Inform the Department As Soon As Possible

Agenda Item *

For publication

Bedford Borough Council – Mayor

Date of Meeting: May 2013

Report by: Councillor Sue Oliver, Lead Member and Portfolio Holder for Children’s Social Care

Subject: ADOPTION GRANT

1. Executive Summary

1.1 The Department for Education published ‘An Action Plan for Adoption; Tackling Delay’ in March 2012 as a blueprint for Government intentions to accelerate the adoption process so that more children benefit from adoption and more rapidly.

1.2 Changes to adoption law and practice through publication of new regulations and statutory guidance were made during summer 2012. The changes affected the practice of the Adoption Panel and Agency Decision Making function. Further amendments were proposed as detailed in consultation which finished on 5 December 2012. These changes included radical changes to the recruitment process for adopters, implementation of ‘fostering for adoption’ and changes to the constitution of adoption panels.

1.3 In February 2013 the Department produced allocations and grant documentation for the Adoption Reform Grant for 2013/14. The allocation of the grant to Bedford Borough Council is based on the number of children placed for adoption per LA and the number of children with an adoption decision still waiting to be placed for adoption per LA. The Grant is in 2 parts and must be spent by the end of Financial Year 23013/14: Part A is a grant of £289,863 that the LA can use to drive forward adoption reform, targeting funding at the entire adoption process and the specialist support children need. Part B is a £107,520 grant that the LA is required to spend directly on adoption services.

1.4 From 1 January 2014 Bedford Borough Council will have their own Fostering and Adoption Service following the disaggregation of the existing arrangements with Central Bedfordshire Council

2. Recommendations

2.1 The Mayor is requested to consider and if satisfied agree to;

• Accept the Adoption Reform Grant Part A at a value of £289,863 and Part B at a value of £107,520.

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2.2 The Mayor is requested to consider and, if satisfied, agree the following expenditure from Part A;

• Additional staffing to improve management oversight and the quality and speed of the Adoption process

2.3 The Mayor is requested to consider and, if satisfied, agree the following expenditure from Part B:

• Additional Medical Advice to reduce delay • Family Finding Project to find Adopters • Improve Speed of Adopter Approval • Increase Social Work Capacity to assess Adopters • Admin support for Adopter applications • Sub-regional Adoption Collaborative Support

3. Reasons For Recommendations

3.1 Adoption is one of the Government’s top priorities. Ministers want to create a more effective and user-friendly adoption system. They are determined to ensure that adoption is available for children where this is in their best interests, and they want it to happen without undue delay. The Adoption Grant is intended to improve the quantity and quality of Adoption placements as well as improving the quality of systems and decisions associated with making permanency plans for children and young people.

4. Key Implications

4.1 With the disaggregation of the Fostering and Adoption service from the current service level agreement and provision with Central Bedfordshire Council this Authority will become responsible for a new ‘in house’ provision. This will entail the transfer under TUPE regulations of approximately 27.0 full time equivalent (fte) staff of whom 7.0 fte will form the Adoption service, approximately 75 foster care placements and an undetermined number as yet of potential adopters. This service will be inspected by OfSted as part of their normal inspection responsibilities.

Legal Issues

4.2 The Adoption and Children Act 2002 (the Act) is the principal piece of legislation governing adoption in England and Wales. It has been in force since 30 December 2005, and has been amended by other legislation since 2002. Section 3 of the Act places a duty on local authorities to maintain an adoption service within their area, and sets out the minimum facilities that must be made available in the provision of the service. The local authority is not obliged to provide all the facilities itself but may make use of services provided by voluntary adoption agencies and adoption support agencies, or other suitable service providers who are permitted to provide the service in question. The Act implicitly authorises the receipt of grant funding to enable the Council to discharge its duties. In any event the power to receive grant is covered by the general power of competence under the Localism Act 2011.

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Policy Issues

4.3 Existing Council Policy is to seek appropriate permanency placements for those children and young people who would benefit whether this be via Adoption or through a Special Guardianship route.

