Youth services found wanting by Ofsted

A significant number of local authorities are failing to ensure their youth services are “properly integrated” into the rest of children’s services, Ofsted warned today.

The inspectorate, which made the comments in an overview report covering 33 youth services it inspected in 2005-6, also rated less than half of the services as good or better.

The study said there was a stark contrast between the strongest and weakest youth services. It judged 15 services as good or better, 11 as adequate and seven as inadequate.

It concluded that there was a need for considerable improvement in one in five of the services inspected.

The most successful services were found to have a clear vision and were able to match resources to needs effectively.

The inspectors also found that resources and quality were closely linked, with some councils expecting too much of youth services without backing this expectation with funding.


 

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