Daily roundup: Norfolk council, charity pay, pre-school support
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Norfolk council unveils recovery plan for children's services; Charity Commission chief issues warning on voluntary sector pay; and Southampton council hire private company to deliver early years support, all in the news today.
Norfolk County Council plans to invest £16.5m in its children’s services following a damning Ofsted inspection, the BBC reports. The council said it would spend £2.7m on an outside agency to immediately employ 40 social workers for six months until it can recruit its own staff. Funding of £2.3m would go towards council staff pay for two years, £1.5m towards schools and £10m to support children with special educational needs.
Charity Commission chairman William Shawcross has warned that large salaries paid to charity staff “bring the charitable world into disrepute”. He said that charity trustees must consider whether large salaries are appropriate and fair when so many charities are experiencing funding difficulties. He was responding to a Daily Telegraph investigation that found 30 staff at 14 leading UK foreign aid charities were paid more than £100,000 last year.
Southampton City Council has appointed a private company to deliver pre-school support services in the authority. Prospects will help the early years settings complete assessments on two year olds as part of the revised Early Years Foundation Stage, and provide training and advice. It will also help the council meet requirements to provide 15 hours a week of early education for disadvantaged two-year-olds.
Annie Hudson, former strategic director for children, young people and skills at Bristol City Council, takes up her new role as the first permanent chief executive of The College of Social Work this week. Hudson said: “We cannot underestimate the challenges facing social work, including delivering consistently high quality services at a time of financial austerity.” Launched in January 2012, the college has around 7,300 members.
Walsall children’s services has improved its Ofsted rating to adequate, a year after it was judged to be failing. Inspectors said that the senior management team had helped to drive forward front line improvements and staff morale had risen. But the report, published after a recent two-week inspection, said urgent improvements still needed to be made in child protection practices and to reduce the use of agency staff, the Express and Star reports.
And finally… Stewards at a cricket test match between England and Australia were criticised by fans when they stopped children playing an impromptu game of cricket. Play had halted because of the rain, giving children an opportunity to play behind a stand at the Old Trafford stadium, the BBC reports. Stewards told the children to stop on health and safety grounds, but standers-by began chanting “are you Aussies in disguise?” and the children resumed play.