Resource Implications

4.4 There are no resource implications, all new posts detailed in Section 5 are fully funded by the Adoption Grant.

Risk Implications

4.6 Failure by the Council to carry out it’s duties as an Adoption Agency could see the Council being stripped of this responsibility with a consequent loss of reputation.

Environmental Implications

4.7 None

Equalities Impact

4.8 The activity has no relevance to Bedford Borough Council’s duty to promote equality of opportunity, promote good relations, promote positive attitudes and eliminate unlawful discrimination. An equality impact assessment is not needed.

5. Details

5.1 The proposal for Part A builds on the successful work already done. It is designed around the need to create a strong specialist group of workers based in the LAC team but able to work across the whole service to improve the quality and delivery of plans for permanence and adoption. All posts will be recruited to via Agency staff and are fully funded by the grant.

5.2 Areas to be covered are;

• To drive up the quality of training and supervision for adoption and permanence across the service additional Consultant Social Work management support to the safeguarding and LAC teams will be required. Key areas of focus will include facilitating intra-team working across the service to identify and eliminate blockages that could result in drift or delay in achieving the desired outcomes for children and work with other stakeholders including Health, Independent agencies, CBC (adoption and fostering teams) the courts etc. Additionally there is a need to improve practice, facilitate cooperation and improve communication and prepare a regular monthly report of all cases which will be presented at a monthly monitoring meeting chaired by the Head of Service for Social Work and including the Head of Service for Looked After Provision and involve a range of agencies.

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• In order to improve direct support to social workers in the safeguarding and LAC teams to improve their understanding of effective planning for permanence and adoption and for organising effective plans through the identification, monitoring and tracking of all cases additional senior practitioner time holding a limited case load of complex adoption cases is required. They will provide appropriate advice and support to the professional networks involved, to ensure individual children’s plans are being developed and implemented appropriately.

• To improve and maintain an up to date data base of all relevant cases and for the provision of reports for senior managers additional administrator time designed to have specific responsibility for supporting the adoption and permanence specialists is required. This will support the team in ensuring the quality of reports and statements relating to Adoption and permanence are well presented and help to track plans, process adoption medicals paperwork and provide general administrative support to the social work team to improve the quality of the administrative process.

• Additional Social Worker time with specific responsibility for post proceedings adoption and permanence planning.

• Life Story work: There are 2 parts to this role that need to be met; the first is to ensure that life story books have been produced to a high standard for babies and younger aged children. The second is the need for direct work with older children and young people to enable them to produce their own life story books.

• Specialist training: There is a need to ensure that all staff in the authority have access to specialist high quality training to improve the quality of their assessment and planning for adoption. The proposal is for up to 6 separate days of training to ensure that all staff have the opportunity to attend.

• Consultant Support: There is a need for expert Consultant input to ensure that plans for the enhanced Fostering and Permanence meet Government and Ofsted regulatory standards and expectations. The Consultant will also lead on negotiations regarding how the new Permanence Team arrangements can fit with wider regional, sub regional or multi regional arrangements. It is anticipated this resource would be needed for 3 days/week for 26 weeks.

5.3 The proposal for part B of the grant is as follows;

• Reducing delays in securing medical advice

• Finding families for difficult to place children and reduce delays in matching children

• Increasing the number of adopters and speed of approval

• Recruitment of sufficient adopters to meet numbers of children to be placed

5.4 During 2013/14 further discussions are being held to consider a sub regional Adoption collaborative to ensure recruitment and support of a wide range of potential adoptive placements, this is in line with current Government thinking on regional work to improve Adoption outcomes. The balance of the funding from part A and part B will be required to support this innovation. 5.5 No alternative options to the employment of additional staff have been identified that improve Adoption performance and quality.

