Surrey Liberal Democrats slam 'shocking' report on vulnerable children services

10.34.12am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 29th Jul 2008

Three out of five areas of service judged as ‘inadequate’

Liberal Democrats at Surrey called on the Leader of Surrey County Council to resign following the publication of a damning report on services for vulnerable children in the County.

The JAR (Joint Area Review), carried out by the Government education standards body Ofsted, was published today and looked at the services in the County for 'vulnerable' children - described as 'at risk/requiring safeguarding', looked after children and those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities - with the possibility of grading from 'outstanding, good, adequate and inadequate'.

Out of the five areas, three of them were inadequate - safeguarding children and young people at risk or requiring safeguarding; those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and also the capacity for the Council to improve these services. The other two areas were judged as 'adequate' only.

Cllr Hazel Watson, Liberal Democrat Group Leader, said that many of the underlying problems highlighted in the report such as lack of respite care, too much reliance on agency staff and a limited range of preventative services, have been ongoing. "Many of the problems have been known for years but the Conservative administration has failed to act. Yet even today, the Executive's action plan in response to this highly critical report is vague and woolly," she said. "It really doesn't give me confidence that the appropriate practical action will be taken speedily enough.

"The report highlights appalling failures and Surrey's residents deserve better."

One of the key issues highlighted was the inadequate provision of Criminal Records Bureau checks - a national requirement for anyone working with children and young people. The report stated (p14, paragraph 43): "Although the council state in their self-assessment that all staff are robustly CRB checked, this information is false, with high numbers of staff identified by the human resources database as either not having had CRB checks or three yearly re-checks."

Said Hazel Watson: "Given that this is an Executive-run council, the Executive must be held responsible for these failures. The ultimate responsibility must rest with the Leader of the Council and that's why we have called on him to do the honourable thing and resign."

For the full report, log onto http://www.ofsted.gov.uk and go to Inspection Reports/Care/Children's Services by Local Authority