Crunch talks over bid to improve Walsall children’s services which 'require improvement'

Walsall Council's education and children's services committee will meet next week to discuss the recent Ofsted report which said the department 'requires improvement'.

Among the concerns raised by the watchdog during their visit which spanned four weeks from June 20 to July 13, were that children at risk of sexual exploitation are not being protected rigorously enough because social workers were being overworked.

Ofsted made a dozen recommendations for improvement and the council has until December 11 to submit an action plan to the Secretary of State outlining how they will address the shortcomings.

A report prepared for the meeting, which will take place on Monday, states: "Four staff engagement sessions have taken place since the publication of the report (September 4) to share findings and seek staff input into the action plan for improving services.

"Officers are working with partners critical to responding to Ofsted’s recommendations and improving services to secure their input and buy in to the action plan for improvement."

The council has already put together a list of 'initial responses' to the key points raised by Ofsted.

One of them states that upon the release of their report the council had appointed 35 new members of staff and had a further nine people in the process of starting, although despite this 39 vacancies remained.

In response to the concerns about child sexual exploitation (CSE) the council has stated: "We will target training on improving the use of risk assessment models and safety planning for children at risk of CSE."

The council's education chief Aftab Nawaz stated Ofsted's findings did not come as a surprise.

In the wake of the report he said: "The recommendations made by the inspection team are all being addressed in existing improvement action plans. The pace of improvement is steady and I’m keen to see that we keep our collective feet on the accelerator.

“I am pleased with the report and satisfied that we are moving in the right direction for children and their families. There were no surprises for us; the inspection team has confirmed that we are exactly where we assessed ourselves to be on our journey to be rated ‘Good’.”