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6. Summary Of Consultations And Outcome

6.1 The following Council units or Officers and/or other organisations have been consulted in preparing this report:

Councillor Sue Oliver Lead Member and Portfolio Holder for Children’s Social Care

Margaret Dennison, Executive Director for Children’s Services;

Marcellina Taylor, Assistant Director of Children’s Services and Chief Social Worker

6.2 No adverse comments received

Report Contact Officer: Adrian Wells, Transition Manager Commissioning and Resources [email protected]

File Reference: AW060313AdoptGrant.doc

Previous Relevant Minutes: None

Background Papers: None

Appendices: Appendix A – Letter dated 14 February 2013 from Department for Education: Adoption Reform Grant 2013/14 Part A Appendix B – Letter dated 14 February 2013 from Department for Education: Adoption Reform Grant 2013/14 Part B

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ADOPTION REFORM GRANT: PART A – GRANT DETERMINATION (2013 – 2014): [No 31/2113]

The Secretary of State for Education (“the Secretary of State”), in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination:

Citation

1) This determination may be cited as the Adoption Reform Grant: Part A Grant Determination (2013 - 14) [No.31/2113].

Purpose of the grant

2) The purpose of the grant is to provide support to local authorities in England towards expenditure lawfully incurred or to be incurred by them.

Determination

3) The Secretary of State determines as the authorities to which grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid, the authorities and the amounts set out in Annex A.

Payment arrangements

4) Grant will be paid in four instalments of as near equal value as possible on, or by, 31 May 2013, 31 August 2013, 30 November 2013 and 28 February 2014.

Treasury consent

5) Before making this determination in relation to local authorities in England, the Secretary of State obtained the consent of the Treasury.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Education

Shirley Trundle Director, Department for Education 14 February 2013 ADOPTON REFORM GRANT ALLOCATIONS 2013-14: PART A

Adoption Reform Grant 2013-14 Local Authority Total payment (£) Barking and Dagenham 603,386 Barnet 798,055 Barnsley 411,156 Bath and North East Somerset 249,353 Bedford Borough 289,863 Bexley 425,193 Birmingham 2,538,519 Blackburn with Darwen 349,804 Blackpool 247,055 Bolton 558,904 Bournemouth 297,646 Bracknell Forest 214,615 Bradford 1,256,989 Brent 787,104 Brighton and Hove 419,408 Bristol, City of 837,291 Bromley 547,752 Buckinghamshire 906,922 Bury 340,773 Calderdale 381,439 Cambridgeshire 1,151,470 Camden 475,898 Central Bedfordshire 461,160 Cheshire East 553,704 Cheshire West & Chester 504,644 City of London 50,000 Cornwall 927,090 Coventry 642,987 Croydon 828,435 Cumbria 815,253 Darlington 198,321 Derby 486,150 Derbyshire 1,212,782 Devon 1,257,813 Doncaster 593,549 Dorset 617,673 Dudley 521,220 Durham 874,721 Ealing 826,543 East Riding of Yorkshire 503,017 East Sussex 798,581 Enfield 774,491 Essex 2,312,215 Gateshead 337,572 Gloucestershire 995,653 Greenwich 777,078 Hackney 798,081 Halton 241,999 Hammersmith and Fulham 441,505 Hampshire 2,149,653 Haringey 614,250 Harrow 489,103 Hartlepool 169,978 Havering 390,894 Herefordshire 339,109 Hertfordshire 2,068,538 Hillingdon 613,928 Hounslow 628,790 Isle of Wight 204,803 Isles of Scilly 0 Islington 477,471 Kensington and Chelsea 339,759 Kent 2,518,914 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 507,648 Kingston upon Thames 304,315 Kirklees 830,228 Knowsley 281,362 Lambeth 795,935 Lancashire 1,974,481 Leeds 1,323,662 Leicester 769,255 Leicestershire 979,132 Lewisham 802,369 Lincolnshire 1,276,840 Liverpool 800,147 Luton 522,501 Manchester 1,193,918 Medway 476,731 Merton 459,276 Middlesbrough 280,258 Milton Keynes 606,454 Newcastle upon Tyne 482,167 Newham 957,663 Norfolk 1,502,435 North East Lincolnshire 292,631 North Lincolnshire 311,744 North Somerset 342,147 North Tyneside 322,863 North Yorkshire 1,033,956 Northamptonshire 1,337,903 Northumberland 508,954 Nottingham 599,740 Nottinghamshire 1,287,078 Oldham 499,852 Oxfordshire 1,195,225 Peterborough 438,013 Plymouth 435,260 Poole 227,338 Portsmouth 373,092 Reading 359,723 Redbridge 643,124 Redcar and Cleveland 225,360 Richmond upon Thames 376,756 Rochdale 456,576 Rotherham 452,459 Rutland 67,513 Salford 484,672 Sandwell 699,843 Sefton 394,434 Sheffield 946,813 Shropshire 523,158 Slough 399,988 Solihull 306,079 Somerset 901,427 South Gloucestershire 425,247 South Tyneside 233,776 Southampton 440,265 Southend-on-Sea 315,912 Southwark 815,542 St. Helens 287,912 Staffordshire 1,288,221 Stockport 446,292 Stockton-on-Tees 348,603 Stoke-on-Trent 508,146 Suffolk 1,279,590 Sunderland 430,381 Surrey 1,972,383 Sutton 367,329 Swindon 393,251 Tameside 425,862 Telford and Wrekin 323,846 Thurrock 336,995 Torbay 199,326 Tower Hamlets 812,415 Trafford 395,919 Wakefield 551,856 Walsall 539,594 Waltham Forest 698,303 Wandsworth 765,417 Warrington 322,439 Warwickshire 900,578 West Berkshire 308,904 West Sussex 1,279,009 Westminster 445,073 Wigan 540,869 Wiltshire 881,740 Windsor and Maidenhead 266,954 Wirral 520,452 Wokingham 258,852 Wolverhampton 499,722 Worcestershire 877,319 York 279,193 TOTAL - ENGLAND 100,000,007

