A report into the council’s safeguarding and looked-after children’s services judged the authority to be good overall as well as in its effectiveness and capacity to improve.
Out of 22 categories the council received a good rating in 17 and outstanding in five. Being healthy was an area that received high praise from inspectors who singled out the work of the council’s children in care council for enabling young people to consider their own health improvement and encourage that of their peers.
The report stated: "High ambition for the safety of children and young people in the city is reflected in the priorities for service delivery set by the partnership as a whole.
"Partnership working, including with voluntary and community organisations, is good with good examples of effective collaboration to meet assessed needs and to promote child welfare. The contribution of health to keeping children and young people safe is outstanding."
Areas for improvement identified by inspectors included ensuring that information about family heritage is used to develop care plans which are culturally sensitive and that the service conducts regular multi-disciplinary audits of cases to test the consistency of thresholds and quality of child protection plans.
Assistant director of children’s safeguarding Sandra Campbell said: "This is a fantastic report which reflects the amazing hard work of our dedicated social work staff and partners every single day of the year.
"They are doing a tremendously difficult and challenging job supporting families that often have a chaotic lifestyle, and children that are not being given the best start in life."
