Urgent calls from the sector for Whitehall to improve the comparison and recording of children's services costs have been ignored, The MJ has been told.

A report by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) from last October – commissioned by the Local Government Association, London Councils, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Directors of Children's Services – found Section 251 returns were ‘not fit for the purposes either of making valid assessments of total spending on specific areas or valid comparisons between local authorities'.