To receive a briefing on Adoption regionalisation, deferred from the April meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee               

Anne Stoker (AD Children’s Social Care and Principal Social Worker) and Tony Theodoulou (Executive Director Schools and Children’s Services), presented an update on proposals for the local authority to join a regional adoption agency.

Anne Stoker highlighted the following:

• Cabinet had agreed in principle to join a regional adoption agency six months ago, subject to detailed financial analysis and business case.
• Funding has now been secured from the Department for Education (DfE) to proceed to develop the business case for a London Regional Adoption Agency (LRAA) to meet the needs of London Boroughs.
• There are currently 20 local authorities who have expressed an interest in joining the LRAA, however there may be more by the time the full business case has been presented.
• Workshops are being held to look at issues such as practice standards, systems and information, workforce and finances. It had been hoped that there may be some financial savings as a result of the proposed changes. However Enfield already provides a financially efficient service and it is thought unlikely that changes would bring forward additional savings.
• Completion of the business case is expected January 2018 with stakeholder engagement and management in place by October 2018. From November 2018 to July 2019 there would be a phased implementation to cover practice, procurement, legal, finance, IT, estates HR and staff transfer.

It was noted that an update would be provided to this meeting in January 2018 on completion of the Business case.

The following issues/ questions were raised

• It was confirmed that all of the local authorities who had expressed an interest in joining the LRAA regional agency were from London.  However some London local authorities had not yet expressed their intention to join. Some local authorities were looking to outsource their own regional agencies
• The funding secured from the DfE would be sufficient to put the business case forward for the LRAA.  The business case would set out the financial plans for the future.
• Councillor Georgiou referred to the good adoption service provided by Enfield and expressed his concerns that new arrangements should continue to be of high quality.
• Tony Theodoulou confirmed that he would not have advocated a change from existing arrangements towards the new LRAA service, if this had not been a DfE requirement.  The service provided by Enfield is considered to be of a high standard with highly skilled workers. The new proposals would bring uncertainty to their roles.  He thought that project management costs would be likely to negate any possible savings.
• When asked how it is intended to protect the current service, an answer was given that we would not compromise on this.
• Although savings of approximately £50K had originally been estimated, it was now thought that there would be higher cost pressures as allowances given would probably be higher to keep in line with the practice of other local authorities.
• It was asked if it would be possible for Enfield to consider a link with other local authorities, rather than the LRAA.  It was stated that this would be possible however the requirements for a regional group would prevent Enfield continuing its previous arrangements with North London boroughs as it would not be of adequate size/scope.
• There will be a governing body to hold the new organization to account.
• It was asked if the new regional agency would allow for any improvements in the adoption rates, for example for our BME community. Tony thought that hopefully this would improve as there would be a larger area involved, which should enable there to be more adopters to fit the different ‘cohorts’ required.
• The business case which is being developed may be better described as a ‘strategic analysis’.

AGREED that an update would be provided to Overview & Scrutiny meeting January 2018 on completion of the business case for the London Regional Adoption Agency (LRAA).  Action: Anne Stoker

The Chair thanked Anne Stoker and Tony Theodoulou for their update and he thanked members for their questions.