projects we will understand better what sort of resources are needed at what points in a child's life and how the shape of services needs to change in order to ensure resources follow need. This information will be made available to all areas.

The Children's Hearing system

The Getting it Right for Every Child proposals emerged from the review of the Children's Hearing system. Scottish Ministers remain committed to the principles of the system and wish to clarify and re-enforce its role in helping Scotland's most vulnerable children where compulsory measures of supervision are required. Getting it Right for Every Child sets out how children's services can be reformed to improve the lives of all children. When some children have to enter the formal compulsory system, the focus must remain on improving outcomes for them, building on whatever multi-agency activity and planning has been undertaken in advance. Many of the proposed changes to the Children's Hearing system will be set out in detail in the draft Bill.

The dedication and commitment of the volunteers over the past 35 years have been a lynchpin of the system. The next few years will see a period of change as services adapt both within the existing law and under new legislation. Appointed volunteers, such as panel members, will have to adapt to the new single assessment, record and plan and to the clarified roles for both reporters and Children's Hearings. Consultation on the legislation will provide an opportunity to explore more thoroughly the implications for volunteers working in the system. We intend that volunteers in the Children's Hearings system are better supported and we will support them through this transition period.

Children's services

The responses from children and those working with them across all sectors to the Getting it Right for Every Child proposals show that there is a high level of support for the principles of what Scottish Ministers are seeking to achieve.

In some cases the proposed change reflects the developments in parts of Scotland towards an integrated approach to meeting children's needs. But we need to make sure that all children in all parts of the country receive the services they need when they need it. This is not the case at the moment. Many practitioners wish to spend more time working with children and families and less time on paperwork. These proposals will give them that space. Implementation of these proposals also give practitioners greater authority and greater accountability for their actions.

The proposals require everyone working with or involved with children to place the child at the centre of activity, to break down barriers and processes and to deliver help to the child. Action must be appropriate, proportionate and timely and must improve the outcomes for the child. This will be challenging. It will require professionals to think about the child as a whole, and not just in relation to their immediate professional concern. We recognise that there may be anxieties over capacity, the need for training, how accountability is ensured, and how to ensure children are not placed at risk. The Scottish Executive will work with children, families, agencies and communities to address these issues. There are many benefits to be gained. There will be reduced bureaucracy with more time to help children. Children and families will experience more immediate help and better outcomes. There will be greater clarity over who is doing what, and what is expected of agencies, parents and children. Scottish Ministers are clear that change is essential if we are all to make a difference to children's lives.

Further information on implementation of Getting it Right for Every Child, can be obtained by contacting CHRteam@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

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