The Government has appointed a new commissioner to head up Northamptonshire CC's struggling children's services.

Andrew Christie, who was the head of children's services for the tri-borough area of Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster between 2011 and 2016, has taken on the role.

His predecessor Malcolm Newsam, who announced he would be leaving the role last month, took on the job after an Ofsted report in November found that people in the care of the council's children's services were at ‘potential risk'.

The Department for Education reiterated Ofsted's 2018 conclusion when announcing the appointment of Mr Christie, writing that ‘performance of children's social care services has significantly deteriorated'.

Clare Chamberlain, who worked with Mr Christie in London, has been appointed as support commissioner.