CORNWALL Council's safeguarding children services have been highlighted for improvements which have seen them judged as "adequate" by Government inspectors.
Ofsted published its report into the service today which saw it improve from the "inadequate" rating which was given during the last inspection in 2009. That inspection had resulted in the Government deciding that the service should move into intervention measures.
Today service chiefs said they were confident that the new rating would see the children's minister moving the service out of intervention and said they were now working towards taking the service towards a "good" and, ultimately, "outstanding" rating.
Ofsted inspectors said that significant progress had been made by the service but did also highlight that improvements still had to be made. Council bosses said that there was no complacency in the service and said that the improvements required were already being addressed.
Neil Burden, Cabinet member for children's services, said: "In their verbal feedback at the end of the inspection the team described the progress which had been made as a "huge step forward" for the council and I am delighted that the final report has confirmed these findings.
"We now look forward to meeting with the minister and department of education officials over the next few weeks to discuss the ending of the improvement order."
Children's services director Trevor Doughty said: "The inspectorsd acknowledged the significant progress which has been made and confirmed that they found no children at immediate risk of harm.
"However whilst this inspection outcome is a very important step on our improvement journey, we are ambitious to make further improvements. There is still more to do to get our services to "good" and then to "outstanding" which is what the children and young people in Cornwall deserve."
Ofsted published its report into the service today which saw it improve from the "inadequate" rating which was given during the last inspection in 2009. That inspection had resulted in the Government deciding that the service should move into intervention measures.
Today service chiefs said they were confident that the new rating would see the children's minister moving the service out of intervention and said they were now working towards taking the service towards a "good" and, ultimately, "outstanding" rating.
Ofsted inspectors said that significant progress had been made by the service but did also highlight that improvements still had to be made. Council bosses said that there was no complacency in the service and said that the improvements required were already being addressed.
Neil Burden, Cabinet member for children's services, said: "In their verbal feedback at the end of the inspection the team described the progress which had been made as a "huge step forward" for the council and I am delighted that the final report has confirmed these findings.
"We now look forward to meeting with the minister and department of education officials over the next few weeks to discuss the ending of the improvement order."
Children's services director Trevor Doughty said: "The inspectorsd acknowledged the significant progress which has been made and confirmed that they found no children at immediate risk of harm.
"However whilst this inspection outcome is a very important step on our improvement journey, we are ambitious to make further improvements. There is still more to do to get our services to "good" and then to "outstanding" which is what the children and young people in Cornwall deserve."
