Good news. Like the proverbial buses, you wait for ages and then three arrive at the same time. I’m talking about Children’s Services at Devon. After over a decade of disappointment and failure, the Council has finally received three pieces of positive news in the last few days. First was the monitoring letter from OFSTED. It concentrated on housing for care leavers. This was one of the main causes for the inadequate rating. The letter recognised Devon has made significant progress since January. ‘They are overseeing a much-needed programme of improvements across children’s services.’

This was followed by the government appointed commissioner’s report, which considered whether the council should continue to run children’s services and whether it had the capacity to deliver the required improvements. The conclusion was clear. The commissioner said Devon had the capacity and capability to improve within a reasonable timeframe and that ministers could confidently leave operational control with the council. He also backed the council’s One Devon approach to unitary, warning that breaking up Devon County Council could halt progress and risk standards slipping backwards.

The third piece of good news was around the government’s announcement on capital spending for SEND. We have been given the choice to either continue with plans for a special school at Cranbrook or use the capital to provide hubs or to support mainstream inclusion across the county. The sum involved is £3.5 million. We’ve got until the end of February to make the decision. Obviously, we’ll need to discuss it amongst ourselves and with our partners but increasing inclusion across all our schools is very much part of our plans. It’s what we stated in our recent sufficiency paper on SEND at cabinet. I haven’t been slow in criticising government when they try and control how we do things. On this occasion they have given us the choice, letting us decide what is best for our situation. That’s good governance and I applaud them.

We’re making the improvements but there’s still a long way to go. We are also having to deal with the legacy issues that years of failure has left us with. I apologize again to those families caught up in a system that has not worked. We need to help and support those that need it and make sure we never find ourselves in this position again. Investing in our children is the right thing to do. Not only for our vulnerable children and their families but across the board. The more we spend on young children and their families, prevention and early intervention, the better and brighter all our futures will be. Government talks a lot about investment and growth, and they go hand in hand. If I had an ask, it would be we invest in our children. I appreciate we wouldn’t see the benefits for at least a decade, but we desperately need more medium and long-term thinking if we are to compete in the global market.

As a new administration we have made it clear, across the council, that supporting our children is our top priority. It would be remiss of me not to thank the dedicated and talented staff at DCC that have made that possible.