Joint area review buoys West Sussex

Children’s services in West Sussex have received a “good” rating
for four out of the five Every Child Matters outcomes in a
pilot joint area review.

Staying safe was the only outcome to receive the lower
“satisfactory” rating in the review, which was carried out by four
inspectorates.

Deputy director of children’s services John Leaver said the way the
review had been carried out was “overwhelmingly positive”, but
there were issues about inspectors drawing generalisations from a
“relatively small” caseload.

Inspectors looked at the files of fewer than 100 children. But only
10 cases were examined in detail.