Leeds council plans to merge social services and education

Leeds City Council plans to bring its education services under the control of a new city council children’s services department. In January 2010, the council’s child protection work was described as “inadequate” after a review by Ofsted.

Leeds City Council officers explained the idea behind the change was to harness their resources more effectively in the wakes of cases such as Victoria Climbie and Baby P.

The government responded to the death of Baby P by announcing a national child protection review by Lord Laming, which was published in 2009. The local authority in Baby P’s case, Haringey, was the very same council that found itself at the centre of another child abuse scandal in 2000, after the death of Victoria Climbie.  It was therefore particularly pertinent that Lord Laming should now consider the effect of the reforms that he recommended in 2003.

In March 2009, Lord Laming published his “Progress Report.” One of the recommendations in his earlier report on Victoria Climbie was that child protection services should work together with other agencies.

This is nothing new. Working together under the Children Act 1989 (1991) HMSO an early guidance document published to inform social work  makes it plain that social workers should engage with other agencies and departments within a local authority in order to protect a child. In fact one of the most common area of concern in modern social work is the failure of agencies to communicate effectively and pass on crucial information.

Section 3 of Working Together to Safeguard Children sets out the roles and responsibilities of various agencies in relation to childcare. These agencies include local authorities and their social services departments, education authorities, independent schools, youth services, cultural and leisure services, health services, day care services, the police, youth justice, the probation and prison service and the private sector.

The 1989 “Working Together” has been updated and it remains a key document used by social workers. A revised version of Working Together to Safeguard Children is currently open for consultation on the Department for Children, Schools and Family consultations site. The consultation closes on 11 February 2010.