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Council chief executives will be more accountable for failures in child safeguarding in the future, the education secretary has warned. The Department for Children Schools and Families used new guidance to clarify responsibilities, following the case of Baby Peter. Under the new rules, the lead member for children's services, the council leader, chief executive and director of children's services will be responsible for ensuring safeguarding arrangements are robust, with chief executives being additionally required to write an annual report on their assessment of the arrangements. At its annual conference, the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) were highly critical of the new guidance, which will mean increased scrutiny of its members' work. ADCS president, Kim Bromley-Derry, said: ‘Blurring the lines between political and professional leadership, with both the director of children's services and the lead member "ensuring" that key services are available, and both the chief executive and the leader of the council confirming this is the case, will not help clarify that line of accountability.' But, speaking at the same conference, education secretary, Ed Balls, was confident that making more people accountable for safeguarding children was a move in the right direction. He said: ‘There will always be a little creative tension between the statutory officer (government) and the political leader (local authority). But that can be a good thing.' He warned delegates: ‘This is good guidance and the right guidance, and we won't be reviewing it any time soon.' Mr Balls also admitted to the conference that Ofsted's new inspection framework around safeguarding under the new comprehensive area assessment (CAA) was not yet watertight. He said: ‘We might not get it right this autumn, but we will keep working on it. ‘The important thing is we have an inspection framework which doesn't lead to surprising and unexpected outcomes.'

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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Balls unveils Baby P rules

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