An expert who oversaw reforms of a London council’s social services department following the notorious Baby P tragedy has been appointed by the government to look into Croydon’s failing children services.
Eleanor Brazil: taking over Croydon’s children’s services
Justine Greening, the Education Secretary, announced at lunchtime that Eleanor Brazil is to be Commissioner for Children’s Services in Croydon, following the publication this morning of a damning report by Ofsted which described the children’s social services provided by the council as “inadequate”.
Brazil had previously been parachuted in to local authorities such as Leeds, Birmingham and Haringey. Brazil was praised for transforming social care in Haringey following the Baby Peter Connelly scandal.
In the DfE statutory direction issued today (which can be viewed in pdf format here), it states that Croydon Council should “co-operate with a Commissioner-led review as to whether the most effective way of securing and sustaining improvement in Croydon is to remove the control of children’s social care from the council for a period of time”.
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