This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24533502
The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 2 | Version 3 |
---|---|
Wilshaw's tough message on child protection services | |
(about 3 hours later) | |
"Manifestly and palpably weak" leadership and a high turnover of directors are undermining efforts to improve children's services in England, says Ofsted's chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw. | |
There are 20 local authorities rated as inadequate for protecting children. | |
Sir Michael branded Birmingham as an example of bad practice, which he called a "national disgrace". | |
He suggested the local authority might need to be broken up. | |
Sir Michael also called for a wider recognition of the impact of children's environments, such as irresponsible and alcohol-dependent parents and living on streets lined with betting shops and fast-food shops. | |
'Social breakdown' | |
Presenting his annual report on social care, Sir Michael delivered a series of hard hitting messages about weaknesses in protecting children. | |
Inspectors only rated four in 10 local authorities as "good" or better for safeguarding. | |
It should be an "urgent priority" of government to examine the role of local authority safeguarding bodies, said Sir Michael. | |
His inspectors had often reported major concerns about these bodies, he said. | |
And he warned about the negative impact of too much "volatility" in the senior leadership in children's services. | |
"One in three local authorities has had a change in their director of children's services last year alone. The combination of unstable communities and political and managerial instability in our social care services is a dangerous mix," said Sir Michael. | |
He warned that poor leadership was often isolated from frontline staff, such as social workers, many of whom felt "profoundly undervalued". | |
Sir Michael said that the average career span in social work was only eight years and the profession faced a "demographic timebomb". | |
He delivered a stinging attack on Birmingham's services for children - accusing them of long-running failures in supporting the safety and well-being of young people in England's biggest authority. | |
The city had a poor record on child mortality and child poverty, he said, and there had been repeated failings in inspections and inadequate serious case reviews. | |
This was "failure of corporate governance on a grand scale", he said. | |
Asked after his speech if he meant that the authority should be broken up, he said that was the implication of his argument. | |
Sir Michael also warned of the destructive force of "social breakdown" on young lives and how they were let down by their families. | |
"They lack more than money, they lack parents who will take responsibility," he said. | |
There were 705,000 children living with alcohol-dependent parents and 130,000 in homes where there was domestic violence. | |
"Compassion should not be about making excuses," said Sir Michael, who warned about the corrosive consequences of the "hollowing out and fragmentation" of families. | |
He quoted Louise Casey, the so-called troubled families tsar, as warning that there was too much "pussyfooting around" in supporting families, with too many meetings and too little action. | |
Debbie Jones, Ofsted's national director of social care, said that the child protection system was under "huge pressure", with rising volumes of work at a time when local authority budgets were under pressure. | |
The 20 councils where the standard of child protection services has been judged "inadequate" by Ofsted are: | The 20 councils where the standard of child protection services has been judged "inadequate" by Ofsted are: |
Barnsley, Bexley, Birmingham, Blackpool, Calderdale, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire East, Cumbria, Devon, Doncaster, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Kingston upon Thames, Medway, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Rochdale, Sandwell, Slough and Somerset. | Barnsley, Bexley, Birmingham, Blackpool, Calderdale, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire East, Cumbria, Devon, Doncaster, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Kingston upon Thames, Medway, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Rochdale, Sandwell, Slough and Somerset. |