KEY targets are still being missed in Doncaster’s failed children’s services department, latest figures show. The news comes as councillors are about to get their first look at an ambitious plan to make the shamed department a “beacon of excellence” in just three years.

Children’s services directors have called for a halt of spot checks in the wake of the Baby Peter case because they believe them to be unfair.

A FORMER health official convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl has been removed from the social care register. Kevin Mence, 43, was employed as a social worker by Cambridgeshire County Council when the allegations came to light last year.

Social workers from overseas could be recruited in West Sussex in a bid to boost staffing levels. Urgent efforts to recruit extra social workers for front-line children’s services have so far achieved only a ‘marginal’ improvement in staffing levels.

Children in the UK have actually never had it so good, but that doesn’t mean more can’t be done to help them, writes Dave Clements.

SIX more day centres in Leeds are set to close as part of ongoing plans to create “a new direction” for older people’s services.

A PIONEERING legal scheme to protect victims of domestic abuse has been expanded after a successful pilot in the city.

NINE staff at a residential care home have been suspended after claims they used inappropriate language and behaviour when dealing with clients.

A MAN convicted of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl has been removed from the Social Care Register by an independent committee of the General Social Care Council (GSCC).

Rotherham Council has unveiled plans to overhaul its children’s services after an independent report showed a lack of vision and purpose.