Inspection's damning criticism for council's 'failing' child care services

The Ofsted report published today reveals that "the overall effectiveness of services in Calderdale to ensure that children and young people are safe is inadequate''.

Earlier this month it emerged that Calderdale Council had suspended a number of staff after independent consultants uncovered major failings which could have left vulnerable children at risk of neglect and abuse.

And in December the authority found itself in the dock again after a serious case review which said "systemic failures" had allowed the appalling mistreatment of a six-week-old baby girl by her parents – despite her being on the child protection register.

The latest report says: "Safeguarding in Calderdale is undermined by significant weaknesses in the social care fieldwork teams.

"Despite a clear understanding in the local authority of the weaknesses in the initial response team at the time of the unnannounced inspection in July last year there is little evidence of improvement since then.

"This inspection revealed examples of poor case work practice, failures to respond to child protection, drift in the implementation of plans, children being left at risk of significant harm over many years of their childhood in unacceptable situations; the quality of their childhood has not been good enough and their life chances have significantly deteriorated due to the lack of earlier intervention.''

A record of the main findings graphically highlights the council's difficulties – out of 15 areas ranging from overall effectiveness to value for money – only one is rated good, five are adequate and nine inadequate.

Last night, Coun Craig Whittaker, portfolio holder for children's services and Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Calder Valley, insisted he would not be resigning.

He said: "I have already said that there can be no excuses for poor performance, particularly where the safety and welfare of vulnerable children is concerned. The council will not make excuses but we will do everything we can to improve.''