LGA blasts Ofsted for "blinkered" approach to inspecting children's services

Ofsted takes too narrow an approach to inspecting children’s services and fails to assess the contribution of other agencies such as the police and health, the Local Government Association has claimed.

The LGA called for the way children’s services are inspected to be overhauled, “so the roles of everyone involved in protecting vulnerable children are monitored and included in a judgment”.

It described Ofsted’s present approach as “blinkered” and argued that it took a limited view of council performance.

The LGA said the regulator’s proposals for revamping inspection meant Ofsted and other inspectorates would “continue to….work narrow silos”.

The comments came ahead of a joint summit on child sexual exploitation organised by the LGA, Solace and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS).

Cllr David Simmonds, chairman of the LGA's Children and Young People Board, said: “Keeping children safe is the most important thing that councils do, but we know we cannot do it alone. Protecting children does not fall only to councils, but to the police, health services, schools and local groups.

“Inspections must reflect this. It is not fair to the children we are working to protect that Ofsted inspections only focus on council children’s services, failing to properly assess the essential work done by other organisations.”

The LGA said it had also “previously raised concerns that Ofsted is too media-focused and can no longer be relied upon to deliver trustworthy judgments”.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Ofsted shares the LGA’s commitment to protecting children and agree with the need for an inspection approach that takes into account all of the different services involved. At the same time it is important that inspectors with the right knowledge and experience take the lead in their own areas.
 
“We are working very closely with the Care Quality Commission and the criminal justice inspectorates to evaluate the recent pilot integrated inspections. Maximising the collaboration between inspectorates remains at the heart of how we believe we can continue to support improvement in the sector and contribute to sharing the best practice across all the agencies seeking to protect children from sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse and neglect.”