More child services ‘inadequate’
Author: BBC |
The number of children’s services in England deemed inadequate at keeping children safe has doubled in one year.
Ofsted, which came under fire over the death of Baby P, has published its annual assessments of 147 councils.
Last year, four councils were found to be inadequate, but this year that rose to eight. Among them was Haringey, north London, where Baby P died.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said government “intervention experts” would work urgently with struggling councils.
As well as Haringey, child protection was rated inadequate at Birmingham, Doncaster, Essex, Reading, Surrey, West Sussex and Wokingham councils.
Ofsted’s data also shows that the number of councils found to be inadequate in all children’s services overall has also risen from none last year to four this year.
Those councils were Doncaster, Haringey, Milton Keynes and Surrey.
The number of councils which provide good or outstanding children’s services has also fallen from 78% to 73%.
Go to the original article here