ADOPTION REFORM GRANT: PART B - GRANT DETERMINATION (2013 - 2014): No 31/2117

The Secretary of State for Education (“the Secretary of State”), in exercise of the powers conferred by section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, makes the following determination:

Citation

1) This determination may be cited as the Adoption Reform Grant: Part B Grant Determination (2013 - 2014) [No31/2117].

Purpose of the grant

2) The purpose of the grant is to provide support to local authorities in England towards expenditure lawfully incurred or to be incurred by them.

3) Local authorities are required to spend this one-off grant on adoption services.

4) The Government’s current priorities are:

a) structural reform of adopter recruitment to increase the supply of adopters. This includes the equalisation of the inter-agency and inter- authority fees and other reforms that will increase the use of adopters recruited by the voluntary sector and other local authority adoption agencies; b) reducing the backlog of children waiting for adoption, particularly by developing innovative ways of finding adoptive families for children who traditionally wait longer than average to be adopted.

5) The Government will be using existing data collections to understand the impact of this grant alongside its other adoption reforms.

6) In addition, as a condition of this grant, local authorities are required to write to the Department providing details of what the grant was spent on and the impact that this expenditure had. Please see clauses 9 and 15 of Annex B.

Determination

7) The Secretary of State determines as the authorities to which grant is to be paid and the amount of grant to be paid, the authorities and the amounts set out in Annex A.

Grant conditions

8) Pursuant to section 31(3) and 31(4) of the Local Government Act 2003, the Secretary of State determines that the grant will be paid subject to the conditions in Annex B.

Treasury consent

9) Before making this determination in relation to local authorities in England, the Secretary of State obtained the consent of the Treasury.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Education

