Liverpool children's services making progress, report finds

Ofsted inspectors rated the council's children's services as inadequate earlier this year

A council that was told its children's services were inadequate is making "expected progress" but has "much more to do", a government adviser has said.

Liverpool City Council was told by Ofsted in May that it had serious weaknesses and its services were leaving children at risk of harm.

The council is now working with a Department for Education (DfE) adviser to focus on where it needs to improve.

The first report from the adviser said it was making the right progress.

The comments were released by the council ahead of a cabinet meeting next week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

'Sustained improvement'

The new cabinet report said an action planning meeting had been held with Ofsted in August to clarify the roles, responsibilities and activities of the inspectorate and the DfE going forward.

A series of monitoring visits are to be carried out by officials from Ofsted, with reports of progress to be delivered to cabinet every six months until they are "assured that sustained improvement has been secured".

The council has also set up an independently chaired improvement board, attended by council leader Liam Robinson, cabinet member for children's services Liz Parsons, and chief executive of the council Andrew Lewis.

Former chief executive of Cheshire West and Chester Council, Gerald Meehan, has been appointed chair and set out his expectations of the board in September.

The DfE improvement adviser has been appointed to work six days a month to provide a "clear and sustained focus on areas for improvement and to ensure independent oversight of Liverpool Council's progress in line with the improvement plan."