We have published our joint inspection report on the protection of children and young people in the Midlothian area.

The inspection included services provided by health agencies, the police, the local authority and Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, as well as those provided by voluntary and independent organisations. Joint inspection reports give an evaluation of the effectiveness of services using a published quality indicator framework focusing on 6 key areas:

  • how well children and young people are listened to, understood and respected;
  • how children and young people benefit from strategies to minimize harm;
  • how children and young people are helped by the actions taken in immediate response to concerns;
  • how well children’s and young people’s needs are met;
  • service improvements through self-evaluation; and
  • improvements in performance.

Services in the Midlothian Council area were given 3 evaluations of good and 3 evaluations of satisfactory.

Inspectors found the following key strengths in how well children were protected and their needs met in the Midlothian Council area.

  • Chief Officers’ commitment to improving services to protect children.
  • Partnership working and collective responsibility at a senior management level.
  • The range and availability of flexible multi-agency training programmes.

Inspectors agreed with services in the council area the following points for improvement.

  • Improve assessment of risks and needs to ensure greater consistency of practice.
  • Further strengthen children’s plans to ensure they lead to improved outcomes.
  • Ensure all managers responsible for supervising staff are sufficiently skilled and confident in reviewing the effectiveness and impact of practice.

We are confident that the services will be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. Our link inspector will maintain contact with services to support improvements.

Copies of the full report are available within our publications section