The Department for Education intervenes in all local authorities that receive an inadequate Ofsted rating for children\u2019s services.<\/p>
In the most serious cases, improvement may require statutory intervention, whereby, under the Education Act 1996, the Secretary of State is able to direct a local authority to take whatever action is deemed necessary to secure improvement. In the last few years, Ministers have directed the setting up of new governance structures, including partnering with another local authority (e.g. Isle of Wight), bringing in extra improvement support (e.g. Somerset), or establishing a Children\u2019s Services Trust (e.g. Doncaster).<\/p>
In other cases the department takes non-statutory steps, issuing an \u2018improvement notice\u2019 detailing what actions a local authority is expected to take to improve its services and closely monitoring progress. We deploy government improvement advisers who are appointed to support and challenge these authorities to make rapid progress.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4270", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Nash"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Nash"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-31", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-31T08:44:14.033Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Children: Social Services"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "Her Majesty's Government what steps, short of the appointment of commissioners, they can take to deal with children's services departments which are a cause of concern.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4171", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Black of Brentwood"} ], "uin" : "HL1076"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/753930", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/753930/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Department has categorised local authority children\u2019s social care services as \u2018systemic\u2019 or \u2018persistent\u2019 failures since December 2015 when it introduced a tougher intervention regime. The following authorities have been subject to this new policy:<\/p>
<\/p>
LA<\/p><\/td> | Systemic/Persistent<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Barnet<\/p><\/td> | Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Bromley<\/p><\/td> | Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Dudley<\/p><\/td> | Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Kirklees<\/p><\/td> | Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Norfolk<\/p><\/td> | Persistent<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Reading<\/p><\/td> | Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Sandwell<\/p><\/td> | Persistent<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Sunderland<\/p><\/td> | Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Torbay<\/p><\/td> | Persistent<\/p><\/td><\/tr> |
Worcestershire<\/p><\/td> | Persistent & Systemic<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/p> <\/p> All of these authorities have been subject to the appointment of Commissioners, with the exception of Barnet where recruitment for a Commissioner has not yet concluded. These authorities retain accountability for the effective running of their children\u2019s services. Commissioners do not run the services, but do make recommendations to the Secretary of State on whether operational control of services should be removed from the council. Where Ministers accept a recommendation that services should transfer to alternative delivery arrangements, such as a new Children\u2019s Services Trust, Commissioners will oversee this process<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4270", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Nash"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Nash"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-31", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-31T08:43:09.893Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Children: Social Services"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "Her Majesty's Government (1) which local authority children's services departments have been found by Ofsted since January 2015 to be persistently or systemically failing; (2) which were made subject to the appointment of commissioners; and (3) which are currently run by commissioners.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4171", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Black of Brentwood"} ], "uin" : "HL1075"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/751755", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/751755/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The Secretary of State will shortly issue an invitation to tender for the Alpha and Beta stages of rollout which, when completed, will determine the cost of running the service for National Assessment and Accreditation. At this point the Secretary of State cannot release the estimated costs as this would prejudice our competitive procurement process.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1562", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Scarborough and Whitby"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Robert Goodwill"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-20", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-20T18:02:08.987Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Children: Social Services"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the cost per social worker of assessment under the National Assessment and Accreditation Scheme (a) including and (b) not including piloting and set-up costs.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4277", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South Shields"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck"} ], "uin" : "4791"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/751296", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/751296/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " The results of the consultation and the department\u2019s response will be published on GOV.UK in autumn 2017.<\/p> <\/p> |