A LEADING Redditch county councillor has hit out after Worcestershire’s children’s services were branded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted – after being similarly damned in 2012 with the same poor rating.
Coun Pattie Hill (Lab, Arrow Valley East) said: “The cuts to public services by this Conservative Government are impacting disproportionately on the poorest and most vulnerable in our county……this includes children and young people.
The failure of the cabinet member responsible, Coun Marc Bayliss, to fight for the necessary funds and be more concerned with saving money has resulted in an Ofsted Inspection declaring our children in need of help and protection. This is unacceptable! We need to invest in our children and young people and their futures.”
The Ofsted rating, published on Tuesday (January 24), sparked a public apology from the county’s chief executive Clare Marchant who immediately pledged an extra £3.5m to after the county’s children.
Ms Marchant said: “I want to say sorry to children and families where the level of service that we have provided has not been good enough.
“We accept the findings and I can assure you that we are working hard to improve outcomes for our children.”
The findings were made public following an inspection last October and November which saw inspectors examine how the council looked after children in care, in need of protection and those who had left the care system.
Inspectors highlighted ‘widespread and serious failures’ in the services in a devastating blow to County Hall chiefs.
This latest inspection slammed elected members and senior leaders for not taking sufficient action to ensure the protection of vulnerable children.
“This corporate failure leaves children in Worcestershire at continued risk of significant harm,” it said.
Inspectors also criticised the creation of a ‘safeguarding improvement board’ by county chiefs, saying it hadn’t tackled poor working practices and that there was a continued lack of management of children’s services.
Shockingly, children who require protection from harm and who need urgent improvement in their lives are left in ‘situations of actual and escalating risk of significant harm’ according to the report.
Late last year the Conservative-controlled authority announced it was transferring care of its 18 childrens centres to schools and child care providers in a bid to cut its £6.4million a year spend on the area to just £3million.
