New Ofsted School Inspection Framework - Update
To receive a verbal update from the Deputy Director of Children’s Services.
Minutes:
Mark Bayley, Principal Manager: Quality Assurance, attended to present on the New Ofsted Inspection Framework and its implications for the Council.
Mark Bayley explained that the current Safeguarding and Looked After Children (SLAC) inspection was being removed after July 2012 and in its place would be the following inspections:
· Framework for the inspection of local authority arrangements for the protection of children – Mark Bayley noted that this inspection had come into place from May 2012 and that as it was targeted at those authorities whose performance had been no better than ‘adequate’, there was a chance that the Council could be inspected under the framework.
· Joint Framework for multi-agency inspection of child protection services – Proposed to start in June 2013
· Inspections of Local Authority adoption agencies, Local Authority fostering agencies and services and outcomes for looked after children – Mark Bayley reported that from April 2013 there would be a move from separate inspections into a single ‘looked after children’ inspection.
Outlining the key features of the new inspections, Mark Bayley noted the following:
· The inspections would be Unannounced. This had resulted in the Directorate implementing a rigorous self-evaluation process so that they were always ready for an inspection.
· The inspections would focus on practice with an increased focus on tracking sample cases.
· The inspections would have a wider brief, not simply focusing on those children within the thresholds of care but assessing the processes for early intervention and post safeguarding arrangements.
Tony Crane, Deputy Director of Children’s Services commented that local authorities had been promised a reduction in bureaucracy with the implementation of the new inspection framework. He noted that following a ‘dry run’ inspection this had not proved to be the case as it was still resource intensive.
RESOLVED – That the presentation be noted.