Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what measures are in place to check whether the decision made by Somerset County Council on safeguarding children are fair in their treatment of parents.

In ‘Working Together 2013', the Department for Education set out the expectations and requirements of all local authorities in relation to their statutory duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. A copy of ‘Working Together 2013' can be found in the library of the House, or online at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/281368/Working_together_to_safeguard_children.pdf. This includes how children and families should be treated during any investigations. Should any parent be dissatisfied about the way a local authority has handled a specific case, they may find it helpful to obtain details of the authority's own complaints procedure.

Parents may wish to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if they feel dissatisfied with the handling of their complaint under the local authority procedures. It is the Ombudsman's role to investigate complaints in a fair and independent manner.

Assessment of overall children's services provision and safeguarding is undertaken independently by Ofsted under the new Single Inspection Framework.