Birmingham children's services: why the takeover threat?

BIRMINGHAM City Council's children's services could be taken over by the Government if Ofsted does not see an improvement later this month. It comes after the department, which is the biggest of its kind in England, was rated as "inadequate" by Ofsted inspectors for the last four years and described as a "national disgrace".

Why is Birmingham children's services threatened with takeover?

The threat follows four years of "inadequate" ratings from Ofsted inspectors and 20 serious case reviews in the last seven years. Among the deaths reviewed was that of seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq, who died in May 2008 after being starved by her mother and step-father. The serious case review, published in July 2010, found "a catalogue of missed opportunities" by professional agencies. Another review, published last month, into the death of Keanu Williams (pictured above), a two-year-old boy beaten to death by his mother in January 2011, found that social care workers, the police and health professionals had "collectively failed to prevent Keanu's death".

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How does Birmingham compare to the rest of the country?

With a population of 1.1 million people to deal with, Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe. But Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Ofsted chief inspector, has branded the city a "national disgrace". In Ofsted's first ever annual report on the state of children's social care across England, published last month, Birmingham was singled out as "encapsulating" the worst failings in child protection seen in the country. Infant mortality rates are almost twice the national average, reports the Daily Telegraph, and a third of children in the area are growing up in households on low incomes.

What happens next?

Ofsted is due to carry out a further review of the department in the coming weeks. The BBC says that if progress is not shown, officials from the Department for Education will take over. In the past five years, there have been five different directors of Birmingham children's services. Last month, the new head, Peter Hay, admitted that improvements had not been made and said he could not guarantee the safety of children in the city. He told Radio 4's /Today/ programme this morning that he believes the city council should still play a role in children's services, but added: "It can't do what it's always done and I absolutely respect that the secretary of state has a very difficult decision because there are no easy answers here."

Has this happened before?

In July, government officials forced Doncaster Council to cede control of its children's services after years of failure. Two months later, Education Secretary Michael Gove said he would allow the council to commission an independent children's trust rather than have the Department of Education take over. However, he warned: "It should be clear to you that I of course retain the power to remove children's services functions from Doncaster in future if it proves necessary to secure swifter improvement."