Council services to protect children in Cornwall taken out of special measures

Cornwall Council’s children social care services have finally been taken out of special measures, but the authority says there is more work to be done.

There have been concerns about the services since 2006, however the Children’s Minister has announced that he has formally removed Cornwall Council’s children social care from central government intervention.

This follows the findings of the recent Ofsted inspection into the way Cornwall Council helps and protects children and young people who are suffering harm or at risk of harm and positive reports from the independent chair of the Improvement Board.

The report from Ofsted, which was published on 15 March, highlighted improvements in the quality and effectiveness of the authority’s social work and early help services over the past two years. The service was judged to be “adequate”, the lowest acceptable level.

In a letter sent to the Council this week, the Edward Timpson MP, the Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, has confirmed that the Department no longer considered it necessary for the intervention to remain in place and he was, therefore, revoking the Direction with immediate effect.

Mr Timpson said: “Having considered the evidence from the inspection, progress reports from the Improvement Board chair and advice from my officials, I am confirming that I no longer consider it necessary for the Direction to remain in place and am revoking it with immediate effect. I congratulate you on the progress made to date and look forward to hearing of continued improvement in the months to come”.

The Council’s interim chief executive Paul Masters said: “This is another major milestone for the Council and its partners. Everyone has worked extremely hard to address the issues identified in previous inspections.

“The official removal of the Direction does not mark an end to this hard work. We know that we still have more work to do and I am pleased to see the positive comments from the Minister expressing confidence in the Council’s ability and commitment to achieve these further improvements.”

Children’s Services Director Trevor Doughty added “I am delighted that the Council has received such a positive letter from the Minister. As I said when the inspection report was published, this is a tremendous testament to the work of front line staff and their immediate supervisors. All of us involved in working with vulnerable children in Cornwall are determined to build on this achievement and improve further”.

Lucy de Groot, who chaired the Improvement Board, said: “I am very impressed with the progress Cornwall has made. It should not be underestimated just how serious the deficiencies were in 2009 and the report at the time was rightly damning.”