Shirley Trundle Director, Department for Education 14 February 2013

ANNEX A ADOPTION REFORM GRANT: PART B – ALLOCATIONS 2013-14

LA code LA Total allocation 201 City of London £ 25,000 202 Camden £ 191,310 203 Greenwich £ 151,030 204 Hackney £ 34,390 205 Hammersmith and Fulham £ 175,500 206 Islington £ 203,580 207 Kensington and Chelsea £ 54,170 208 Lambeth £ 251,790 209 Lewisham £ 213,470 210 Southwark £ 486,190 211 Tower Hamlets £ 132,840 212 Wandsworth £ 178,270 213 Westminster £ 143,880 301 Barking and Dagenham £ 302,410 302 Barnet £ 195,270 303 Bexley £ 235,210 304 Brent £ 153,380 305 Bromley £ 149,840 306 Croydon £ 232,050 307 Ealing £ 203,970 308 Enfield £ 127,680 309 Haringey £ 236,360 310 Harrow £ 62,050 311 Havering £ 104,750 312 Hillingdon £ 266,410 313 Hounslow £ 202,390 314 Kingston upon Thames £ 90,910 315 Merton £ 84,980 316 Newham £ 322,570 317 Redbridge £ 102,370 318 Richmond upon Thames £ 58,900 319 Sutton £ 170,770 320 Waltham Forest £ 171,580 330 Birmingham £ 1,328,140 331 Coventry £ 419,860 332 Dudley £ 470,760 333 Sandwell £ 385,820 334 Solihull £ 136,760 335 Walsall £ 294,140 336 Wolverhampton £ 582,210 340 Knowsley £ 128,070 341 Liverpool £ 394,970 342 St. Helens £ 274,720 343 Sefton £ 209,890 344 Wirral £ 151,420 350 Bolton £ 620,640 351 Bury £ 255,360 352 Manchester £ 781,830 353 Oldham £ 309,530 354 Rochdale £ 425,710 355 Salford £ 329,690

356 Stockport £ 270,410 357 Tameside £ 261,710 358 Trafford £ 132,840 359 Wigan £ 420,590 370 Barnsley £ 220,970 371 Doncaster £ 458,910 372 Rotherham £ 517,000 373 Sheffield £ 588,590 380 Bradford £ 716,280 381 Calderdale £ 260,100 382 Kirklees £ 592,100 383 Leeds £ 1,309,560 384 Wakefield £ 362,890 390 Gateshead £ 186,200 391 Newcastle upon Tyne £ 480,720 392 North Tyneside £ 263,670 393 South Tyneside £ 380,700 394 Sunderland £ 467,640 420 Isles of Scilly £ - 800 Bath and North East Somerse£ 68,400 801 Bristol, City of £ 490,960 802 North Somerset £ 172,730 803 South Gloucestershire £ 127,680 805 Hartlepool £ 166,420 806 Middlesbrough £ 217,010 807 Redcar and Cleveland £ 217,780 808 Stockton-on-Tees £ 272,750 810 Kingston Upon Hull, City of £ 616,250 811 East Riding of Yorkshire £ 266,020 812 North East Lincolnshire £ 214,240 813 North Lincolnshire £ 190,930 815 North Yorkshire £ 257,750 816 York £ 160,880 821 Luton £ 204,350 822 Bedford £ 107,520 823 Central Bedfordshire £ 93,680 825 Buckinghamshire £ 215,430 826 Milton Keynes £ 282,600 830 Derbyshire £ 990,180 831 Derby £ 621,760 835 Dorset £ 205,160 836 Poole £ 185,390 837 Bournemouth £ 241,520 840 Durham £ 578,320 841 Darlington £ 49,820 845 East Sussex £ 513,080 846 Brighton and Hove £ 556,970 850 Hampshire £ 718,240 851 Portsmouth £ 292,490 852 Southampton £ 317,420 855 Leicestershire £ 229,670 856 Leicester £ 290,530 857 Rutland £ 35,580 860 Staffordshire £ 807,530 861 Stoke-on-Trent £ 463,680 865 Wiltshire £ 188,960

