What Works Centre for Children's Social Care

** New on 7th April 2017 - The DfE is pleased to announce that it will shortly be running two parallel procurement exercises to develop the What Works Centre for Children's Social Care:

1. the first for an 'incubator' to develop and test a WWC model; and

2. the second for a research partner to start the evidence synthesis and generation of new research.

This approach is intended to bring flexibility and innovation to the WWC in its early years.

We expect to release procurement documents on Contracts Finder in May and will be in touch again then with further details. We will answer any questions about the procurement exercises at that stage.**

See 'Attachments' for a full description and additional information.

The new What Works Centre (WWC) for Children's Social Care will focus on improving outcomes for children who are at risk of, or suffering from, abuse and/or neglect. It will identify the most effective interventions and practice systems and support their implementation by practitioners and decision makers. Its goal will be to improve outcomes for children and their families by developing a powerful evidence base, and supporting its translation into better practice on the ground.

The WWC will support the new agenda to transform children's social work, alongside the creation of a new social work body to improve standards in the profession and the centralisation of Serious Case Reviews (SCRs). It is intended to bring a fresh and innovative approach to the delivery of children's services to improve outcomes for vulnerable children.

The WWC will be independent from government and will have four core functions:

1. Synthesis of existing evidence, including learning from the Innovation Programme and SCRs, and other research. 2. Identification of evidence gaps and commissioning of new research and evaluations to fill gaps. 3. Translation of evidence into practical guidance for practitioners, including development of an online 'toolkit' to compare the cost-effectiveness of different practices. 4. Dissemination of best practice and supporting practitioners in the implementation of findings into practice.

It will work closely to support and share learning with other programmes in children's social care, including the Innovation Programme, Partners in Practice, the new centralised approach to SCRs, the Child Sexual Exploitation Response Unit and the Centre of Expertise for Child Sexual Abuse.

The WWC will join the world's first network of What Works Centres, which support policy makers, commissioners and practitioners to make decisions based upon strong evidence of what works and to provide cost-efficient services. The existing WWCs already address issues such as educational attainment (Education Endowment Foundation), local economic growth (What Works Centre for local economic growth) and crime reduction (College of Policing What Works Centre for Crime Reduction). Information on the What Works Centre network can be found here.

Additional information: DfE carried out early market engagement during June and July, including a workshop and a series of 1:1s to present our thinking around the WWC and to seek the views of the sector. This early market engagement is now complete - it generated a lot of helpful viewpoints and suggestions that we are considering. We plan to engage again with stakeholders by October 2016 with an update on plans for the WWC set-up. All information shared by the DfE during the market engagement is now available via the powerpoint presentations and FAQs here on Contracts Finder.

This notice does not constitute a call for competition to procure any services for the Authority. The procurement of any services will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The purpose of this PIN is to stimulate early market interest and invite interested parties to take part in preliminary market consultations, in order to improve our knowledge of the market.