Improvement
Ofsted: More to do to improve Birmingham's children's services
Birmingham City Council has ‘further work’ to do to improve its children’s services, an Ofsted monitoring visit has found.
Government backs sector-led improvement for children's services
The Department for Education (DfE) has signalled a major policy shift with a £20m investment for a new programme of sector-led improvement for children’s services.
Sutcliffe: CQC 'got some things wrong' in local systems reviews
The chief inspector of social care has admitted mistakes were made in the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) initial approach to local systems reviews.
To the power of four
As part of the second installment of children's services essays collated by iMPOWER, Mark Rogers argues quality services stem from a quartet of officer and political leadership at local and national level, and calls for the sector to commission a long-term partner, or partners, to drive improvement.
Gavin Jones: We must become learning organisations
Kicking off a series of articles, Gavin Jones argues the increasingly complex world challenges the prevailing ways councils work and think. The sector must now adapt.
Ministers hand councils new education role
Scottish ministers have watered down plans to reduce council influence over schools.
'Systemic and persistent' failures in council's children's services
Worcestershire CC has said it has invested an extra £5.1m into improving children’s social care this year after a damning report from a government commissioner.
Improvement panel to remain in Birmingham
The team brought in to turn Birmingham City Council around has backtracked on its plans to withdraw.
Welsh councils' performance improves
Nearly two-thirds of council services in Wales have improved over the last year, according to new figures.
Rotherham wins back more control
Rotherham MBC has won back democratic control of all functions apart from children’s social care, the Government has confirmed.
Brum leader Clancy steps down amid growing pressure
Birmingham City Council leader John Clancy has stepped down amid growing pressure from the media and central government.
Javid calls for urgent update on Brum
Communities secretary Sajid Javid has called for an urgent update on what is happening in Birmingham, as the leader faces calls to step down.
All councils should sign up to peer review challenges
Following the results of a survey by The MJ, Michael Burton argues peer reviews are critical to performance monitoring.
Brum leader faces down pressure to quit
Birmingham City Council’s leader was battling for his political survival this week as he faced down calls for him to quit over the long-running bin dispute.
Croydon scolded for children's services performance
Croydon LBC has failed to improve children’s services quickly enough, according to a damning report from Ofsted.
Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi...
Milton Keynes’ corporate director for people caused a stir when he blogged that the history of sector-led improvement (SLI) could be explained using Kylie song titles.
An uncomfortable truth
Mark Rogers says the sector is not regulating itself properly and offers a suggestion for a revamped sector-led improvement scheme.
Brum improvement team set to withdraw
The team brought in to help Birmingham turn itself around has called on the secretary of state to let it step back in light of improvements and the new management team in place.
Councils need to come up Trumps on building trust
While British local government hasn’t reached the depths of the Trump administration when it comes to farce, the sector does need to build trust, to communicate and to engage the public more effectively, writes Heather Jameson.
'Slow' progress council to create children's services company
Reading Council has announced plans to transfer its failing children’s services to a council-owned company after inspectors noted improvements were not happening fast enough.