Cornwall children's services 'adequate' by Ofsted

Cornwall children's services are now "adequate" after more than four years of government intervention.

A report by Ofsted said "significant progress" had been made by the authority and its partners in tackling "deep-rooted problems".

The report was based on an unannounced inspection in February.

Trevor Doughty, director for children, schools and families, said children had been let down in the past, but the council had improved.

However, there was still work to do and the authority's ambition was to progress to a rating of "good" and "outstanding", he added.

In 2009 and 2011, the services were labelled as "inadequate" by Ofsted.

'Mammoth task'

The government intervention which followed included an improvement plan, which a council spokeswoman said she was confident would be removed after the grading.

The Ofsted report said: "Some services have been re-structured and new services developed, alongside new processes and systems.

"This has made a significant contribution to ensuring that child protection concerns are responded to promptly and that children in Cornwall get help and protection when they need it."

There were some areas where improvements were identified, such as ensuring every child in need had an up-to-date child protection plan.

Neil Burden, the cabinet member responsible for children and young people, said the "mammoth task" had been "very much a team effort".