Norfolk MPs meet Children’s Services Director and Commissioner David Hill

Norfolk MPs today reiterated their support for the improvement of Norfolk County Council’s Children’s Services and outlined how they will work from Westminster to assist the department.

Norfolk MPs yesterday met the Commissioner appointed to recommend improvements in Norfolk County Council’s Children’s Services, David Hill, and, in a separate meeting, Michael Rosen, Norfolk County Council Director of Children’s Services.

Norfolk MPs Elizabeth Truss, George Freeman, Chloe Smith, Richard Bacon, Keith Simpson, Henry Bellingham, Brandon Lewis and Norman Lamb will join forces after the meetings to lobby Education Secretary Nicky Morgan for help to attract top-quality social workers to Norfolk.  Morgan recently unveiled plans to improve recruitment, retention and development of social workers, including a £100m boost to the Frontline schemeWe want to raise the quality of social work and overhaul social worker education and practice to improve the recruitment, retention and development of social workers. We are doing this by providing definitive statements on the knowledge and skills that social workers should have and display at three important levels, Approved Child and Family Practitioner; Practice Supervisor and Practice Leader and we are rolling out a national, practice-focused, career pathway through the development of an assessment and accreditation system based on the highest levels of skill and knowledge. Schemes like Teach First have helped transform teaching into one of the most prestigious and high status professions in the country, and we must now do the same for social work. And that is why we will be investing a further £100m into Frontline, and into our specialist course, Step-up.development .

Chloe Smith MP and George Freeman MP, who chaired the meetings, also urged the County Council to continue their focus on all of the five inadequacies or required improvements identified in the October 2015 Ofsted report.  In particular, they encourage the council to:

• make good use of data to drive performance
• ensure a comprehensive ethos throughout their organization for children in care
• ensure that every opportunity is identified for early intervention so that fewer children go into care, or are identified for safeguarding

Elizabeth Truss MP said:

“It is vital that our most vulnerable children get all the support they need. I will work with my fellow MPs to ensure Norfolk gets it fair share of the Frontline programme so we can attract more social workers to the county. We are seeking a meeting with Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary on this. I will also be pressing for better support for children with SEN; they need school places that can help them thrive.”

George Freeman MP said:

“In the same way that Norfolk needs to be much more ambitious in recruiting and retaining great teachers, we need to be more ambitious about recruiting and retaining great social workers. I’m delighted that the Government has announced a £100 million fund for social work recruitment and along with other Norfolk MPs, I will be contacting the Secretary of State to put in a strong bid for Norfolk.” We want to raise the quality of social work and overhaul social worker education and practice to improve the recruitment, retention and development of social workers. We are doing this by providing definitive statements on the knowledge and skills that social workers should have and display at three important levels, Approved Child and Family Practitioner; Practice Supervisor and Practice Leader and we are rolling out a national, practice-focused, career pathway through the development of an assessment and accreditation system based on the highest levels of skill and knowledge. Schemes like Teach First have helped transform teaching into one of the most prestigious and high status professions in the country, and we must now do the same for social work. And that is why we will be investing a further £100m into Frontline, and into our specialist course, Step-upWe want to raise the quality of social work and overhaul social worker education and practice to improve the recruitment, retention and development of social workers. We are doing this by providing definitive statements on the knowledge and skills that social workers should have and display at three important levels, Approved Child and Family Practitioner; Practice Supervisor and Practice Leader and we are rolling out a national, practice-focused, career pathway through the development of an assessment and accreditation system based on the highest levels of skill and knowledge. Schemes like Teach First have helped transform teaching into one of the most prestigious and high status professions in the country, and we must now do the same for social work. And that is why we will be investing a further £100m into Frontline, and into our specialist course, Step-up

Chloe Smith MP said:

“Norfolk’s most vulnerable children need this improvement, because they have been let down for too long.  As constituency MPs we want to support Children’s Services to do better, and to make Norfolk known for being the best.  I will be pressing for holistic improvements across the department, and in particular for intervention as early and smartly as possible where it’s needed so that Norfolk children can be helped not to go into care.  It’s also crucial that we keep up the focus on education and employment for young people too, and I want to see a coherent leadership commitment to the young people of Norfolk.”