, 866 Swindon £ 149,420 867 Bracknell Forest £ 89,330 868 Windsor and Maidenhead £ 76,290 869 West Berkshire £ 103,560 870 Reading £ 333,610 871 Slough £ 190,120 872 Wokingham £ 32,810 873 Cambridgeshire £ 296,450 874 Peterborough £ 263,640 876 Halton £ 121,760 877 Warrington £ 153,770 878 Devon £ 290,180 879 Plymouth £ 417,050 880 Torbay £ 120,570 881 Essex £ 1,008,760 882 Southend-on-Sea £ 177,500 883 Thurrock £ 102,370 884 Herefordshire £ 160,500 885 Worcestershire £ 552,620 886 Kent £ 1,127,330 887 Medway £ 345,080 888 Lancashire £ 1,088,980 889 Blackburn with Darwen £ 275,100 890 Blackpool £ 452,560 891 Nottinghamshire £ 801,220 892 Nottingham £ 586,590 893 Shropshire £ 156,960 894 Telford and Wrekin £ 218,620 895 Cheshire East £ 349,850 896 Cheshire West & Chester £ 172,730 908 Cornwall £ 441,560 909 Cumbria £ 536,390 916 Gloucestershire £ 266,020 919 Hertfordshire £ 555,780 921 Isle of Wight £ 96,060 925 Lincolnshire £ 484,650 926 Norfolk £ 907,970 928 Northamptonshire £ 677,460 929 Northumberland £ 176,310 931 Oxfordshire £ 416,670 933 Somerset £ 385,820 935 Suffolk £ 778,370 936 Surrey £ 538,000 937 Warwickshire £ 341,150 938 West Sussex £ 447,100 Total £ 49,999,990

Annex B

ADOPTION REFORM GRANT: PART B – GRANT CONDITIONS

1. In this Annex:

“the Project” means those outputs and activities undertaken by the authority in furtherance of the purpose set out in paragraphs 2 - 4 of the Grant Determination No 31/2117–;

“the Department” means the Department for Education;

“the authority” means the authorities referred to in Annex A;

“the Secretary of State” means the Secretary of State for Education.

2. Grant will only be paid to the authority to support eligible expenditure.

Eligible Expenditure

3. Eligible expenditure means payments made by the authority or any person acting on behalf of the authority, between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, for the purposes of the Project.

4. If the authority incurs any of the following costs, they must be excluded from eligible expenditure:

a) contributions in kind b) payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature c) depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by the authority d) input VAT reclaimable by the authority from HM Revenue & Customs e) interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases f) gifts, other than promotional items with a value of no more than £10 in a year to any one person g) entertaining (Entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations) h) statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties

5. The authority must not deliberately incur liabilities for eligible expenditure before there is an operational need for it to do so.

6. For the purpose of defining the time of payments, a payment is made by the authority when money passes out of its control (or out of the control of any person acting on behalf of the authority). Money will be assumed to have passed out of such control at the moment when legal tender is passed to a supplier (or, if wages, to an employee), when a letter is posted to a supplier or employee containing a cheque, or an electronic instruction is sent to a bank to make a payment to a supplier or employee by direct credit or bank transfer.

Payment arrangements

7. Grant will be paid in four instalments of as near equal value as possible on, or by, 31 May 2013, 31 August 2013, 30 November 2013 and 28 February 2014.

8. If at any time the authority becomes aware that the above profile no longer reflects the pattern of eligible expenditure during the year, the authority must inform the Department as soon as possible. The Secretary of State reserves the right to alter the timing or amount of grants payments accordingly.

Statement of Grant Usage

9. The authority must prepare a Statement of Grant Usage for the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 to be submitted to the Department on or before 31 May 2014. The Statement of Grant Usage (Annex D) must provide details of eligible expenditure in the period, what has been achieved, highlighting innovative elements of the approaches taken, and a summary of the impact of this expenditure to date. The Statement of Grant Usage must be certified by the authority’s chief executive that, to the best of his or her knowledge, the amounts shown on the Statement are all eligible expenditure and that the grant has been used for the purposes intended. Please be aware that the Department might publish part of these summaries with the aim of sharing best practice.

10. The Statement of Grant Usage submitted to the Department must be accompanied by a report from the authority’s chief executive or chief finance officer setting out whether he or she has received an audit opinion from the authority ’s chief internal auditor that he can provide reasonable assurance that the Statement of Grant Usage, in all material respects, fairly presents the

eligible expenditure in the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 in accordance with the definitions and conditions in this Determination.

11. The authority must inform the Department promptly of any significant financial control issues raised by its internal auditors.

12. If the Statement of Grant Usage identifies any overpayment of grant, the authority must repay this amount within 30 days of being asked by the Department.

