Issue - meetings

Background:

The Cabinet accepted this report as urgent to enable it to formally receive and consider the outcome of the inspection and the statutory direction at the earliest opportunity.

This report provided details of the outcome of the Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) which took place in Medway from 15 to 26 July 2019. The report also set out information relating to the statutory direction issued by the Department for Education (DfE) and gave an overview of the completed and planned actions.

The report stated that the inspection found the overall effectiveness of Children’s Services to be inadequate. Ofsted’s published report identified 10 areas for improvement as set out in paragraph 3.2 of the report, as well as highlighting some strengths, as set out in paragraph 3.3 of the report. Ofsted also recognised that the service had ‘committed workers and frontline managers who strive to provide children with a good service’ and that morale was high amongst frontline practitioners and their managers.

The report stated that following the publication of Ofsted’s report, the DfE had issued a statutory direction to Medway Council due to poor performance in Children’s Social Care Services. As such, an independent Children’s Services Commissioner had been appointed by the Secretary of State. The Commissioner’s remit was set out in paragraph 4.4 of the report.

In addition, the report provided details of progress made since the inspection, as set out in section 6 of the report. In particular, the Council was required to submit an Action Plan to Ofsted by 28 November 2019, whilst the Children’s Services Commissioner was required to report to the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families by 1 December 2019.

Reasons:

To formally notify the Cabinet of the outcome of the inspection.

To ensure the Cabinet is informed of the feedback from the Children’s Services Commissioner.