Children in Gloucestershire 'left vulnerable to harm', finds Ofsted inspection

The check, which took place between 29 November and 10 December last year, found a number of children and young people were being "left vulnerable to significant harm".

"Several cases examined by inspectors showed evidence of inadequate responses to safeguarding concerns, failure to consider historical information, and poor-quality assessments, leading to poor-quality plans," the report said.

"It was not always possible to identify why a child protection plan was in place, or whether the intervention was appropriate."

In terms of services for looked-after children, the authority was rated as "adequate", which means some progress has been made since past inspections.

"Key improvements to the quality and costs of provision have been secured through sound commissioning arrangements," the report explained.

"The majority of the local authority’s children’s homes, many of which were judged to be inadequate at the time of the Joint Area Review [in 2008] have been closed."

The council has now been instructed to review more than 400 cases of children subject to current child protection plans, to make sure that risks to their safety have been clearly identified.

For looked-after children, the authority has been ordered to improve the quality of assessments and care plans and make sure that all looked-after children and care leavers know how to use the local complaints procedure.

Paul McLain, Gloucestershire’s lead member for children and young people, argued that most children and young people in the local area are achieving more and receiving better services than their counterparts in the rest of the country.

"What we need to do now is improve the experience of our most vulnerable children and families," he admitted. "We have already said that protecting vulnerable people is an absolute priority for this council.

"We know we have more work to do in improving our services in this area and we’re investing more in targeted activities to support this. We’ve already taken on an extra 30 social workers in the past year and that’s crucial with so many more cases being referred since the death of Baby Peter in north London.

"We are already working more closely with health and the police in local areas to ensure that we concentrate our resources on those children at most risk of serious harm. Ofsted recognises that we are improving and the report gives examples of where a positive impact can already be seen."

Meanwhile, East Sussex, Nottingham and Buckinghamshire councils have been rated as "good" for both safeguarding and services to looked-after children.

Services in East Sussex and Buckinghamshire were rated outstanding in terms of the "enjoying and achieving" target for looked-after children and care leavers.