'Inadequate' council appoints sixth director of children's services in four years

Norfolk County Council said that Sara Tough, who is currently DCS at Dorset County Council will take over from interim DCS Matt Dunkley in October.

The council is currently trying to turn around standards within children's services after provision was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted for the second time in two years in October 2015.

Dunkley, a former president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, has been in post since January. He himself replaced another former interim DCS Andrew Bunyan who was in post for two months from November 2016.

Prior to that Michael Rosen was in charge between June 2015 and November 2016. He replaced Sheila Lock, who was appointed in July 2013. Before then Lisa Christensen had been in post, but moved on in the wake of the local authority's first "inadequate" rating in July 2013.

Sara Tough said: "I am delighted to be joining Norfolk County Council at this time - I have been inspired by the ambition of the council and its determination to get stronger.

"I want to share the great work already happening and to celebrate the successes. I will bring a relentless focus on outcomes, strong core services and partnership working, so that we continue to improve and make a difference for children and young people in Norfolk."

The council's managing director, Wendy Thomson, said: "I'm delighted that we have recruited Sara. She is a first-class children's services director, with an impressive track record, who will take forward the improvements that are well underway in Norfolk.

"Our ambition is to move up in the Ofsted rating from ‘inadequate' to ‘requires improvement' at the next inspection, which is expected later this year or early next year.

"We are committed to providing quality services for Norfolk's children and their families.

"At the last monitoring visit, Ofsted noted that we are making sustained progress, there is good morale in the service and we are developing plans to address the issues identified by inspectors."

Last month, Norfolk County Council announced it is launching a project with children's charity Barnardo's which will help it run its looked-after children services.