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On 24 September 2009, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) published a report written by the Office for Public Management (OPM) which seeks to evaluate the impact of five major DCSF interventions with respect to local authority children’s services (in North East Lincolnshire, Swindon, Plymouth, Walsall, and Waltham Forest) following criticism of these services by Ofsted.
The report aims to compare the reasons for underperformance and establish the extent to which each intervention led to an improvement in outcomes and council performance.
The report compares intervention models, how they operate and their impact. It also seeks to identify which elements of each model were most, or least, successful, drawing lessons to inform future interventions. This involves consideration and analysis of the impact on outcomes and performance indicators relevant to each intervention, comparison of progress relative to other authorities, desk research and semi-structured interviews.
The report’s key finding is that the success of interventions in bringing about positive outcomes is not determined, necessarily, by the specific model in place. Instead ‘softer factors’ around engagement, leadership, confidence building, communication and capacity building are of critical importance to their success.