Doncaster is back in the bad books of central government – again. The Le Grand report
into children's services at the council feels a bit like déjà vu, with central government giving the authority a good ticking off.

From back in the days of Donnygate, the council has had its ups and downs, but all along it has been an easy target – and this latest report catalogues the history of problems with children's services.

Personally, I'm a sucker for an underdog, and have spent the past few years rooting for the beleaguered
borough to pull itself up by its boot strings. It has got a long way to pull, but it has gradually met some of the key milestones – quietly.

This latest report calls for the children's services department to be hived off into a trust, outside the realms of the local authority.

Is that what is needed? I'm no expert in children's services, but I have some reservations. For an authority already under intervention for its corporate governance, it raises the question of why the existing
intervention can't sort out the problems.

For a government that preaches localism, to send yet another layer of intervention in seems somewhat
heavy handed – you couldn't get a more centralist approach than intervention.

I suspect the reason behind both of these is the Department for Education. It is not exactly the most
localist department in Whitehall. It's so centralist, it doesn't even trust other intervention teams – it has
to have its own.

So before Doncaster continues its journey on the long road to recovery, it will have to spend the next
few months distracted by TUPE transfers, governance arrangements and setting up the trust before
either side can improve – all at the whim of the education secretary.

Ultimately, it feels a little bit like fiddling with structures while Rome burns. Let's hope Doncaster
quietly continues on its improvement journey with or without children's services in the future.