Ofsted has launched three consultations on arrangements for the inspection of independent fostering agencies, voluntary adoption agencies, local authority services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers. Read their proposals and contribute your views.
Message from Ofsted’s Social Care Inspection Development Team
14 June 2013
Dear Colleagues
We are pleased to announce that Ofsted has launched three consultations on arrangements for the inspection of:
- independent fostering agencies
- voluntary adoption agencies
- local authority services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.
Your views are very important to us – please take some time to consider our proposals and contribute your views. Direct links to each of the consultation documents and online surveys are available at the end of this email.
We would be grateful if you could bring these consultations to the attention of any interested parties with whom you work.
Inspection of services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers proposes a single framework for inspecting local authority child protection and services for looked after children. The single framework brings together content from the earlier separate consultations on multi-agency child protection arrangements and on services for looked after children. It only seeks views on new proposals not covered in the earlier consultations. Subject to legislative changes that the Department for Education will shortly be consulting on, Ofsted plans to review the effectiveness of the Local Safeguarding Children Board – including making a graded judgement that would not limit the overall effectiveness judgement – at the same time as the single inspection. We propose to combine a report on the effectiveness of the LSCB with our report on the inspection of the local authority. Ofsted will consult further on this after the planned legislative changes have taken effect. Pilot inspections of the proposed single framework are already underway and should be completed in early July.
Good voluntary adoption provision and Good independent fostering provision propose frameworks for inspecting adoption and fostering services not provided by local authorities. Local authority adoption and fostering services will be inspected under the single inspection framework.
All three consultations describe ‘good’ as the minimum standard that children, young people and their families and carers have a right to expect. All the other judgement grades are derived from ‘good’ as the benchmark and the ‘adequate’ judgement is replaced by ‘requires improvement’.
To be judged ‘inadequate’ in any of the key judgement areas will automatically result in an ‘inadequate’ judgement for overall effectiveness.
The three consultations are open from 14 June until 12 July 2013. Please note that if any responses are received after this date we may not be able to take them into account in our final published arrangements for the inspections of these services.
Consultation on arrangements for the inspection of independent fostering agencies
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-independent-fostering-provision
Consultation on arrangements for the inspection of voluntary adoption agencies
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-voluntary-adoption-provision
Consultation on arrangements for the inspection of local authority services for children in need of help and protection, children looked after and care leavers.
(A summary for children and young people that outlines our plans for the inspection of local authority services is also available at this link.)
Ofsted
Social Care Inspection Development Team
14 June 2013
