Children’s Minister shares early details of Care Review implementation

Children’s Minister Will Quince says that the full details of who will sit on the board overseeing the implementation of the Care Review’s recommendations will be released “very soon”.

Speaking to The Adoption and Fostering Podcast the Children’s Minister said he was still “working up” what the board will look like but confirmed that Josh MacAlister – who chaired the Review – “would certainly be on it”, alongside the children’s social care inspectorate and those with lived experience. He also confirmed that there will be a full implementation plan released by the Government before the end of this year.

“Josh will certainly be on it. Ofsted will be on it. I’ve asked the big charities in this space to recommend and nominate individuals with lived experience of the care system because it's important that we have their voice strongly represented on the board too,” Quince said.

“We’ve got the ideas, we’ve got the plan, we’ve got the direction of travel. How do we implement and embed this across the system, which is huge.”

Last month, the Government revealed its plans to set up a new National Implementation Board of sector experts and people with experience of leading transformational change and the care system to implement the Care Review’s recommendations. It will also 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.

Quince told podcast hosts Al Coates and Scott Casson-Rennie, both of whom are adoptive parents, that he and MacAlister “were very much on the same page” from their first meeting.

“I’m full of admiration for Josh and I think he and his team have done the most incredibly comprehensive report.”

The Children’s Minister did, however, say that he didn’t agree with all MacAlister’s Review recommendations, but said that he saw merit in most of them.

The podcast hosts were quick to point out the value of looking beyond just the ‘big’ charities.

“Whilst it’s great to have these big charities on board, of course. [We mustn’t] forget independent charities and those who may not have connections with those charities,” the podcast hosts pointed out.