Children's home run by Tressell Homes Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 1

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Tressell Homes Ltd

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children. The home specialises in caring for children who may have been, or who are, experiencing emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager resigned on 30 March 2020. A new manager has been in post since 20 July 2020 and was registered with Ofsted on 14 August 2020.

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This monitoring visit

This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 17 March 2020.

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This monitoring visit

Following the inspection, the responsible individual made the decision to close the home. No children have lived there since 17 March 2020.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has informed Ofsted of the intention to accommodate children again. This monitoring visit took place to review the progress that has been made to meet the requirements of the regulations.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has reviewed the leadership and management of the home and the skills and competence of the staff working there. The responsible individual has taken suitable measures to address the weaknesses found at the last inspection and has demonstrated the awareness and capacity to make improvements. The home is now in a position where the responsible individual and manager can start to plan to offer a home to children.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has appointed a new manager with the necessary management experience, qualifications, leadership skills and confidence. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 2 The responsible individual and manager have appointed experienced and qualified staff. They have made sure that the recruitment of new staff is thorough and minimises any potential risks to children.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has designed a detailed induction and training programme to be completed by the staff team before any children move into the home. The programme aims to make sure that staff understand the overall objectives and ethos of the home and the outcomes it wants to achieve for children. There is a clear focus on staff understanding their role and responsibilities and the needs of children and having the expertise to deliver the expected quality of care. The programme is tailored to dealing with the weaknesses found at the inspection in safeguarding practice, understanding and managing risk, and promoting children’s health and education outcomes.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has reflected on her responsibilities for supervising the management of the home. She has introduced a monitoring system that enables her to have management oversight and identify any weaknesses. There are clear expectations and lines of accountability for the manager to review and monitor children’s experience and care practice. The responsible individual plans to introduce regular management meetings with the managers of the children’s home. This should provide managers with peer support and opportunities to reflect, share and develop good practice. The responsible individual and the manager will review the effectiveness of the scrutiny provided by the independent person.

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This monitoring visit

The responsible individual has made improvements to the quality of the accommodation to protect children from avoidable hazards to their health. The house is clean, well-maintained and suitably decorated and furnished. New internal doors have been fitted and locks have been removed from the doors to the kitchen, dining room and living room. Children are now able to access all the shared areas of the home, just as in a family home.

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This monitoring visit

The effectiveness of the improvements and their impact on children’s experiences and safety could not be evidenced during the monitoring visit. This is because children are not living at the home. Therefore, the requirements made at the last inspection remain in place. The home’s progress in meeting these requirements will be reviewed through Ofsted’s inspection activities after children start to live in the home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/03/2020 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children and that they use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)) 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their education potential and are helped to do so. 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use reasonable endeavours to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non- attendance and to return to school as soon as possible; and staff help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(iv)(viii)(ix)) The health and well-being standard is that the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(c)) 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 5 communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 6 ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(d)(e)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

(i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

(ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)(g)(h)) 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 7 The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and that each child’s relevant plans are followed.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(b)(ii)(c)) 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it and notify HMCI of any revision and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. The registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 16 (1)(3)(a)(b)(5)) 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home— 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 8 the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 25 (2)(b)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualifications and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 9 The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (‘the user’), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i) (ii)(c)) The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which include the information and documents 31/10/2020 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 10 listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home. The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4 and ensure that the records are kept up to date.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the records include a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, a record of the actual rotas worked, and a record of any persons who work at any time at the home. 31/10/2020

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 31/10/2020

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 41, Price Street Business Centre, Price Street, Birkenhead, Cheshire CH41 4JQ

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Inspector

Nick Veysey, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: 2540658 12 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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