13. The Secretary of State may at any time require a further external validation to be carried out by an appropriately qualified independent accountant or auditor, on the use of the grant.

Progress Report

14. The authority must prepare a progress report (Annex C) after the first six months to be submitted to the Department by 30 October 2013. The report must provide details of eligible expenditure in the period, what has been achieved, highlighting innovative elements of the approaches taken, and a summary of the impact of this expenditure to date. Please be aware that the Department might publish parts of these progress reports with the aim of sharing best practice.

Financial Management

15. The authority must maintain a sound system of internal financial controls.

16. If the authority has any grounds for suspecting financial irregularity in the use of any grant paid under this funding agreement, it must notify the Department immediately, explain what steps are being taken to investigate the suspicion and keep the Department informed about the progress of the investigation. For these purposes “financial irregularity” includes fraud or other impropriety, mismanagement, and the use of grant for purposes other than those for which it was provided.

Records to be kept

17. The authority must maintain reliable, accessible and up to date accounting records with an adequate audit trail for all expenditure funded by grant monies under this Determination.

18. The authority and any person acting on behalf of the authority must allow:

a) the Comptroller and Auditor General or appointed representatives; and

b) the Secretary of State or appointed representatives;

free access at all reasonable times to all documents (including computerised documents and data) and other information as are connected to the grant payable under this Determination, or to the purposes for which grant was used, subject to the provisions in paragraph 19.

19. The documents, data and information referred to in paragraph 19 are such which the Secretary of State or the Comptroller and Auditor General may reasonably require for the purposes of his financial audit or any department or other public body or for carrying out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which any department or other public body has used its resources. The authority must provide such further explanations as are reasonably required for these purposes.

20. Paragraphs 17 and 18 do not constitute a requirement for the examination, certification or inspection of the accounts of the authority by the Comptroller and Auditor General under section 6(3) of the National Audit Act 1983. The Comptroller and Auditor General will seek access in a measured manner to minimise any burden on the authority and will avoid duplication of effort by seeking and sharing information with the Audit Commission.

Breach of Conditions and Recovery of Grant

25. If the authority fails to comply with any of these conditions, or if any overpayment is made under this grant or any amount is paid in error, or if any of the events set out in paragraph 27 occurs, the Secretary of State may reduce, suspend or withhold grant payments or require the repayment of the whole or any part of the grant monies paid, as may be determined by the Secretary of State and notified in writing to the authority. Such sum as has been notified will immediately become repayable to the Secretary of State who may set off the sum against any future amount due to the authority from central government.

26. The events referred to in paragraph 25 are:

a) the authority purports to transfer or assign any rights, interests or obligations arising under this Determination without the prior agreement of the Secretary of State;

b) any information provided in any application for grant monies payable under this Determination, or in any subsequent supporting correspondence is found to be significantly incorrect or incomplete in the opinion of the Secretary of State;

c) it appears to the Secretary of State that other circumstances have arisen or events have occurred that are likely to significantly affect the authority’s ability to achieve the outputs, activities, milestones and targets set out in the bid;

d) the authority’s chief internal auditor is unable to provide reasonable assurance that the Statement of Grant Usage, in all material respects, fairly presents the eligible expenditure in the period 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 in accordance with the definitions and conditions in this Determination.

ANNEX C

Progress Report for Q1 and Q2

Organisation Name: Grant Ref no:

Please provide details of the ways in which the money was spent on adoption in Q1 – Q2: Item Amount spent

Please provide a summary of the approach taken by the local authority in spending this money, highlighting the innovative elements of this approach:

Please provide a summary of the impact this expenditure has had on the local authority’s provision of adoption services to date:

Name Position Signature Date

ANNEX D

Statement of Grant Usage

Organisation Name: Theme/Grant Ref no:

Please provide details of the ways in which the money was spent on adoption in 2013 – 2014: Item Amount spent

Please provide a summary of the approach taken by the local authority in spending this money, highlighting the innovative elements of this approach :

Please provide a summary of the impact this expenditure has had on the local authority’s provision of adoption services to date :

Autorisation required by Chief Executive Name Signature Date