Birmingham’s council leader has demanded a face-to-face meeting with Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw following his comments branding the city a ‘national disgrace’ over its failure to improve child protection.
Council leader Sir Albert Bore has asked the chief schools inspector to Birmingham ahead of the imminent inspection of the council’s failing children’s services department.
Details of the invite emerged as the council’s vulnerable children scrutiny committee also heard that there remain 82 unfilled vacancies for children’s social workers in Birmingham.
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Last month Sir Michael not only highlighted Birmingham’s failures on child protection, but suggested the council was too large to run a social care department and should be broken up.
In a report to the backbench watchdog committee the cabinet member for children, young people and families Brigid Jones said: “He made comments which went beyond his social care and safeguarding remit.
“Sir Michael’s comments have had a significant negative impact on already fragile staff morale across Children, Young People and Families directorate.”
The Labour councillor later added that they have as yet received no reply.
With Ofsted inspectors due to visit in the next couple of weeks, council bosses have already admitted that they will remain rated as inadequate, but are hoping to convince the inspectors that they have measures in place to improve.
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A priority for the department is filling the 144 vacancies and lowering the workloads. Although 62 posts are currently filled with agency staff, including 14 new recruits following an uplift in pay rates to about £42 per hour to compete with neighbouring local authorities. This leaves positions for 82 staff unfilled adding to the burden on staff.
Service director Jacqui Jensen told the committee that they were being ‘fussy’ about who they recruited, going for proven experience over raw untested recruits. She said: “We are being fussy. We are not taking the approach that we simply put bums on seats. That would simply set up people to fail.”
On more optimistic note she added: “There is a bit of hope on the horizon,” and explained that a proactive recruitment drive in recent weeks had delivered 39 candidates who are coming for interview in December she said.
But there are problems getting external applications for the handful of supervisor and management roles which are available.
At present each social worker has an average of 29 cases on their books and bosses are hoping to take this down to the teens.
Coun Jones told the committee that her focus was on stabilising leadership and staffing and improving frontline performance.
She said they had called on the Local Government Association to support the department with a peer review from a successful local authority to check improvement.
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Conservative spokesman on children’s services Coun James Bird (Sutton New Hall) asked her to comment on conflicting evidence over police performance in child protection conferences.
According to council figures police officers attended only about a third of conferences, when they were supposed to attend all. But the Police Commissioner Bob Jones’ own figures show 95 per cent attendance.
Coun Bird asked: “Are they measuring different things and who is correct?”
Coun Jones replied: “The figures are highly subjective. Police have a set of criteria on which they judge the conferences they should attend. Ofsted has a different set of criteria under which their attendance is somewhat lower.”
She said it was Ofsted which was responsible for giving the city its child protection rating, which currently is ‘inadequate’ and needs to be followed.
“I have raised this with both the chief constable and police commissioner and we have asked the Home Office to issue some direction on this,” she said.
In a swipe at a suggestion that police should take over children’s services she questioned their suitability given their poor attendance record.