Core players
Last November, secretary of state for children, schools and families Ed Balls wrote to directors of children's services setting out the government's vision for commissioning, led by the needs of local children and young people rather than the agendas of local government service departments.
Under new ways of working, each director of children's services was required to nominate a lead officer for commissioning work in each children's trust. Known as commissioning champions, these senior professionals within the local authority or primary care trust (PCT) are charged with the task of driving forward the programme.
Champions already hold important jobs in local services (typically at assistant-director level) and are also key facilitators in children's trusts.
In a typical day, a commissioning champion might meet their own team to discuss budgets and contracts, local parents' groups to discuss teenage parents, mental health and social care services to discuss safeguarding, local headteachers to talk about education innovation - on top of liaising with commissioning leaders in partner organisations like PCTs or the police.
"It's never the same day twice," says Caroline Fry, commissioning champion for Somerset county council. Debbie Jones, director of children's services in Luton says, "It's done differently in different places. Some children's trusts concentrate their efforts on the most vulnerable, others aim at a longer, more holistic view. Over the next few years, the big challenge is getting the whole notion of commissioning - tailoring services to what people need - into the lifeblood of organisations. Champions raise the profile of commissioning."
Since their debut, almost all commissioning champions have used resources from the Commissioning Support Programme (CSP) such as online self-analysis and planning exercises, to improve their practice. Champions can also access peer support, networking through CSP's online social networking portal and at regional meetings.
"It makes sure that we give the help that commissioners really need rather than sitting in our office in Waterloo and deciding what we think they need," says CSP programme director Lorraine O'Reilly.
And in the future, all local authority commissioners, not just in children's services, will have to work even more closely with other commissioning agencies, Jones cautions. "We're going to need all the expertise of champions as funding tightens. Commissioning is about tailoring services to what people actually need. So commissioning champions might also have to be de-commissioning champions."