Child protection services still bad and not improving, MPs warn

The Public Accounts Committee said the Government had to publish a clear plan for improvement

Children are being put at risk, the report warns (Getty)

Children are being left “at risk of harm” because of the Government’s failure to credibly improve child protection services, an influential committee of MPs has warned.

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which has been holding an inquiry into the child protection system, and has conclude that progress on improving the services had been “too slow”.

Five and a half years ago the Munro Report, set up by then Education Secretary Michael Gove, called for the system to be overhauled in light of a number of high-profile failures.

But in a new report released on Friday, the cross-party committee accused ministers of “complacency” and urged the Department for Education to publish detailed plans to re-make the system.

The inquiry concluded that the Government still had “no credible plan to improve services and grow a quality social work force” despite less than a quarter of services being “good” by Ofsted inspectors.

The committee said this state of affairs was “by no standards” an improvement.

It called on the Department to “set out detailed plans, including a timetable and resources, for how it will work with local authorities to transform services” to get reforms back on track, it said.

“Government complacency over improving children's services must end now,” said Meg Hillier, the committee’s chair.

“There are nearly 800,000 children in need of help or protection every year – children who for far too long have been let down by the support available.

“There is much at stake here and by the spring I will expect the Department for Education to provide us with clear plans to drive the improvements that are woefully overdue.”

Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner for England, said she had previously raised concerns about a lack of improvement and that there were “huge disparities” between areas.

“It is critical that every child in the country is properly protected from harm – there should be no room for complacency. No child’s safety should be dependent on a postcode lottery of spending and provision.

“I have previously raised concerns about the lack of progress in improving protection for children in many parts of the country and we need to see drastic and rapid improvement.

“Although authorities are facing challenges such as increased referrals, excellent performance ought still to be possible in every area.

“There needs to be far more emphasis on learning and implementing lessons from the best performing authorities. The huge disparities in average social work spend per child do not correlate with local authority performance, so part of the solution must lie in spending money more wisely.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have a relentless focus on keeping children safe, and it is wrong to suggest otherwise.

“This year we published plans to deliver excellent children's social care across the country, and through new legislation are further strengthening protection for the most vulnerable children and transforming the support available to them.

“We take tough action where councils are failing children, stepping in to make sure improvement plans are taken forward as a matter of urgency.”