Improvement for Peterborough children’s services in latest report

Parents in Peterborough should be confident their children are safe after inspectors noted an improvement in children’s services.

Ofsted inspectors visited Peterborough City Council’s children’s services in an unannounced visit in January, and rated the department as ‘adequate’ – an improvement from the inadequate rating given in 2011

Sue Westcott, the recently-appointed executive director of children’s services, said the Ofsted report was evidence the department was turning things around.

She said: “We are all delighted with the outcome.

“The inspectors said children are being effectively protected, and that is very important.

“This is the whole council’s responsibility, and the inspectors have acknowledged that we have taken the lessons from previous years very seriously.”

Mrs Westcott said the department’s turnaround had been the result of hard work, but also an increase in social workers in the city.

She said: “We bought in a new leadership team very quickly,

“We have also made great strides to reduce the number of agency staff and started a campaign to bring in more permanent staff.

“We have increased the number of social workers, and this has reduced the average case load from around 25-30 to 17.”

The service has been heavily criticised over the past 18 months, and Councillor Sheila Scott, cabinet member for children’s services, has stood firm in the face of opposition councillors’ calls for her to be removed from post on a number of occasions.

Mrs Westcott added: “We want to improve further, and I believe gaining an outstanding grading is achievable.

“One of the strengths highlighted in the inspection was our self-assessment work, and we know what our strengths and weaknesses are.”

Although inspectors said there had been improvements at the council, they did say there was plenty more work to do.

Inspectors said there were 19 points for the department to address over the next six months, including four issues that need addressing immediately.

These included ensuring rationale for decision making by managers is clearly recorded on case files, and making sure children’s social care reports to child protection conferences are made available to all parents and young people before the conference.

Mrs Westcott said: “This report is a platform for us to move forward.

“We know the areas where we need to improve, and with hard work we can make this department even better.”

Following the report’s publication, Cllr Scott said she thought the result was ‘vindication’ for the work staff had put in. However, she said there was still lots of work to do.

She said: “I feel the effort we put in leading up to the Ofsted inspection, and the effort that has been put in by everyone over the past 18 months has been vindicated.

“We have established Peterborough is quite capable of delivering safe, effective services to children most in need.

“The most important thing is for children to be safe in the city.

“The inspectors recognised the efforts we have done to make sure this is the case.

“This is only the first part of the work, and an adequate rating is not where we want to be by the time the next inspection takes place.

“There is still lots of work to do, but this report is very good news.”

The next Ofsted inspection will take place within two years, and Clr Scott said the goal was to get an outstanding rating as soon as possible.

She said: “It is vital to do this stage by stage.

“If we had jumped to a ‘good’ rating, there would have been a danger of slipping back.

“We have to keep the improvements sustainable.”

Factfile on Children’s Services

Peterborough City Council’s Children’s Services department has been under fire since receiving a notice to improve in June 2010, following an inspection earlier that year.

It received two consecutive poor Ofsted reports, and also faced a serious case review following the death of five-year- old Tyler Whelan.

The review said services missed numerous opportunities for intervention in the case, which saw Elvis Lee jailed for life after he murdered the child by kicking him to death in 2011.

Sue Westcott was installed as the new head of the department following Malcolm Newsam, who was drafted in as a short-term troubleshooter at a cost of £1,250 per day.

His appointment was made to turn around the struggling department following a damning Ofsted report in September that led to former director John Richards’ resignation.

Mr Newsam had been credited with turning round a number of failing departments in other councils across the country, and he was given an extra £1 million to help hire more staff to bring the standard of care in the department up.

Mr Richards resigned after Ofsted inspectors revealed continued departmental failures after two previous critical reports into the council’s safeguarding came out in March 2010 and February 2011.

Criticisms include too few potentially vulnerable children being assessed early, under-staffing on the front line, poor record keeping, staff failing to understand senior managers’ vision and delays in dealing with complaints.

In June last year the department came under fire yet again, after confidential emails were sent to all city councillors, rather than just one.

The details were mailed after department staff sent confidential details about one family referred to social care to a second family, before emailing a subsequent apology featuring detailed information to all 57 councillors on the council.

Sue Westcott took over from Mr Newsam in Januray 2013, having previously served as assistant director of safeguarding families and communities in Mr Newsam’s department.

She had worked in Children’s Services for three decades including periods as assistant director in Bedfordshire and Lincolnshire County Council, which were rated as outstanding by Ofsted.