CYP Now - Working in the Midlands: Interview - Lesley Adams, head of earlyyears and childcare, Birmingham City Council

Over the past three years, Birmingham City Council has gained a reputation in children's social services that few would envy. As a result of being awarded a zero rating each time inspectors found it was not serving children well, the job of attracting recruits to children's services in the city had become tough.

The council's reputation has since improved, with the most recentCommission for Social Care Inspection report (Children Now, 5-11October) rating Birmingham's capacity for improvement as promising. Thecouncil now looks set to reclaim its star rating in results due to bepublished tomorrow (1 December). The arrival of a nine-strong managementteam in 2003 and recent service-wide improvements have also helped toreinvigorate services.

But reputation issues have not been the sum total of the recruitmentchallenges facing the council. When the children's centre fundingallocation was announced for 2006 to 2008, Birmingham was the biggestsingle recipient with 15m in capital and 25.7m in revenuefunding.

As the largest local authority in England, Birmingham City Council wasalso set the highest target for establishing children's centres in thecountry: 68 in total (25 by March 2006 and a further 43 by March 2008).Once established, these 68 centres will reach 63,000 under-fives andtheir families in the area.

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