Services for children and young people across the country are performing well in most areas, according to inspectors, but further improvements can still be made to improve outcomes for children and make Scotland the best place to grow up.

That is the finding of a review of joint inspections of services for children and young people carried out in the past two years.

The report, published today, describes the findings of 12 joint inspections carried out between June 2014 and June 2016 as part of a national inspection programme led by the Care Inspectorate and conducted in partnership with colleagues from Education Scotland, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland.

Inspectors look at how outcomes for children and young people are improving in each local area; how well services are working together to improve outcomes for children, young people and their families; and they assess the quality of leadership and direction of services for children and young people.

Inspectors said that in two thirds of the areas inspected, services were performing well in improving the wellbeing of children and young people, with performance rated as good or better. Four areas were rated as adequate and none were below adequate.

Inspectors also looked at the positive impact services were having on families who accessed them and found that where families are receiving help, this is having a substantially positive impact .

Karen Reid, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: "When children, young people and families experience services that meet their needs, there is a positive effect on improving outcomes in the short and long term. Across the country, we see a clear direction of travel towards prevention and earlier intervention which is essential.

"Improving the life chances of children and young people, giving them the best start in life and ensuring that they are ready to succeed are national priorities, but in a small number of areas we need to see more aspiration for the most disadvantaged children and young people.

"The way that the needs of individual children are assessed and planned for has generally strengthened across the country, but we expect to see more work to achieve consistently high performance in all places.

"In almost all areas, there is also a need to strengthen quality assurance in children's services to ensure the care and support provided is always right.

"These joint inspections also show a mixed performance in leadership and strategic planning, so we now expect to see improvements in assessing needs strategically, and commissioning the right services for children and young people at an early stage.

"Joint inspections are a crucial tool in helping us understand how and where services are making a real difference to children, young people and their families."

The report is available here: badlink/jointinspections2014-16