In March 2015 the LGA wrote to local authorities (LAs) inviting them to complete an online self-assessment about their plans to prepare for the transfer of commissioning responsibilities for 0-5 year olds from NHS England to local government on 1 October 2015.
The self-assessment provided a collective picture of progress across the country and highlighted outstanding barriers that require national resolution, support needs and opportunities for shared learning. It was designed to be as simple and proportionate as possible. The local government led Regional Oversight Groups played a key role in the self-assessment helping to facilitate local discussions and match support needs and escalating issues to national partners. Further commentary from the ROGs can be found in the individual regional reports.
Summary of results
- 100 per cent of LAs completed the self-assessment. The results show very high levels of confidence in the transfer and very good working relationships at local level.
- 97 per cent of LAs are confident that commissioning arrangements will be fully operational from 1 October 2015 and 99 per cent are confident about their governance arrangements.
- 99 per cent of LAs are working closely with NHS England local teams and 97 per cent with their provider(s).
- Where outstanding issues remain LAs are working together with their partners to resolve them.
- In some regions LAs are developing networks and a sector led approach to meet support needs.
The results also showed a small number of outstanding issues which require national attention they fall into the following 3 categories:
1. Data collection, reporting arrangements and concerns about the quality of data.
2. A need for greater clarity about work to improve the Child Health Information Services (CHIS), as councils reported low confidence in quality of CHIS data.
3. Concerns about the move from commissioning from a registered to a resident population and the implications this has on cross charging for resident populations that are registered out of area.
The LGA has raised outstanding issues with the Department of Health and with other national partners and further work to provide support and clarity is being undertaken and will be shared with LAs in due course.
Regional reports
- Published by:
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LGA
- Reference code:
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None