Children's Services Independent Inspection Report: Request

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A decision made 31 August 2017:

Ministerial decision MD-C-2017-0115
Decision summary title Independent Inspection of Children’s Services – Article 38 Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014
Decision summary author	Director, Children’s Policy	Is the decision summary public or exempt?		Public
Report title Independent Inspection of Children Services – Article 38 Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014
Report author or name of person giving report	Director, Children’s Policy	Is the report public or exempt?		Public
Decision and reason for the decision The Chief Minister requested, in accordance with Article 38 of the Regulation of Care (Jersey) Law 2014, a report on Children’s Services that offers an updated assessment, by an external independent agency, and which addresses the concerns expressed by the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry. The Independent Jersey Care Inquiry recommended independent inspection arrangements of children’s services that will have the confidence of children, staff and the wider public. In order to provide independent oversight, the Chief Minister has requested the Jersey Care Commission, which is itself an arms-length body, to lead on commissioning independent inspectors to undertake the necessary work. This will include the Care Commission determining relevant matters, including scope, timeframe and schedule for inspections, as well as the external inspection agency to be used. This report will be in addition to current considerations by the Care Commission regarding the wider schedule of inspections relating to children, which currently include Children’s Homes.
Resource implications There will be additional resources required during 2018 to enable the Care Commission to contract independent external inspectors to complete the required inspections, which will be requested once the scope has been determined by the Commission.
Action required Chief Minister to write to the Care Commission to request the required report. .
Signature			Position Senator I J Gorst Chief Minister

Date signed			Effective date of the decision