Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
Councils are being urged to check they have adequate information sharing agreements with their service providers, after one council was not able to comply with an agreed Ombudsman remedy because it could not get hold of the data needed.
London Borough of Ealing had agreed to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s recommendation to carry out a statutory Children’s Services complaint investigation to remedy a complaint from one of its foster carers.
However, despite agreeing to carry out the review, Ealing was unable to access the data it needed from the National Fostering Agency (NFA) which arranged placements on its behalf.
The NFA said it could not provide data about the children the foster carers had looked after because the foster parents did not have the right to request the information.
The Ombudsman’s subsequent investigation found the council had not considered that it was itself acting in loco parentis and therefore had the right to request the children’s information from the agency.
Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:
“When councils enter into contracts with service providers they need to ensure the different parties’ responsibilities are clear from the outset – this can include areas such as complaints resolution and, as in this case, information sharing.
“Because no such agreement was in place with the agency, a foster carer has been waiting more than two years for her complaint to be resolved by Ealing Council, despite its best intentions to do so.
“I’m pleased the council has accepted my recommendations, and hope the changes it will now make will ensure any future cases will be easier to investigate.”
Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
A new study from Uswitch has revealed that the UK is the second-highest contributor to E-waste in the world, behind only Norway, generating 36,681 tonnes of household waste electrical and electronic equipment in 2021 – a 15% increase compared to 2020
That works out at roughly 23.9Kg of E-wasted generated per capita.
Inventory Management Europe – a brief history in space and time
IME – founded with the sole purpose of reducing E-waste by extending the life of IT equipment in the circular economy.
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) is the professional body that exists to advance and promote the art, science, and practice of building services engineering, to invest in education and research, and to support our community of built environment professionals in the pursuit of excellence.
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