Disabled: Warrington

Helen Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of Warrington borough council’s services for children with disabilities.

Mr. Dhanda
I have been asked to reply.

Ofsted with other inspectorates will undertake a joint area review of children’s services in Warrington in autumn 2007. This will include making a judgment and reporting specifically on services for children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

The annual performance assessment of local authority children’s services undertaken by Ofsted, with, until 2006, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, does not make a scored judgment specifically on services for such children. However, it considers such services in reaching a judgment on the council’s overall performance on children’s services. The letter summarising the 2006 annual performance assessment of Warrington, issued by the two inspectorates on 1 November 2006, notes as an area for improvement the delivery of services to children with disabilities to support their staying safe.

The recently published Disabled Children’s Review announced a funding package of £340 million over the next Comprehensive Spending Review period for 2008-09 to 2010-11, to be spent on improving service provision across the board for disabled children.