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The Role of the Lead Member for Children's Services
Report

The Role of the Lead Member for Children's Services

Richard White, Jennie Harland, Sally Kendall, Kay Kinder and National Foundation for Educational Research
LGA Research Report
F/SR268, National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)
2008
url
Role-Lead Member for Children's Services_Final Report F/SR268View
Published (Version of Record)

Abstract

Administrator Attitudes Administrator Responsibility Administrator Role Administrators Case Studies Child Welfare Cooperation England Foreign Countries Interviews Social Services Surveys
This research, commissioned by the LGA (Local Government Association), explores whether Lead Members for Children's Services [LMCS] have enough information and support to carry out their role effectively, especially for their corporate parenting role. It also explored the overall role, including issues like manageability; commissioning; partnership working; engaging with the end user; arrangements for continuity; and training. The report draws on the data from all three phases of the research and is set out in three parts: Part One draws on data from the phase 1 proforma returns to explore the LMCS role as corporate parent. Part Two presents details from phase 2 telephone interviews examining the wider role of LMCS (with additional case-study interview data inserted in text boxes throughout). Part Three presents illustrative case studies to outline specific aspects of good practice in relation to the LMCS role in partnership working, commissioning and devolved commissioning, corporate parenting and engaging with end-users. Among the key findings were that there is a diversity in the ways the Lead Member for Children's Services role is undertaken in different authorities, with variation in the time said to be committed to the role; the amount of information, training and support lead members think they receive; and how involved they were in national and regional networks. The effectiveness of the LMCS role involves three core elements: partnership; proactivity and proximity. (Contains 13 tables and 1 figure.)

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