Ofsted conducted an unannounced inspection of child protection services in Norfolk in February 2013 and judged these as “inadequate”. This was subsequently followed by an inspection of looked-after children’s services in June 2013 which was also judged as “inadequate”.
Ministers issued a statutory direction on 18 December 2013. The direction requires:
- the council to incorporate improvement activity for looked-after children services alongside ongoing improvement work around child protection
- an independent review of the council’s approach and improvement plans