As we return to council business, my focus is on the lessons we must learn from recent setbacks. One of the council’s highest-spending departments is children’s services. Unfortunately, it has been downgraded to ‘inadequate’ in a recent Ofsted inspection following years of strong performance. This is incredibly disappointing, especially in light of the £1.5 million cut to the children’s services budget three years ago by the ruling administration in control of the council —a decision I personally warned would harm service quality.
This decline has now prompted central government intervention, with the Department for Education issuing a rare improvement notice to the council. The root cause of the problem goes back to 2023, when a controversial ‘service redesign’ of children’s services was implemented by the current administration leading Harrow Council. Despite warnings from staff, councillors, and stakeholders at the time, the administration pushed ahead—and now, sadly, we see the results.
Let me be clear: I am grateful to the many hardworking frontline staff in children’s services who continue to do their best under difficult conditions. But I remain deeply frustrated that the current political leadership has let our borough down. The recent inspection highlighted eight key areas in need of urgent improvement:
- Leadership stability and effective decision-making.
- Better support and guidance for care leavers, especially those with additional needs or requiring support up to age 25.
- Stronger identification of, and response to, risks to care leavers’ welfare.
- Improved quality of pathway plans for care leavers.
- More effective help for 16 and 17-year-olds who present as homeless.
- A consistent and timely response to care leavers who go missing.
- More reliable staffing for children and young people.
- Robust supervision and management oversight of social workers and personal advisers.
Each of these areas is vital in safeguarding and supporting vulnerable children and families in our community. Harrow has a proud history of strong performance in children’s and youth services, and we must now work together to restore that record. We will continue to hold the ruling administration to account and work constructively with senior council officers and partners to drive improvements, following this disappointing downgrade to “inadequate”. However, I remain concerned that this administration has failed to learn key lessons as they are proposing another future ‘service redesign’ to get the department back on track, as this was a contributing factor to the recent downgraded Ofsted inspection result.
Learning from past mistakes is essential. I remain hopeful that Harrow can bounce back from this setback and deliver the high-quality services our young people deserve.
Finally, thank you to all the residents who continue to contact our office—even during the holidays—with local concerns. Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable end to the summer break!
