No good in damning report...

The good news in the Ofsted re-inspection of children’s services is there ... it’s just that you have to look very hard to find it.

There have been improvements in three out of the five inspection areas, as Deborah Jenkins, chairwoman of Together for Children is at pains to point out. Adoption performances have been described as good with “significant progress” made. Well, that’s something to highlight.

But, and there is a big ‘but’ here, overall, none of these improvements were enough to lift the service out of the “inadequate” mire. That, quite simply, is not good enough.

Naturally this damning report has sparked a furious response from opposition groups like the Tories and Lib-Dems.

But this is not a political point scoring issue. It’s an issue that has a huge bearing on the wellbeing of the most vulnerable in our community. Three years after children’s services was branded inadequate by Ofsted, we are - bar some small areas of improvement - nowhere near a level of performance that the public will accept.

We welcome the improvement in areas of adoption, but that’s not enough.

Three years ago children’s services was hammered by Ofsted to the shock of the majority of our community.

But to read, three years down the line, that children in need of help and protection are not adequately protected, and that they do not receive services that meet their needs at the right time, is unforgiveable. Children at risk of child sexual exploitation, we’re told, are not adequately safeguarded! Wholly unacceptable.

The situation has been described at ‘shambolic.’ We hope we’re wrong, but we fear that criticism may be an understatement.