Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any evaluation has been conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Partners in Practice programme in improving local authority children’s services.

The Partners in Practice are a key part of this government’s efforts to improve practice across the children’s social care system and deliver better outcomes for children and families. The Partners in Practice are driving improvement by providing high quality support to those local councils who need it most. They are also developing and testing innovative approaches to supporting children and families, and sharing learning and best practice across the sector.

Building a robust evidence base is central to the programme and the Partners in Practice are all subject to detailed independent evaluation. Interim evaluation reports will be published in early 2019, with final reports due to be published in mid-2020. The Partners in Practice are also actively sharing live learning and best practice through conferences, workshops, study visits, guides and toolkits.