CHILDREN’S services in Devon are no longer inadequate after independent inspectors ruled they had improved and that no child is now left ‘at risk of harm’.

The report, carried out by Ofsted, identified need for further improvement - but after a rigorous four-week examination by a team of 10 inspectors, the 44-page report, published on Tuesday, said: “The quality of work with children and families, and the structures and procedures through which it is delivered, have improved since the last inspection.

“Outcomes for children and young people have also improved.

“Where failings have been identified, these are not widespread or serious and children have not been left at risk of harm.”

The inspectors said county council leader John Hart, Cabinet member for children’s services, James McInnes, chief executive, Phil Norrey, and strategic director of People, Jennie Stephens, have a clear idea of the performance and quality of services for children.

“(They) have prioritised this area of activity, ensuring that greater resourcing has been applied to achieve improvement,” say the inspectors.

“Since the previous inspection, much has been achieved in ensuring that compliance with core responsibilities is met. The achievements are substantial.

“A far more stable base of permanent staff is being secured, reducing the previous over-reliance on agency and interim staff and managers.

“Senior managers have a sufficiently clear understanding of very many of the challenges ahead for the local authority and key partner agencies.”

James McInnes, who the inspectors describe as a ‘very involved’ lead councillor, said: “I am very pleased that we are no longer judged to be inadequate.

“But I am not complacent and there must be no complacency from any member of Devon County Council’s staff, any councillor or any of our partner agencies.

“This improvement took longer than we wanted and it is just one step on the road to our aim of providing good services for children and families across Devon, vital services that keep our children safe.

“I am very clear no one should use this as an excuse to sit back - It is an improvement but we still need to improve much more.”

Ten inspectors from the standards watchdog, Ofsted, spent four weeks in Devon in February and March examining services for children and families provided by Devon County Council and its partners in other agencies such as health, GPs, the police, probation and schools.

Lead inspector Jansy Kelly said the county council’s arrangements for the protection of children were judged to be inadequate in April 2013.

“The pace of change and progress since the last inspection has been sufficient to move the local authority to a position where its safeguarding services now require improvement,” she said.

There must also be ‘active engagement’ with partner agencies to ensure that early help and safeguarding services to children and their families continue to develop and become fully effective.

Education managers have significantly improved their personal education plans for looked-after children and established innovative ‘Missing Monday’ meetings to monitor and deal quickly with children missing education.

Mr McInnes said: “We are working hard to ensure that we are offering the right support to care leavers.

“We are looking at every case in detail and training staff to ensure they know exactly how they can help care leavers.

“We firmly believe that many of these young people are being actively supported but this is not always being recorded as well as it should be - obviously we’re reviewing that.”