News

23.05.14

Birmingham children’s services ‘inadequate’ – Ofsted

Birmingham City Council’s children’s services department is continuing to fail the ‘most vulnerable’ children within the city, a new Ofsted investigation has revealed.

The watchdog made an overall judgment of the services saying, once again, they were ‘inadequate’, adding that the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) is not demonstrating that it has effective arrangements in place or the required skills to discharge its statutory duties.

Ofsted added: “Long standing and historical corporate and political failures continue to impact upon the current political and professional leadership of children’s services in Birmingham. In addition, inadequate strategic partnership arrangements have underminded a range of initiatives to improve services.”

In response to the inspection, Birmingham City Council welcomed the report and added that it was committed to improving its services.

Brigid Jones, cabinet member for children and family services, said: “Ofsted arrived on site prior to the publication of the Le Grand report which addressed how to improve this city’s services to children. The council gave an all-party commitment to implement the findings of the Le Grand review and to fully support the improvement process set out by the DfE, overseen by Lord Norman Warner.

“In fact, Lord Warner’s initial letter to the secretary of state says quite clearly that a good start has been made and that there is a workable approach to improvement, though it is at an early stage and therefore fragile. He is very clear that he wants the council to hold a consistent focus on improvement, sustained over a long period of time.”

Lord Warner was appointed in March as an external commissioner to oversee improvement in Birmingham’s failing children’s social care services. 

However, Ofsted also highlighted that too many children are not seen quickly enough or properly assessed when first referred. For example, at the point of the inspection over 400 children in need cases, some of which were referred more than two months previously, had still not been robustly risk assessed or the children seen.

But Birmingham council’s director of people Peter Hay said: “We have been clear that we ourselves judge our current position to be inadequate, so fully anticipated and accept the judgement reached by Ofsted. Their work adds to our understanding of the shortfalls in the services, which complements the insightful work of Le Grand on how to tackle these long-standing problems.

“The crucial difference this time is that we receive the judgement within the context of knowing that we are on the right track in terms of improvement; in other words, we already know where we have been and where we are, and we now know where we are going.”

Tell us what you think – have your say below, or email us directly at [email protected]

Comments

There are no comments. Why not be the first?

Add your comment

related

public sector executive tv

more videos >

latest news

View all News

comment

Peter Kyle MP: It’s time to say thank you this Public Service Day

21/06/2019Peter Kyle MP: It’s time to say thank you this Public Service Day

Taking time to say thank you is one of the hidden pillars of a society. Bei... more >
How community-led initiatives can help save the housing shortage

19/06/2019How community-led initiatives can help save the housing shortage

Tom Chance, director at the National Community Land Trust Network, argues t... more >

editor's comment

25/10/2017Take a moment to celebrate

Devolution, restructuring and widespread service reform: from a journalist’s perspective, it’s never been a more exciting time to report on the public sector. That’s why I could not be more thrilled to be taking over the reins at PSE at this key juncture. There could not be a feature that more perfectly encapsulates this feeling of imminent change than the article James Palmer, mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, has penned for us on p28. In it, he highlights... read more >

last word

Prevention: Investing for the future

Prevention: Investing for the future

Rob Whiteman, CEO at the Chartered Institute of Public Finance (CIPFA), discusses the benefits of long-term preventative investment. Rising demand, reducing resource – this has been the r more > more last word articles >

interviews

Artificial intelligence: the devil is in the data

17/12/2018Artificial intelligence: the devil is in the data

It’s no secret that the public sector and its service providers need ... more >

the raven's daily blog

Cleaner, greener, safer media: Increased ROI, decreased carbon

23/06/2020Cleaner, greener, safer media: Increased ROI, decreased carbon

Evolution is crucial in any business and Public Sector Executive is no different. Long before Covid-19 even became a thought in the back of our minds, the team at PS... more >
read more blog posts from 'the raven' >

public sector events

events calendar

back

August 2020

forward
mon tue wed thu fri sat sun
27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

featured articles

View all News