Creating a central hub for Children’s Services does not mean that those services will improve and service users will benefit, the States’ chief scrutineer has warned.
He also wanted to see a full “costed estate rationalisation appraisal” before any decisions were made.
The President of Scrutiny criticised both Health and Social Care (HSC) and Policy and Resources (P&R) in his ‘letter of comment’ to HSC’s proposals, saying his committee doesn’t believe there is sufficient evidence to show the move is “necessary, proportionate, or best value”.
The States is due to debate HSC’s proposed move of multiple children’s services into Raymond Falla House this week.
It’s estimated it would cost up to £22million to make the move, with work needed to get Raymond Falla House ready to accept services that are currently based at Lukis House, Swissville, Garden Hill, Perruque House and Le Carrefour.
Those properties have been described as “not fit for purpose due to their age and design” and HSC said working across multiple locations “presents a significant challenge to the delivery of modern integrated services”.
If HSC gets the go-ahead to spend the money to make the move, it says the other sites could then be “repurposed” by the States.
P&R has backed HSC’s plans, saying “this project provides a clear opportunity to invest in service improvements for children and families”.
Deputy Sloan and his Scrutiny Committee do not agree though, writing that “co-location may support better collaboration, but that it does not, by itself, deliver integrated services”.
P&R also said “the changes will significantly reduce the long-term estate costs, avoid substantial annual maintenance costs and free up premises and sites for repurposing or disposal”.
Again, Scrutiny disagreed, with Deputy Sloan insisting that P&R needed “stronger justification” for giving the plans its support.
Deputy Sloan’s letter outlines a “central weakness” of HSC’s plans, which he says is “the lack of an appraisal of the progressive rationalisation of the existing estate”.
“The Scrutiny Committee considers that before the States Assembly approves the preferred scheme and delegates authority to spend up to £22 million, a costed estate rationalisation appraisal should be completed,” wrote Deputy Sloan.
“This should assess the permanent relocation of office-based services, targeted improvements to clinical accommodation and phased consolidation against the full Hub proposal.
“It should identify measurable service benefits, realistic property benefits and the costs and risks of each approach.”
Raymond Falla House has been in States’ ownership since it was built, and it was first earmarked for “rationalisation” in 2019.
At that time some staff from Environment & Infrastructure, Economic Development and HSC were working from Raymond Falla House – in more recent years some Education staff were based there.
