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/753931", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/753931/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The London Borough of Lambeth Council\u2019s children\u2019s social care services became subject to Government intervention in May 2015, following Ofsted\u2019s judgement that these services are \u2018Inadequate\u2019. The Department has issued the Council with an improvement notice and has appointed an expert adviser to provide the Council with advice and challenge and to report regularly to the Department on improvement progress. Ofsted also conducts quarterly monitoring visits to Lambeth\u2019s children\u2019s social care services, and publishes progress reports on its website.<\/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" : "2017-07-31T08:45:33.09Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Social Services: Lambeth"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "Her Majesty's Government whether they have received representations about failings in children's services in the London Borough of Lambeth.", "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" : "HL1077"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/753932", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/753932/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The department has recently responded to the Public Accounts Committee on this question. The department agrees it is appropriate to set out its vision with timescales, as it has done in \u2018Putting Children First\u2019<\/em>.<\/em> The department will also produce a roadmap of how the Department intends to transform services, which will be a publically available document. This will address the challenge in the NAO report and set out more clearly a timeframe for delivery of the reforms.<\/p>"}
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], "questionText" : "Her Majesty's Government whether they will publish the current detailed business plans of those sections of the Department for Education dealing with child welfare.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
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