Kent's Children's Services Rated Good by Ofsted

Yesterday saw the publication of Ofsted's inspection report on Kent County Council's Children's Services. The outcome was very encouraging, rating the Council's services as 'Good'. This puts Kent in the top third or better of authorities in the country.

The result is all the better, given that Kent's services were rated 'Inadequate' in 2010, an outcome described by KCC Leader Paul Carter as the darkest day of his leadership of the County. An extensive improvement programme has been in place since then, yielding an 'Adequate' rating in 2013 and now the move up to 'Good'. And this for a big and complex county, in which the Council  not only has responsibility for around 1,400 local children in care, but has also had to deal with significant inflows of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC), especially during a big surge in numbers in 2015. There are also roughly as many looked after children placed in the County by other local authorities.

The report gave high praise to services supporting adoption, fostering, children in care and those leaving care, asylum seeking children, those on 'the edge of care' and others, including the Virtual School Kent; it also praised the commitment and high quality practice of Kent's social workers. Some areas still have room for improvement, notably those for 'children who need help and protection'; in some cases, referrals were closed down prematurely and practice was not consistently good. Overall, the report provides some ten recommendations for improvement.

This strong outcome is a tribute to the dedication of front-line staff; to a senior management team that has given clear and committed leadership; and to political leaders, above all my predecessors in this job, Jenny Whittle and Peter Oakford, who backed the process of improvement unswervingly and were willing to put the necessary resources behind it. As the new portfolio holder for Children's Services, I can (and do) claim no credit for this result; however, I now have a job to do in overseeing the Council's practice development plan, which will seek both to implement the report's recommendations and to drive still further overall improvement.

You can find the full report here.

KCC response to South Eastern Rail franchise consultation

Kent County Council has put in a very thorough response to the Department for Transport (DfT)'s consultation on the new South Eastern rail franchise, which closes today. The new franchise to run services in the County will come into effect in December next year.

The response is very wide-ranging, covering some matters that are very remote from Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley, such as a Thanet Parkway Station, but also some that are very close to home. Overall, KCC emphasises the need for enhanced services, including more space on trains, to meet the needs of the County's rapidly rising population. There is support for a DfT proposal for stock to be transferred from Thameslink (which is itself taking on new stock) to the South Eastern services to enhance capacity.

Otford Station is among those picked out as requiring enhanced connectivity, in particular to Sevenoaks and to Maidstone East. Otford is also highlighted as one of the stations in need of enhanced parking capacity.

KCC has also worked with and promotes the proposals from the Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association, for Sevenoaks to have a special status (similar to that of Watford junction) in relation to the London zonal fares, integrated with them but set by the Train Operating Company rather than by Transport for London. It also urges consideration of including the Darent Valley stations between Sevenoaks and Swanley in the scheme.

You can find a press release summarising KCC's response here, and the full document here.

New Cabinet role: some change, and some même chose

Following the County Council elections, KCC Leader Paul Carter has appointed a new Cabinet. I have taken on the role of Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education.

Previously I was the Cabinet Member for Education and Health Reform. The new post means some continuity - I retain the responsibility for Education that I have had for the last four years - but also change. In particular, and reflecting recent changes to KCC's Directorate structure, I will also take on responsibility for Specialist Children's Services (such as child protection, fostering and adoption), as well as youth services and KCC's role in youth justice. Almost everything that the Council delivers to children and young people will come within the portfolio; its list of responsibilities is very long indeed.

A corollary of this is that I step aside from my work on KCC's relationship with the NHS, including chairing Kent's Health and Wellbeing Board. This is something of a wrench - I have worked at this for much of the last seven years, and have developed knowledge, relationships and engagement with the fascinating and important issues of the health and care system. However, it is perhaps time to move on, and the new portfolio is a much better and more coherent fit. And it is a chance to serve the young people of Kent, including the most vulnerable - a big but exciting responsibility.

The new Cabinet in full is:

Leader of the Council - Paul Carter
Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Strategic Commissioning & Public Health - Peter Oakford
Cabinet Member for Finance - John Simmonds
Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care - Graham Gibbens
Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education - Roger Gough
Cabinet Member for Customers, Communications and Performance - Susan Carey
Cabinet Member for Planning, Highways, Transport & Waste - Matthew Balfour
Cabinet Member for Corporate and Democratic Services - Eric Hotson
Cabinet Member for Economic Development - Mark Dance
Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services - Mike Hill

A20 fatal crash

Many people will have seen the reports of the shocking car crash, in which two young men were killed, on the A20 London Road near Farningham some ten days ago. The collision - invoking three vehicles - took place at around 1:20 am on Saturday 29 April, near the junction with Eglantine Lane. The two young men who lost their lives were both musicians: Mike Crampton, keyboard player with the Dartford band The Pisdicables, and his friend James Montegriffo. Eight other people were injured, one seriously.

