Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are assigned to Children's Homes awaiting registration with Ofsted in (a) England, (b) Somerset and North Somerset and (c) Wells and Mendip Hills constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Wells and Mendip Hills and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Children's Homes are awaiting registration with Ofsted in (a) England, (b) Somerset and North Somerset and (c) Wells and Mendip Hills constituency.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This is a matter for His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver. I have asked him to write to the hon. Member for Wells and Mendip Hills and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to broaden and escalate the Government’s intervention in Somerset County Council’s Children’s Services.
Answered by Edward Timpson
I take any failure to provide children and young people with the services they deserve very seriously and I issued Somerset County Council with an Improvement Notice in November 2013. I recently met Somerset’s leadership and my officials have been working closely with the local authority against the requirements of my Improvement Notice; Ofsted’s 2013 report; and the Ofsted multi-remit inspection published on 26 November 2014.
Under the terms of my Notice, an improvement board with an independent Chair is in place and the Chair reports on progress in Somerset every three months. My officials are in regular communication with council leadership, and have attended each of the monthly boards to assess the LA’s improvement.
Ofsted is currently inspecting child protection and children in care service provision in Somerset and I am considering my next steps in relation to this intervention. I will not hesitate to escalate the intervention in the local authority if I am presented with further evidence that children and young people are still not safe in Somerset. I will inform Somerset County Council of my decision shortly.
Asked by: Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrat - Wells and Mendip Hills)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that vulnerable children in Somerset are identified and protected from harm.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Ofsted inspected Somerset County Council’s arrangements for the protection of children between 24 June 2013 and 03 July 2013 and published their findings on 05 August 2013. Ofsted judged the authority’s performance as ‘inadequate’.
I take any failure to provide children and young people with the services they deserve very seriously and issued the Council with an Improvement Notice in November 2013. The Improvement Notice requires the Council to institute an Improvement Board headed by an independent chair to drive improvement and hold partners to account.
I am currently considering next steps in relation to this intervention and will inform Somerset County Council of my decision shortly.