Inspectors from the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) are due to meet Powys county councillors and discuss the findings of their latest report on the Children’s Service Department.
Lead inspector Denise Moultie will be at County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, to discuss the report with councillors on the Health, Care and Housing Scrutiny Committee.
Councillors will also get to listen to the department’s improvement plan which needs to be submitted to CIW within 20 working days of the publication of the inspection report.
Published in January, CIW said in its latest report that it still has serious concerns on many issues.
But it noted that some improvements are taking place since the nadir of the October 2017 highly critical inspection report.
The report for the scrutiny meeting states: “The purpose of the scrutiny meeting is not only to receive a presentation on the report from the CIW.
“But also to examine the improvement plan to provide assurance that it is designed to meet the shortcomings identified within the inspection.”
During the past year, more than £12 million has been pumped into the department which is deliberately overstaffed to try to turn things around.
An Improvement and Assurance Board has also been set up to monitor progress.
Council Leader, Cllr Rosemarie Harris (Independent – Llangynidr), has said that the authority accepts the recommendations and that the report highlights areas that need more development.
“This inspection took place one year after the initial inspection report of Children’s Services was published, we are aware that this will be a long term improvement journey for the service,” said Cllr Harris.
In October 2018 a new head of Children’s Services, Jan Coles, was appointed.
She is already working on plans to restructure the service which are supposed to be in place by April 1.
In October 2017, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW), now known as the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW), produced a damning inspection report into PCC Children’s Services department, which revealed missed opportunities to safeguard children, poor risk assessment and serious performance issues with front line services.
In January 2018 the CIW gave the council a warning letter after a follow-up visit to the authority.
In January 2019 they published another critical report following an inspection in October 2018.
Following the first report in 2017 £6 million was pumped into the department to turn things around.
Another £6 million has been added to that.
