Top marks for county council's child services

Children’s services in County Durham have been rated ‘Good’ by official watchdogs.

Ofstedinspectorshavealso praised those in charge of servicesatDurhamCountyCouncil,ratingtheimpactofleaders as ‘Outstanding’.

The service’s overall effectiveness is rated as ‘Good’ with the report stating that the council has improved and extended services to children since its last inspection, with “swiftandpurposefulresponses”toareasthatwereidentified for improvement.

The rating follows a threeweekinspectioninMay,during which the Ofsted team looked at all children’s social care servicesprovidedbytheauthority, including safeguarding, children in care, care leavers, fostering and adoption.

Cllr Ted Henderson, cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “We are extremely pleased to have been given a ‘Good’ rating by inspectors and thrilled with the positive feedback they have provided about our services.

“It is important to us that those we support are given the opportunity to have their say on the help they receive, and this was clearly evident to the inspection team.”

He added: “We are always looking to improve and build upon our services and this is also recognised in the report, which acknowledges the efforts we have made since the last inspection to provide the best possible support to families.

“TheGoodratingisafantastic reflection of the incredibly hard work that goes on across our children’s services and I wouldliketothankallourstaff across the service for their ongoing hard work and commitment.”

The full report can be viewed at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/