Birmingham Council is failing to protect children and young people and is hamstrung by ‘long standing and historical corporate and political failures’, according Ofsted.
The damning verdict on children’s services in the city follows a series of highly critical reports over the last 12 years.
Cllr Brigid Jones, cabinet member for children and family services, said: ‘We have been very open about the state of children’s services in Birmingham and this inadequate rating is what we expected.
‘The report’s details build on the issues we had recognised ourselves as inadequate practice and which we shared with Ofsted on their arrival. This is welcome but we will not let the focus on current performance distract us from the tailor-made approach to improvement put in place by the Department for Education; an approach set out by the DfE during this latest Ofsted inspection.’
That approach, outlined in the Le Grand report overseen by Lord Norman Warner, outlines how services can be improved. Cllr Jones said Lord Warner’s initial letter to the education secretary indicated a ‘good start’ had being made, albeit ‘at an early stage and therefore fragile.’
Peter Hay, Birmingham’s director of people, said: ‘We have been clear that we ourselves judge our current position to be inadequate, so fully anticipated and accept the judgement reached by Ofsted. Their work adds to our understanding of the shortfalls in the services, which complements the insightful work of Le Grand on how to tackle these long-standing problems.
‘The crucial difference this time is that we receive the judgement within the context of knowing that we are on the right track in terms of improvement; in other words, we already know where we have been and where we are, and we now know where we are going.
‘This is an important point to make, because there is a real danger that it will put the focus back on inadequacy rather than our specific response. It is vital that this does not happen. Therefore we will take on board Ofsted’s insight about how we need to deliver services and use it in our improvement process.’
