No major faults in county council's children's service

Frontline children's services across the county have been given the thumbs-up.
An unannounced inspection of child protection arrangements in Northamptonshire praised the county council for seeking to find the views of children to help form their assessments, effective work with partners such as the police and the dedication of staff.
Ofsted inspectors carrying out the checks on October 20 and 21 as part of new regulations brought in nationally during the aftermath of the Baby Peter case found there were no areas for priority action.
The findings, which were published yesterday, concluded that Northamptonshire County Council gives a high priority to child protection work.
They did, however, raise concerns over inconsistent management and supervision arrangements between teams during transition periods, the impact of workload pressures on staff ability to take up training opportunities and a lack of attention to equality and diversity.
Councillor Andrew Grant, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “This report represents an accurate appraisal of our child protection services with a positive assessment of our procedures and staff.
"It once again illustrates that we have a dedicated and performing team of staff that are delivering services recognised as effective by our regulators.
“It’s very reassuring that for the second year running the inspectors found no area of Northamptonshire’s children’s services needing priority action or causing serious concern.
“The report highlights the recent changes we’ve introduced to transform the way our front-line services operate and while it’s too early for Ofsted to see the full impact of those changes, the inspectors recognise that we have adopted the right approach.”
The council was given no notice of the two day inspection, during which Ofsted staff observed front-line social work practice to see how well it manages the risk of harm to children.
Electronic case records and supervision files and notes were also inspected.
Cllr Grant added: “We’re committed to keeping our children and young people safe and protected from abuse and harm. We’re happy to take on board and address those areas that Ofsted has identified as needing development so we can strengthen and build on the work of our dedicated, professional frontline social care teams.“