Services put under official microscope

The government is carrying out a series of inquiries into how well its children’s services policies are being implemented.

Children’s minister Beverley Hughes told MPs that officials from the Department for Education and Skills were visiting councils and that safeguarding was currently being examined.

She said the inquiries made over the summer to ensure the Every Child Matters and schools standards agendas were going in the same direction had been part of the initiative.

“It’s a process of getting under the skin of certain issues and generating empirical data about what’s out there,” she told the education select committee.

The process started after Hughes noticed variations in teenage pregnancy figures across the country.