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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Birmingham City Council Children's Services to get commissioner | Birmingham City Council Children's Services to get commissioner |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The heavily-criticised Birmingham Children's Services is to get a commissioner to oversee the unit, the Department for Education has announced. | The heavily-criticised Birmingham Children's Services is to get a commissioner to oversee the unit, the Department for Education has announced. |
| The unit has been rated "inadequate" for the past four years and has faced 23 investigations into the deaths of children in its care. | |
| Children's Minister Edward Timpson said former health minister Lord Norman Warner would be appointed commissioner. | Children's Minister Edward Timpson said former health minister Lord Norman Warner would be appointed commissioner. |
| It follows a report handed over to ministers last month. | It follows a report handed over to ministers last month. |
| 'Challenge and support' | 'Challenge and support' |
| Under the plans announced by the DfE, the local authority will retain control of its children's services. | |
| The council has been at the centre of several serious case reviews in recent years, following the deaths of youngsters such as Kyra Ishaq in 2008 and Keanu Williams, in 2011. | |
| A peer review in February suggested improvements were being made in the department and a £10m investment plan was announced by the council in December. | A peer review in February suggested improvements were being made in the department and a £10m investment plan was announced by the council in December. |
| Despite that, on Thursday Mr Timpson said he remained very concerned about the safety of children in Birmingham. | Despite that, on Thursday Mr Timpson said he remained very concerned about the safety of children in Birmingham. |
| He said an independent panel of experts would also be set up to "challenge and support" the city council. | He said an independent panel of experts would also be set up to "challenge and support" the city council. |
| Council leader Sir Albert Bore said he welcomed the recommendations and the report set out a "compelling account of the reasons for and the lengthy history of shortcomings". | |
| "In doing so, it also highlights the significant challenges that come from the scale of deprivation facing communities in Birmingham," he said. | |
| Lord Warner said vulnerable children in Birmingham deserved "to receive the care and protection that they can rely on when the responsible adult has failed them". | |
| He said he would work with the city council to put in place the "immediate improvements needed". | He said he would work with the city council to put in place the "immediate improvements needed". |
| The commissioner is expected to work alongside but independently of the council, supported directly by the DfE. | The commissioner is expected to work alongside but independently of the council, supported directly by the DfE. |
| 'History of failure' | |
| Labour peer Lord Warner was a health minister from 2005-2007 and Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Department of Health for the two previous years from 2003. | |
| Birmingham City Council is currently the subject of an Ofsted inspection, expected to be published in May. | |
| Interim director of Children's Services, Peter Hay, said the council "fully expect[s] to remain inadequate" but the report had given it greater clarity on how to make improvements. | |
| "This time, we face this inadequate judgement with the clarity given by this report about what is going to be different and how we make change and improvement stick," he said. | |
| Mr Hay added the report suggested "low-risk" measures to aid the "fragile" recovery. | |
| "Given the prolonged history of failure and the fact there are green shoots of a recovery, albeit a frail one, now is not the time for high-risk options," he said. | |
| Council member for Children and Family Services, Brigid Jones, said the report was "comprehensive, accurate and honest". | |
| "What this report shows is that we must stick to our long-term improvement plan and not be dragged back into the short-term thinking that saw us making knee-jerk changes as a response to every poor Ofsted inspection," she said. |