THE debate over whether to bring children’s social care and education services under the control of a new company rolls on as the council reiterates it is not being privatised.

Worcestershire Children First, the new council-owned company running children’s social care from October next year, could also control the majority of education services if plans are approved early next year.

County Hall said the merger would allow the company to have a “single unwavering focus” on children and young people in the county.

The council’s cabinet acknowledged a report last Thursday (November 15) which outlined the benefits of widening the scope of Worcestershire Children First – the new council-owned company which will run children’s social care from October next year – to also take in education services including early help and services for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

But not everybody is completely sold on the idea.

Councillor Fran Oborski, chairman of the council’s children and families scrutiny panel, who was also critical of the move at last week’s cabinet meeting, was concerned about budgets, targets and poor Ofsted reports.

At a meeting of the scrutiny panel on Friday (November 16), she said: “What happens if the company cannot meet its targets and then they come to us and say ‘we require x’ where x has lots of zeroes after it, in order to meet KPIs (key performance indicators) that we have set.

“We can’t always meet our own targets as a council so we can’t always expect others to.

“What happens if the company comes to us and says we can’t meet our targets within the budget?”

Hannah Needham, strategic commissioner responsible for children and families services at the county council, said the merging of children’s and education services was an “opportunity”.

She said: “This is a partnership. It is not a classic outsourcing. We are transferring services to a company that the council owns.

“If we are going to have a company, it is better to have a joined-up system.

“The council still has a very important role in setting the direction the company takes.”

Mrs Needham said the council was “setting a precedent” in moving children’s social care into a new council-owned company.

She said: “No other authority has gone into a new company with the record of improvement that we have.”

Worcestershire Children First is set to go ‘live’ on October 1 next year with a ‘shadow’ period beginning in April, dates County Hall say are “non-negotiable” whether the scope of the new company is widened to include the majority of education services or not.