Decision details

Cabinet to note the progress made delivering the Improvement Plan, the results / feedback from recent Ofsted Monitoring Visits and inspections from the Children’s Commissioner (and his resulting recommendations to the Department for Education), the forward plan for improvement priorities for 2020 and the expected inspections this year.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the progress made delivering the Children’s Improvement programme and the findings from the recent Children’s Commissioner Visit and the fourth Ofsted Monitoring Visit be noted.

2.    That the on-going scrutiny arrangements of the improvement programme for the next 6-12 months as described in paragraphs 16-24 of the submitted report be reviewed and agreed.

3.       That Cabinet would review progress in May 2020 on the delivery of the Children’s improvement programme and the findings from the April 2020 Ofsted Monitoring Visit be agreed.

Reason for decision:

The next Ofsted Monitoring Visit will take place on 7 and 8 April 2020 with publication of the inspector’s findings in late-April 2020. At this point the service is expected to have greater certainty on whether the Surrey’s children’s services will be ready for a full re-inspection from Ofsted this year.

As outlined in the main section of the report, the improvement programme is progressing well with Surrey’s children’s services successfully delivering the actions from the improvement plan to address Ofsted recommendations from the 2018 full inspection. There are comprehensive scrutiny arrangements already in place for 2020 with involvement from council officers, Members, partner agencies, the Department for Education and other key stakeholders.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children, Families, Lifelong Learning & Culture Select Committee]