Following an inspection of safeguarding and looked after children services by Ofsted in April 2011, the formal report published on 1st June 2011 contained a series of recommendations to be carried out immediately, within 3 months and within 6 months.
On 21st June 2011, SBC received a letter from Tim Loughton, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, saying that because safeguarding services had been judged as ‘inadequate’ the council and partners would be expected to make considerable improvements in their services and the Minister would be issuing us with an Improvement Notice. This notice includes details of the improvements we must make to improve safeguarding services and better protect children.
The recommendations to be carried out, together with the specific improvements set out in the Improvement Notice are included in the Improvement Plan.
We have set up an Improvement Board to oversee these improvements. This is chaired by an Independent Chair, approved by the DfE. The Chair of the board is required to formally report on our progress every 6 months.
