By Vivienne Russell | 17 December 2012
The Wales Audit Office has criticised Pembrokeshire County Council for failing to improve its child protection arrangements quickly enough.
A panel of external experts, known as a ministerial advisory board, were sent to Pembrokeshire in October 2011 after education and social care inspectors raised concerns about ‘longstanding, systemic and deep-seated’ child protection failures at the council. Specifically, there were allegations of abuse of school pupils by teachers, including tying their hands and locking them in padded ‘time out’ rooms. In a separate incident, the head teacher of a Pembrokeshire school was jailed in 2009 for sexually assaulting girls in his care.
Watchdogs said the council was slow to react to these incidents and criticised the lack of oversight by senior officers and elected members.
But a special WAO inspection of the council, published today, identified a lack of progress in putting in place robust child safeguarding arrangements.
It found that, although Pembrokeshire had produced the required range of policies and procedures, it had not paid enough attention to identifying and addressing the underlying causes of the failings. It had also been slow to develop guidance on the use of ‘time out’ rooms and had made little progress since January 2012 in helping elected members challenge officers.
Huw Vaughan Thomas, auditor general for Wales, said: ‘I am aware of recent signs of improvement, and of the encouraging views of the ministerial advisory board. However, based on my own findings and those of [Welsh education inspectorate] Estyn, also published today, I am not able to provide assurance that these changes are likely to result in the improvements needed.
‘Given the extent of work required to ensure that effective safeguarding arrangements operate effectively, it is my opinion that the council needs additional support to help it drive change.
‘To help it make the required improvement, I have recommended Welsh ministers provide assistance to the council, by exercising their power under section 28 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009.’
In October this year, following the completion of the WAO’s inspection, the chair of the ministerial advisory board wrote to the council leader and chief executive giving an ‘overall positive’ report on the council’s progress.
The Wales Audit Office has criticised Pembrokeshire County Council for failing to improve its child protection arrangements quickly enough.
A panel of external experts, known as a ministerial advisory board, were sent to Pembrokeshire in October 2011 after education and social care inspectors raised concerns about ‘longstanding, systemic and deep-seated’ child protection failures at the council. Specifically, there were allegations of abuse of school pupils by teachers, including tying their hands and locking them in padded ‘time out’ rooms. In a separate incident, the head teacher of a Pembrokeshire school was jailed in 2009 for sexually assaulting girls in his care.
Watchdogs said the council was slow to react to these incidents and criticised the lack of oversight by senior officers and elected members.
But a special WAO inspection of the council, published today, identified a lack of progress in putting in place robust child safeguarding arrangements.
It found that, although Pembrokeshire had produced the required range of policies and procedures, it had not paid enough attention to identifying and addressing the underlying causes of the failings. It had also been slow to develop guidance on the use of ‘time out’ rooms and had made little progress since January 2012 in helping elected members challenge officers.
Huw Vaughan Thomas, auditor general for Wales, said: ‘I am aware of recent signs of improvement, and of the encouraging views of the ministerial advisory board. However, based on my own findings and those of [Welsh education inspectorate] Estyn, also published today, I am not able to provide assurance that these changes are likely to result in the improvements needed.
‘Given the extent of work required to ensure that effective safeguarding arrangements operate effectively, it is my opinion that the council needs additional support to help it drive change.
‘To help it make the required improvement, I have recommended Welsh ministers provide assistance to the council, by exercising their power under section 28 of the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2009.’
In October this year, following the completion of the WAO’s inspection, the chair of the ministerial advisory board wrote to the council leader and chief executive giving an ‘overall positive’ report on the council’s progress.
