Children’s Trust Governance and Accountability – Question and Answer

This Q&A guidance aims to help local areas in thinking about governance and accountability issues. It complements more formal, and in some cases statutory, DfES guidance on specific Every Child Matters topics, as well as some examples of emerging practice that have been posted on the Every Child Matters website.

The Q&A is inevitably pitched at a more general level, aiming to explain basic principles. It is not intended to be comprehensive or to replicate the content of other guidance. However it does include a Q&A on Local Safeguarding Children Boards, Directors of Children's Services and the Lead Member for children's services, and on planning, because these topics are closely linked to governance and accountability.

Users and partners are invited to submit questions to John Sheridan at the email address above. We will try to answer these and will add them to this guidance on a continuing basis. 

We would also welcome feedback on the answers suggested here: do they seem right, and what more might usefully be said? We would be happy to add any illustrative examples.