Central government could soon be in a position to spot struggling children's services departments ahead of scheduled Ofsted inspections with the aim of turning them around before they became "inadequate", according to the Department for Education's most senior civil servant.
Speaking last month before members of the public accounts committee, Jonathan Slater - who became permanent secretary at the DfE in May - said data collected by the DfE is beginning to show a link between child protection caseloads, staff turnover rates and agency staffing levels in children's services departments and Ofsted child protection judgments.
He added that there are "promising signs" that the DfE will be able to spot issues as they emerge thanks to new datasets, which it began collecting in 2014.
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