Jenny Coles, director of children’s services at Hertfordshire council, talks to Community Care about the ‘good’ judgment the service has received from Ofsted.
The council was praised by Ofsted for its high-quality partnership working, particularly in its now established multi-disciplinary family safeguarding teams, the use of “top quality” performance management information, and the “wise” investment in its workforce.
The full list of questions, posed by Community Care associate editor Sarah Dennis, is:
1)How was the inspection process managed by the senior leadership team and within the wider teams?
2)What would you say have been the highlights for Hertfordshire since the last inspection and do you feel these were adequately reflected in Ofsted’s findings?
3)Ofsted highlighted the partnership working as a ‘real strength’ – can you talk about how this has been achieved in relation to the family safeguarding model that is obviously now well established in the council and how this is continuously being developed and embedded?
4)Can you talk about the strength of the council around practice concerning domestic violence and how this has been developed and achieved?
5)How is the council shaping the development of team managers and independent reviewing officers – this is a tricky area for authorities to get right and Hertfordshire has been praised for this by Ofsted?
6)How has the council strengthened its reputation as a good corporate parent?
7)Clearly the senior leadership has been rated outstanding by Ofsted – what would you say are the core factors that contributed to this?
8)How has the workforce been invested in and stabilised – what is the significant reduction in vacancy rates and agency staff and what would you say have been the core benefits?
9)How are social workers being developed in Hertfordshire – both those that are newly qualified and those that are more experienced?
10)What is the priority for the senior leadership teams in terms of improvement as noted by Ofsted?
11)And finally, what are the next stages in Hertfordshire’s journey?