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Gateshead children’s services rated good by Ofsted (21 March 2016)

Date: 21/03/2016
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Gateshead children’s services rated good by Ofsted

An inspection of Gateshead Council’s Children and Families services has given the rating of “good” to children’s services in Gateshead in a recent report.

Ofsted inspectors noted very good practice in a range of areas, including family support in relation to domestic abuse, fostering support, performance management and promoting children’s rights.

The council’s response to children at risk of sexual exploitation and those who go missing from home and care is described as a “particularly strong area” – as well as its highly effective multi-agency approach to safeguarding and managing risk.

The Ofsted report says:

“Children’s services in Gateshead are good because leaders, managers and workers are highly effective.”

The report adds that there is a “strong corporate commitment to safeguarding and improving outcomes for all children and young people in the borough.”

An Ofsted inspection team visited the council in November 2015 and looked at children who needed help and protection and children in the “looked after” system – including adoption performance and care leavers.

The report notes that responses to child protection concerns are timely and robust – and that social workers have manageable caseloads, are well supported by managers and the workforce is stable.

Social workers know the children they work with well and as a result, provide good support to meet children’s needs and promote their safety, inspectors noted.

Adoption performance is also “good”, with good post-adoption support, children being well matched with adopters – and few delays or adoption breakdowns.

Special mention was made of the service having a good record for placing older children and groups of siblings.

While services overall were given a “good” rating, with examples of very good practices, the report identifies some improvements that could be made for the experience and progress of care leavers, which are being addressed by the council.

The report also acknowledges that all care leavers are offered safe, secure and suitable accommodation – and that the arrangements for keeping in touch with and supporting care leavers are effective, with young care leavers valuing the support they receive.

The Ofsted report into children’s services also recognises the part played across the council by both staff and council members.

Elected members “take corporate parenting very seriously”, says the report –
and that there is a “strong ethos of collective responsibility across the council” helping to achieve the best outcomes for children.

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at Gateshead Council, Councillor Angela Douglas, said:

“We’re delighted that our hard work and commitment to children and young people in Gateshead has been recognised and acknowledged by Ofsted.

“It’s of great satisfaction that many key issues are seen as particular strengths, such as our corporate commitment to safeguarding children, strong multi-agency partnerships, child protection arrangements, approach to child sexual exploitation and direct work with children.

“Children are indeed at the heart of good practice in Gateshead – the council and its partners all strive to make sure that the best possible outcomes are provided for children and young people.”

The Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) was inspected at the same time and requires improvement to be “good”, due to issues such as gaps in its membership, monitoring of services and lack of robustness in the analysis of its training.

But the LSCB had already identified areas for improvement, which it shared with Ofsted, and has put plans into action to tackle these issues.

It was acknowledged, however, that the LSCB had clear strong commitment from key statutory agencies – and that good collaborative working had resulted in an effective approach to safeguarding, child sexual exploitation and prevention of extremism.

Independent Chair of Gateshead LSCB, Gary Hetherington said:

“We welcome the challenge presented by Ofsted – we had already identified areas for improvement and many of the recommendations have already been actioned.”

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