Running of Birmingham City Council’s children’s services will be overseen by an external commissioner under government plans to support local improvement.

While ruling out transferring power over Birmingham’s children services to another local authority, a review by social policy professor Julian Le Grand’s stressed the need for immediate action to ensure progress.

Children’s minister Edward Timpson confirmed former Labour health minister Lord Norman Warner would be appointed as the new commissioner.

Leaders of the three political groups on the Labour led city council voiced cross-party support for a united and consistent focus on the region’s vulnerable young people from politicians, council officers and partners.

In a joint statement from the town hall, council and Labour Group leader Sir Albert Bore, Liberal Democrat Group leader Paul Tilsley and Conservative Group leader Lord Mike Whitby, said: ‘As a whole council we have not given the consistent focus that children’s services needed to see through improvements and make children safe.

‘It is also evident, however, that inspection and intervention have not yet had the desired impact on improvement either and, looking ahead, it is clear that agreement to a unified, systematic and sustained approach across the city council, the Department for Education and Ofsted is the only way forward in making sustainable improvements.’

The local authority’s children’s services have been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted inspectors over the past four years.

With a further Ofsted inspection currently taking place, Birmingham’s director of people, Peter Hay, said: ‘To say that we fully expect to remain inadequate is not being defeatist, but simply acknowledges where we are. This time, we face this inadequate judgement with the clarity given by this report about what is going to be different and how we make change and improvement stick.’

Responding to the Le Grand report, cabinet member for children and family services at Birmingham, cllr Brigid Jones, said: ‘It is important that everyone understands that improvement is not linear; we still face plenty of challenges and we will have testing moments, but we must not allow these to blow us off course.

‘What this report shows is that we must stick to our long-term improvement plan and not be dragged back into the short-term thinking that saw us making knee-jerk changes as a response to every poor Ofsted inspection.’