2 January (Part 1) - Once a liar always a liar
Councillor
Stefano Borella has suggested that
the Northumberland Nincompoop should take
time to read what OFSTED thinks about the services he provides for the borough’s
children. However as Philip Read prefers to spend his time Twittering inanities
I’ll make things easy for him. Here’s a summary of OFSTED’s 38 page report…
• The Local Safeguarding Children’s Board has not effectively undertaken its primary role
• The LCSB has a draft improvement plan but it has not had any impact
• There is little evidence that the learning from the first audit was effectively used
• Leadership, management and governance all require improvement
• Progress since 2012 when Bexley was judged inadequate has been very slow
• Management is inconsistent and a small number of children have been left at potential risk
• The quality of decision making by managers needs to improve
• Managers in care services do not always audit the work done by social workers
• Managers do not consistently record how long assessments should take and cannot identify any undue delay
• The quality of decision making is inconsistent and not always made at an appropriate level
• Serious incidents failed to result in any serious case reviews
• The sexual exploitation plan has been slow to be put into practice
• Parents, carers and organisations said they did not get a good service from Bexley
• When children leave care, plans to help them find employment are not good enough
• 37% of care leavers were not in suitable education, training or employment
• Inspectors said that Bexley’s many services are not working well together
• Services to children who need help require improvement
• Children’s ‘looked after’ services require improvement
• Adoption services require improvement
• Plans made with partner organisations need to be better
• Sometimes help is not provided where abuse is not found but families still need support
• The views of young people are not always sought
• Electronic case records are frequently incomplete
• Care proceedings take 37 weeks when the national target is 26 weeks
• Children were unhappy about the frequent change of social worker
Who thought that the Twitter chump Philip Read was just the man to put that lot right?
(Clue: Boris Johnson says she is the local politician he admires most.)
After the OFSTED report was published
Will Tuckley told the News Shopper that all was well. You may think he was
stretching a point somewhat but he stopped short of blatant lying. His Director
of Children’s Services, Mark Charters, who
did a
runner to the Isle of Man at the same time has no such scruples.
Charter’s LinkedIn entry says that under his stewardship children’s services in
Bexley ascended to the undreamed of heights of being ‘Adequate’.
Click image for source web page.
Lying must be in the DNA of Bexley council - all the top brass do it. Some are
under investigation by the police for doing it. Will they never learn?
For the record here’s what OFSTED actually said. Nothing is rated as high as ‘Adequate’.
Click image for more.
