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Wiltshire Inspection Results

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Wiltshire Council Inspection and Results

Wiltshire Council was inspected last month by inspectors from OfSTED.  The aim of the inspection was to judge whether Wiltshire Council was doing a good job keeping young people safe from harm in Wiltshire and checking that young people in care in Wiltshire were being properly looked after.

The inspectors spoke to over 100 young people and lots of parents, carers, workers, managers and people from other organisations who work with the council.  They also looked at over 90 files of young people that social workers had worked with.

As you may have heard in the news, the inspectors judged that Wiltshire Council was not doing as good a job as it should be.  Key things the inspectors said were:

  • The overall work of all the services that keep young people protected from harm in Wiltshire was not good enough but they were judged to be able to improve.
  • The way Wiltshire Council looks after children and young people in care in was judged to be adequate (OK) with good prospects of improving.

The main issues were that work was not carried out at the same quality all of the time and when plans were made on how to protect children these were not always checked properly or followed up as well as they should be.

Some of the good things the inspectors said were that Wiltshire Council does an outstanding job of listening to looked after young people and involving them in the council’s decisions.  Overall young people felt safe in Wiltshire and bullying in schools is dealt with well, with young people knowing where to go to get help or support if they need it.

What Now?

Wiltshire Council has already started on an action plan to deal with every problem the inspectors found and to work to ensure young people are safe.  This plan includes improving training for staff, bringing in experienced managers to work on the issues, making sure there is enough money available to sort things out and getting experts in to check on all the cases we are already working on.

We will also make sure that young people are involved in giving their views about what needs to be improved and checking on what is happening with the action plan and supporting some of the changes.

If you would like to know more information a full copy of the official report can be found on the OfSTED website at www.ofsted.gov.uk .

Date Posted: Friday 27 April 12

Author: Christina Gregory