A damning report into children’s services at Powys County Council has prompted widespread condemnation.

The report, issued by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate (CSSIW) found the council’s service did not meet the standards expected.

Inspectors found that children and young people did not appear to be well served by the current arrangements for accessing support services in Powys and that ‘a lack of assessment, care and support planning combined with an inconsistent approach to working in line with the child sexual exploitation guidance and the management of sexual exploitation and risk assessment placed children at risk of harm’.

 The inspection also found evidence of missed opportunities to safeguard children with risks not being appropriately and robustly assessed and  no effective system to identify and manage risk.

 It also highlighted serious performance issues with front line services, as a result of instability in management, poor and confused direction and weak governance but praised frontline staff for their ‘resilience and professionalism’, saying that ‘without effective support and capacity to undertake the work frontline staff cannot be expected to undertake the complex work required in children’s social services’.

“We have seen real commitment to protect and respond to safeguarding children in very difficult circumstances. Staff have been mutually supportive through challenging and difficult times and have shown us their real desire to move on,” said the report.?

Speaking following the publication of the report, which will be officially presented to a meeting of the county council today (Thursday) the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrat Group on the Council, Councillor James Gibson-Watt said it revealed a culture of ‘weak corporate and political leadership and very poor service management’, according to the

As a result, he said, ‘vulnerable children and young people in the care of the local authority have been exposed to risk of serious harm and sub-standard services. As well as affecting their lives now, these failings will have an impact on those children and young people for years to come.”

“It must be stressed that the Inspectors praised front-line staff for their dedication and resilience in doing their best in circumstances in which clear leadership and sound management were sadly lacking.

“The report leaves us in no doubt that these very disturbing findings are due to failures at a corporate and senior management level in the council.”

Councillor Gibson-Watt added, “As council members we have a collective responsibility as corporate parents to ensure that Children’s Services Improvement Plan, currently being considered by the CSSIW, is fully implemented without delay. The primary responsibility for carrying that out lies with the council leader and cabinet portfolio-holder for Children’s Services and the council’s senior management team. Other public bodies, such as the Local Health Board, must also play their part. As leader of the opposition on the council I will ensure that all their actions are subjected to the most rigorous scrutiny; and that all council members are regularly provided with the data and performance information they need to provide that scrutiny effectively.”

“I and my colleagues will support the cabinet in its endeavours to put right what has gone so badly wrong, but will not hesitate to expose failings whenever they occur. The children and young people of Powys deserve nothing less.”

Commenting Kirsty Williams, Welsh Lib Dem AM for Brecon and Radnorshire, said, “These findings are clearly extremely disappointing. Our most vulnerable children are being let down and put at harm by an inadequate service.

“The report is clear that frontline staff are not to blame, and they are showing resilience and professionalism despite a lack of support, leadership and direction. This is a failure of management.

“The Independent/Conservative coalition need to get a grip on the situation and that needs to happen quickly.”

The recommendations of an inspection of Powys County Council’s Children’s Services have been accepted by the county council.

“We fully accept the regulators recommendations, their report is both hard hitting and challenging. We are sorry that we failed to meet the high standards residents deserve and apologise for our shortcomings,” said Council Leader Councillor Rosemarie Harris.

“The council is totally committed to safe-guarding children in our county, and I will be leading the council’s response to the recommendations of the inspection from the front as a top priority and that ensuring that the resources are in place to underpin this work.

“We fully understand the challenges facing the service and have already taken action to strengthen key areas and to review areas of concern. We are committing additional resources to meet the future needs of the service and have in place a detailed action plan to ensure that the necessary improvements are delivered as a matter of priority.

“A great deal of work has already taken place. Changes were made to senior staff within the council and immediate steps to strengthen the service were implemented rather than wait for the final publication of the report. Subsequently very serious concerns have emerged in respect of the disclosure of information and production of data within the service which are now subject to a formal investigation.

“When the new cabinet took the helm after the election in May this year, we recognised that there were a number of weaknesses in Children’s Services.

“Together with officers we developed an escalation plan immediately to address these issues. This involved bringing in a number of additional officers to support the improvements in the service including a new Head of Service, David Johnston, who has specialist experience of improving Children’s Services. The findings of the inspection have confirmed our concerns and our prompt action has ensured measures are already in place to address the issues identified in the report.

“We have established a multi-agency Improvement Board and put in place an action plan to rectify the shortcomings of the service. We have also worked with the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) to put in place an expert team which will support the council respond to the inspection report and work with children’s services to address key issues in the inspection report. Following discussions with WLGA they have also sourced Mr Phillip Evans to be our new interim Director of Social Care for the next period with the statutory responsibility for the service. He will be tasked to ensure that safeguarding of children and the supporting legislative frameworks are completely robust and represent best practice. He will also seek support from the WLGA expert team to assist elected members and officers embark on a sustainable improvement journey in this most critical of services.