The then Secretary of State for Education and Skills entered into a two-year contract with Serco Ltd in October 2006 for support for the development of children’s centres and the modernisation of services for children and their families. Under this contract the consortium Together for Children is responsible for supporting, challenging and helping local authorities build their capacity, with their partners, to plan and commission to time and cost, the development of sustainable, high quality children’s centres.
Parliamentary approval is being sought for expenditure on a continuing service, through an extension of the contract from 1 October 2008 for a further two years. Expenditure on this contract currently rests solely on the authority of the Appropriation Act, in the absence of specific statutory authority. The Children and Young Persons Bill currently before Parliament will put the Secretary of State under a duty to promote the well-being of children. One effect of this duty will be to enable the Secretary of State to enter into this and other such contracts in pursuit of this duty.
The timetable for Royal Assent of the Bill, which is expected in this session of Parliament, means that Parliamentary approval for additional resources of £1,500,000 for this new service will be sought in a supplementary estimate for the Department for Children, Schools and Families to enable expenditure on this new service in advance of Royal Assent of the Children and Young Persons Bill. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £1,500,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the Contingencies Fund.
The expenditure cannot await parliamentary approval of the enabling legislation because any extension of the contract must take place before expiry of the existing contract on 30 September 2008. Disruption of support for local authorities at this stage would threaten the roll out of children’s centres at a crucial time when key decisions are being taken about where to locate the remaining centres and how to reconfigure existing services in order to achieve universal coverage for children under five and their families. It could lead to a delay in children and families accessing and benefiting from children’s centre services.
The Contingencies Fund advance can be repaid immediately the Children and Young Persons Bill receives Royal Assent.