Progress made at Vinney Green custody unit

Progress has been made at the secure children's home since a highly critical report was released in August

Progress has been made at a secure children's home that was criticised for using "unlawful" restraints last year.

Ofsted inspectors said Vinney Green in Emersons Green committed "repeated failures", including the unjustified use of solitary confinement during an inspection last April.

An inspection in January did not identify "any serious or widespread concerns".

In the latest report the home was described as a "positive environment".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service the report said the quality of care provided to children at the South Gloucestershire Council-run home for young offenders "continues to improve".

"Children told inspectors that the home is calm and they feel safe," it added.

"Children benefit from well-planned care, and they have a say in the way they are looked after.

"The overall approach supports children to have a positive experience of learning how to develop the skills they need to improve their life chances."

Although it was not a full inspection, Ofsted assessed the care and safety of children and the effectiveness of managers.

The report found youngsters knew how to make a complaint and that these were "taken seriously, investigated and acted on".

The number of occasions when children are locked in an area when they meet the legal criteria of being a significant risk to themselves or others has "reduced significantly", it said.

It added that CCTV footage of restraints reviewed by inspectors showed that "staff are applying due diligence when they are restraining children".

But Ofsted said there were still problems with record-keeping of incidents, including the failure of managers to ensure the home's independent person was consistently submitting monthly reports to the regulator as required.

• Children in unit restrained unlawfully - Ofsted

• Home improves after children unlawfully restrained

The report said: "Records do not demonstrate that managers have shared the learning from the first incident with staff with the intention of reducing the risk of a reoccurrence."

Last year's report was published in June and gave a rating of "inadequate" and highlighted "significant concerns about children's care, safety and wellbeing".

At the time the council said it had taken immediate steps to address the problems.

A reinspection in August judged that it had improved to "requires improvement to be good".