Kensington & Chelsea outlines vision for tri-borough children's services
Neil Puffett
Monday, January 9, 2012
Politicians in Kensington & Chelsea have outlined their vision of standards for children's services for a new combined department across three authorities, stating that outstanding inspection ratings are expected.
A "mandate" from the council outlines a series of ambitions and expectations for the new service and follows one issued by Hammersmith & Fulham last month.
It includes a desire to protect service quality against a background of falling government grants, extending choice and respecting the different priorities of the three partner councils.
The mandate sets out the target that 75 per cent of students in the three boroughs should achieve five GCSE A*-C grades, including English and mathematics, in 2012 and that 90 per cent of schools should be judged good or outstanding by Ofsted.
It also sets standards for services to vulnerable children and young people.
The ambition is for children's services overall to be consistently judged as outstanding and for every children's home to be judged as good or outstanding by inspectors.
Sir Merrick Cockell, leader of Kensington & Chelsea Council said: "Families and children's services in [Kensington and Chelsea] have been consistently rated as excellent and we want to keep them that way."
"Grants are shrinking and money is tight. However, by sharing senior management we can reduce our costs, get the best value for our money and maintain the high standards of services for families in the borough."
The new combined family and children's department is a key part of the three councils' strategy for responding to funding cuts.
By combining services, the boroughs said they have been able to focus spending reductions on management and back office costs and thereby ensure relative protection for frontline services.
