The local authority will be publishing information here regarding the joint area review.
What is a joint area review?
All local authority services for children and young people, and the wide range of services from other agencies and organisations, will be subject to t a joint area review (JAR). The review provides a comprehensive report on the outcomes for children and young people in the local area. It incorporates the inspection of youth services and replaces the separate inspections of local education authorities, local authorities' social services, Connexions services, and the provision for students aged 14-19. Normally the JAR is carried out at the same times as the Audit Commission's corporate assessment of the council, and is aligned with the inspection of youth offending teams undertaken by HMI Probation.
What happens on a joint area review?
The JAR judges the outcomes for children and young people growing up in the area and evaluates how local services work together to contribute to their achievements, progress and well-being.
Services being reviewed will include:
- council services
- health services
- police and probation services,
- publicly funded services provided by voluntary bodies
Evidence from other inspections, such as schools, further education colleges and residential settings contribute to the review also.
Who is on a joint area review inspection team?
Review teams are multi-disciplinary and normally have inspectors from at least four inspectorates/commisions, including Ofsted, the Commission for Social Care Inspect (CSCI), the Health Care Commission (HCC), the Audit Commission and, where appropriate, the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI).
What is involved in a joint area review?
- Tellus questionnaire - web-based survey which 600 children and young people are asked to take part in - takes place before the inspection. Responses are collated and presented in a report for use by the review team for the next stage of the inspection.
- First week - on-site inspection analysing all available evidence, including the Tellus survey responses. Inspectors then decide where they need to collect first-hand inspection evidence.
- Next 2 weeks - Includes a neighbourhood study and fieldwork undertaken focusing on gathering evidence directly from children, young people, their parents and carers, front-line works, service and senior managers, elected members and the council's partners. Also, a number of randomly selected case files relating to the more vulnerable children in the area are scrutinised to examine how far services work together to address their specific needs and promote their well-being.