I did not post about this at the time - it did not seem right to do so in the midst of an election campaign - but it is clearly important to track any information that emerges from now on as to what happened and why.

A lot of concerns have been raised about safety on the A20, and in particular around the junctions in Farningham - I have attended two site meetings seeking to address the issues in the last eighteen months. Kent Highways has identified the A20 junction with Button Street as having a particular concentration of accidents, and are looking to bring forward measures to address this, but there is less agreement and clarity regarding other potential problems on the A20.

At the time of writing, we have yet to see reports from Kent Police and others, and so it is impossible to draw any conclusions, or to say whether or not the horrific events were caused by features of the road that might be susceptible to highways engineering solutions. Reports indicate that the collision was head on rather than involving a vehicle emerging from a junction.

For now, our thoughts must be with the friends and families of the victims of the crash, but as more details emerge I will post further updates, including emerging conclusions as to any possible courses of action.

Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley

I was delighted to be elected at last Thursday's County Council elections as the Member for the new Division of Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley. The results were:

Roger Gough (Conservative)         3,289 (64.4%)
Theo Michael (Labour)                     502 (9.8%)
Krish Shanmuganathan (Lib Dem)   476 (9.3%)
Philip Dodd (Green).                         463 (9.1%)
Graham Cushway (UKIP).                374 (7.3%)

Turnout was 32.3% of a large electorate of almost 16,000 voters.

This was a clear and emphatic result. It is not possible to make a comparison with the 2013 results because of boundary changes, but there has clearly been a strong move towards the Conservatives, as was seen across much of the rest of the county and indeed the country. And while there was some variation between polling districts, it was clear that my support came from across the Division.

My twelve years representing the Darent Valley Division expire tomorrow. I will carry forward into the new Division many of the villages and communities that I have represented, but will sadly lose Swanley Christchurch, Swanley High Firs and Badgers Mount. The new communities in the Division (making up around half the electorate) will be the parishes of Otford, Kemsing and Seal (including Seal Chart and Underriver).

As an electoral map of Kent shows, Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley is a large and rather oddly-shaped Division. It borders London, and runs from the North of the District southwards, snaking round to the East and (despite its name) slightly to the South of Sevenoaks Town. I look forward to representing residents from all communities, old and new.

The outcome in the Division reflected the overall picture in Kent. The Conservatives have been returned with 67 out of 81 County Councillors. The Liberal Democrats, with 6 Councillors, are now the opposition party. UKIP, who made up the official opposition in the 2013-17 Council, have been obliterated from the electoral map of Kent (again, this was reflected locally; while they were runners up in Darent Valley in 2013, they came bottom of the poll in the new Division).

Thank you to everyone who voted, and above all to those who gave me their confidence and support. Tomorrow it is back to County Hall for the start of a new Council term.

Out and about 2017

I have been relatively quiet on this blog of late, not least because the County Council elections are in full swing. I have been out campaigning across the Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley Division. Polling is tomorrow. Getting out across the Division has been a great reminder of how lovely it is - even on a grey day, as in the photo I took looking out over Eynsford.

The establishment of the new Division, created by the Boundary Commission, replaces the current Darent Valley Division. This means, regrettably, an end to my representing Swanley (except for Swanley Village, which comes into the new Division) and Badgers Mount. I attended last Friday's Badgers Mount Annual Parish Meeting and said my goodbyes. I am sad that, whatever happens tomorrow, I will no longer represent either area.

Eynsford - village entry point

There have long been concerns about safety around the point where traffic enters Eynsford on the A225 from the south.  Traffic tends to be fast moving as it comes in from the open road, and bends make visibility poor.

With support from my Combined Member Fund, signage has been enhanced to warn drivers of pedestrians crossing, and a SLOW sign has been refreshed. There is more to do to refresh the high fruition surfacing that also acts as a reminder that drivers are entering a village; this is due to follow, but the existing works already represent a useful step forward.