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Inspection of children's services Staffordshire County Council September 2003

The Inspection of children's services took place as part of the national programme of inspections. This was a full children's services inspection that also covered aspects of the Victoria Climbie audit. The council was experiencing a period of change. A new Chief Executive had made early changes to the corporate directorate and management of some children's strategic planning groups. Generally, social services experienced good relationships with partners at strategic level and arrangements for listening and involving children and young people were good. However, the inspection found that there were gaps in service provision, health provision was patchy and service users' experience of social services was variable. The inspection was critical of assessment and care management processes and it was of concern that a number of the recommendations from previous inspections had not been implemented. Some parts of the service were operating well, and commented on positively by users and other agencies. There was concern about the lack of established communication channels for line staff with senior managers. Overall inspectors judged the service to be serving some people well with uncertain prospects for improvement.