Middlesbrough Council children's services supervision continues

The council said it was "time for a change" following the Ofsted report

A council's children's services department rated inadequate by Ofsted is to be overseen by the government for a further 12 months.

Middlesbrough Council was praised for its response to a finding in January of "serious and widespread failures".

The report said children were left too long in harmful situations and risks were not properly recognised.

A government official supervising improvements said the service did not need to be removed from the council.

Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston said: "Retaining control of the service is the result we wanted, but we know how much work is still required.

"This is the first significant step on a long road of recovery for the council.

"I made clear after the Ofsted report that we had no excuses for letting Middlesbrough children down and need to repeat that today."

'Accepted responsibility'

Commissioner for children's services Peter Dwyer was appointed to oversee improvements after the Ofsted report.

He said: "A new senior leadership team is in place within children's services which carries significant relevant experience and enhanced credibility.

Improvement was under way and there was evidence "some of the most concerning issues" were being addressed, he said.

Coronavirus had affected the speed of change but there was no need to remove control of the service from the council, he said.

The Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson said "while there has been some improvement, the council is still failing to perform to an adequate standard" and agreed supervision of the service should continue for another year.

'Mostly ineffective'

Middlesbrough has one of the highest rates of children requiring care in the UK and the percentage of the council's budget earmarked for the service has increased from 13% to 35% since 2010, the authority said.

Deputy mayor Antony High, who took on the role of executive member of children's services following the Ofsted report, said there was "a lot of work to do and we're determined to put things right".

The previous executive director of children's services, Helen Watson, stood down in February.

A three-week inspection of the service last year found risks were not identified and responded to effectively, "particularly in relation to long-standing concerns of chronic neglect and wider exploitation".

Help for children vulnerable to exploitation was "mostly ineffective", inspectors found.