Ed Balls was speaking at the Association of Directors of Children's Services conference yesterday (Thursday) when he said that integrated working had to improve.
"I'd like to see a closer relationship between the youth offending team and the schools," he said. "We know that children at risk of going towards the wrong track, if identified early, can work with youth services to get support.
"But we can still do a better job with prevention than we do at the moment, if we have a more intensive relationship between schools and children's services."
Balls said that examples of excellent partnership working were the exception, rather than the norm and that this must be addressed.
"Too often school heads say ‘try calling a housing department on Friday afternoon and see if anyone answers'," he said. "We must cut the gap between the school and the professional culture and ability to deliver. It's a challenge for us and our task is to take best practice of children's services delivery and make it common practice."
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