DfE appoints three more members to board implementing Care Review recommendations

The Department for Education (DfE) has added three new members with lived experience of the care system to its National Implementation Board.

The Government announced the Children’s Social Care National Implementation Board as part of its initial response to the recommendations from the Review of Children’s Social Care, as well as the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel’s review into the murders of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes (pictured) and Star Hobson and the competition watchdog’s report into the children’s social care market.

Anne-Marie Connelly, a care leaver working within participation at Action for Children; Angela Frazer-Wicks, a birth parent/parent and Chair of Trustees of Family Rights Group; and Janet Kay, an adopter and kinship carer have all been added to the board.

The latest appointees will join members of the board announced in May, including Amanda Spielman, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted; Isabelle Trowler, Chief Social Worker for Children and Families for England; and England’s Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel De Souza DBE. Also included are children’s social care leaders in local government Steve Crocker OBE, President of ADCS and Director of Children’s Services in Hampshire; Jill Colbert OBE, Chief Executive of Together for Children and Director for Children’s Services in Sunderland; and Tom Riordan CBE, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council. Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Sir Anthony Finkelstein CBE will also sit on the board.

The board was due to be chaired by Children’s Minister, Brendan Clarke-Smith, before he stepped down from his post in September. The DfE has yet to announce which minister will chair the board.

The British Association of Social Workers (BASW) expressed its disappointment that there are currently no frontline social workers announced to be on the board, as well as concerns that only two of those on the board have – to its knowledge – “direct experience of being in the care system”.

“Disappointingly, there are no front-line social workers on the board nor a representative from the British Association of Social Workers, the only social work professional association in the UK,” a statement said.

“Questions must be raised as to the value placed on the vast expertise available within our profession. Furthermore, despite the review describing fostering as the ‘bedrock of the care system’, the voice of foster carers remains absent.

“Whilst it is positive that the board consists of 2 individuals with care-experience and others with lived experience of being a parent/carer, the rich and diverse care-experienced population is not fully represented.

“None are adoptees, despite adoption being on the rise in the UK. Most concerning of all is the lack of representation from Black and minoritised groups.”

Maris Stratulis, BASW England National Director, said: "Meaningful engagement with both children in care and care-leavers is long overdue. BASW urges that immediate efforts are made to make the board representative of those it serves, and also those who work tirelessly within children’s social care".

The Government announced its intention to set up the board to oversee improvements in children’s social care when Will Quince, then-Children’s Minister, addressed Parliament following the publication of the Care Review’s final recommendations, saying too many vulnerable children have been let down by the system.

“To enable me to respond effectively and without delay, I will establish a National Implementation Board, of people with experience of leading transformational change, to challenge the system to achieve the full extent of our ambitions for children,” Quince said.

Quince also confirmed that the Board will also consist of people with their own experience of the care system “to remind us of the promise of delivery and the cost of delay”. He later appeared on The Adoption and Fostering Podcast to say that he had asked “big charities in this space” to recommend and nominate individuals with lived experience of the care system to appear on the board.

He also confirmed that there will be a full implementation plan released by the Government before the end of this year.

The Department for Education says the board’s role will be to advise ministers on the implementation of reform across children’s social care, as well as boost efforts to recruit more foster carers, increase support for social workers including on leadership, recruitment and retention, improve data sharing, and implement a new evidence-based framework for all the professionals working in children’s social care.

The Department for Education says the board’s terms of reference and the first set of minutes will be published in due course.