Giving young people the best start in life

摘要

Another example of The Deal in action is the recent Ofsted inspection of children's services. The inspectors praised 'a strong culture of continuous improvement' after they visited the local authority in February. To date 123 councils in England have been inspected under Ofsted's single inspection framework with more than 70 per cent rated 'inadequate' or 'requiring improvement', demonstrating the scale of achievement in Wigan, which is one of only four councils in the North West to be judged good. The inspectors also rated the local authority as 'outstanding' for adoption. The council's director of adult social care and health, Stuart Cowley says the service aims to support people to remain independent, tackle social isolation and improve health and wellbeing among residents. They have achieved this by encouraging staff to have different kinds of conversations with residents, be more aware of the community around them and by fostering an atmosphere where staff feel they are free to innovate and redesign services. 'We've taken out £26m in cash and £13m of demand pressures from adult social services, and improved services at the same time.