Haringey children’s service improving says Ofsted
Annual unannounced inspection finds “significant progress”
HARINGEY Council’s children’s services have continued to improve, an unnaounced Ofsted inspection has found.
The inspection, which took place in August, revealed progress in several areas, with the watchdog praising Haringey’s performance management, the commitment of its leadership and the accuracy and quality of assessments.
The council’s children’s service was placed under the spotlight following the tragic death of Baby P in 2007.
Though no “priority actions” were needed, the report highlighted three areas in need of development – workload pressures within the children in need team; the quality of case closure summaries; and the reporting of the outcome of initial assessments.
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The council say these areas had already been identified by the council and action plans are in place to deal with them.
Every children’s service in England receives an annual unannounced inspection from Ofsted to ensure they are properly safeguarding vulnerable children and young people.
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Speaking about the report, released today, cabinet member for children’s services Cllr Lorna Reith said: “This report is real evidence of the significant progress made in the past couple of years across all areas of our children’s safeguarding service.
“But we are certainly not complacent and recognise there is still some way to go to reach the level of the very best.
“That means a continued focus on improvement, which we are now well placed to do.”
A spokeswoman for the council said that during the two-day unannounced visit the watchdog found that strong community networks “are enabling joint services to respond promptly to the assessed needs of children and the appropriate identification of children who are at risk of harm”.
Inspectors said that child protection investigations, the allocation of case work and initial and core assessments are undertaken promptly.
Staff morale is good, Ofsted noted, and managers “have a visible presence and have established a culture which sustains good direction and guidance on cases and continuous improvement”.
