Ofsted has today published a report on the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on children’s social care, drawing on evidence from inspections, focus groups and interviews with inspectors.

The report finds that the pandemic has exacerbated long-standing staffing challenges in children’s social care, which has serious consequences on the number of suitable children’s home places available and the different needs staff are able to support. As a result, some children are living in places where their needs are not being met, and in some cases are being placed in unregistered homes, without regulatory oversight. High numbers of agency social workers and high caseloads are also preventing purposeful work with children and families.

Pre-existing gaps in in-patient and community-based provision for children with mental health needs have grown, and children’s needs have become more complex. This leaves some children without the right care, or placed too far from their families and communities. In some places, services for children and their families have not been fully reinstated or are running at a lower capacity than pre-pandemic levels. Ofsted is concerned this could lead to delays in identifying vulnerable children and their needs, and families may have fewer opportunities to ask for help. Access to therapeutic and respite services for disabled children also continue to be limited, leaving many children and families without the support they need.

The report also highlights the limits of home-based working for peer support and for learning and development opportunities for social workers and other staff. Face-to-face interaction with colleagues is particularly important for newly qualified social workers, who have mainly operated in pandemic conditions and have had limited opportunities to interact with, and learn from, experienced colleagues. Staff training continues to be mostly online, despite concerns that it is less engaging for staff and reduces retained learning.

The report also raises concern over the escalating cost of living for families, which is already having an impact on children’s services. Local authorities suggest that that greater financial strain on families may lead to higher numbers of children in need and child protection cases, which would further exacerbate existing sufficiency and workforce issues.

Ofsted Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman, said:

Children’s social care has been plagued by workforce challenges for some time. But we have seen these issues accelerate in recent years, with more social workers moving to agency contracts, and residential workers leaving the sector entirely.

As a result, too many children, with increasingly complex needs, are not getting the help they need. A workforce strategy and improved support for disabled children and those with mental health needs, and their families are more urgent than ever.

As the UK prepares for another busy weekend of travel, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Kit Malthouse today chaired a meeting of Ministers from across Government to update on how they are supporting industry and port and airport operators to ease potential disruption and ensure families can get away on their holidays, from working with the Port of Dover and French Government to working with Highways England on managing traffic.

The meeting included Ministers from the Department for Transport, Home Office, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Ministers were also joined by senior officials from UK Border Force, the National Police Coordination Centre and the Kent Resilience Forum, which managed the local impact of the weekend’s issues at Dover and Folkestone.

Ministers also discussed how recent measures, such as changing regulations on airport slots rules to help airlines make sensible decisions about schedules, avoid last-minute cancellations and provide passengers with more certainty.

With Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games beginning on Thursday, and RMT rail workers on strike on Wednesday, Ministers further discussed preparations being put in place to provide alternative transport and keep the country moving.

Measures include putting extra capacity on lines that are running and laying on coaches for sports fans and spectators.

The Home Office also updated on recent improvements in passport application processing ahead of the big summer getaway. Minister Foster has been meeting with Passport Office seniors on a fortnightly basis to drive forward work to step up processing times. Hundreds of extra staff are being brought in to help increase capacity, and the Passport Office are now processing around a million applications each month, with 97.7% of these being processed within 10 weeks.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Kit Malthouse said:

We want to make sure families get away on their holidays smoothly and hauliers aren’t delayed unnecessarily.

Ahead of another busy weekend of travel, today I chaired a GRIP meeting with Ministers from across Government, joined by senior officials from UK Border Force, the National Police Coordination Centre and the Kent Resilience Forum.

This was to confirm that work is underway to prevent the scenes of disruption that we saw last weekend, and that we are in daily contact with the Port of Dover and French Government to work together to remove any grit from the system.

I want to use these GRIP meetings – to coordinate and galvanise Government Resilience, Implementation and Preparedness for potential issues facing the country.

Thank you, President. And, I thank also Deputy Special Coordinator Hastings for her briefing. I’d also like to thank the United States for the update. We were pleased to see President Biden’s visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this month, and the announcement of US funding for East Jerusalem hospitals and UNRWA.

We welcome Israel’s commitment during this visit to restart the Joint Economic Committee and accelerate transition to 4G in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These are important steps that have the potential to bolster the Palestinian economy. We echo President Biden’s calls for urgent progress in both cases, and the UK stands ready to provide support.

Recent direct discussions between Prime Minister Lapid, President Herzog and Defence Minister Gantz, and President Abbas and other PA leaders, are similarly welcome. Such cooperation and dialogue are essential to tackling shared challenges.

However, the situation on the ground remains fragile. We note, with concern, UN OHCHR’s report on the increase in fatalities. In the first six months of 2022, 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli security forces during law enforcement operations in the West Bank. In the same period, 19 Israelis were killed in terror attacks. Terrorist attacks against civilians are abhorrent and unacceptable. We call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and stop the continued loss of life.

We welcome US engagement with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to seek the truth surrounding Shireen Abu Aqleh’s death, and we now urge accountability for those responsible.

We continue to be deeply concerned about the imminent risk of forcible transfer of over 1000 Palestinians at Masafer Yatta and recent detention of staff of humanitarian organisations seeking to aid the community.

This month we saw the disbandment of the community at Ras al Tin, following the demolition of their homes and settler attacks. We urge Israel to abide by its obligations under international law to ensure the residents of Masafer Yatta, and other communities in Area C, are protected, that humanitarian access is permitted and to refrain from further evictions and demolitions.

We also call on Israel to halt plans to progress 1900 settlement units in East Jerusalem on 25 July. Settlements are illegal under international law and threaten the physical viability of a two-state solution.

The UK believes that Palestinians and Israelis deserve equal measures of peace, security and prosperity. A negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel, living alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state, remains the best means of achieving that outcome.

Thank you, President.

President Zelenskyy,

Your Excellency Ambassador Prystaiko,

ladies and gentlemen, it’s great to see you here today.

It was at 4 o’clock on the morning of 24th February 2022 that you called me Volodymyr to say that the incredible had happened, that insanity had broken out,  and Russian tanks were surging across the frontier of a sovereign independent country in Europe and cruise missiles were exploding all over Ukraine.

And in that moment of supreme crisis, you faced a test of leadership that was, in its way, as severe as Churchill’s challenge in 1940.

As the Russians launched their lightning assault on Kyiv, you knew that you were at the top of their target list,  and you knew that squads of killers were hunting for you.

And you could have left Kyiv, you could have said – and it would have been hard to contradict you –  that the survival of the Ukrainian state required the survival of the President.

But of course Volodymyr you did none of those things: you chose to stay in Kyiv, among the Ukrainian people,  just as Churchill stayed in London in 1940.

And when one world leader offered you a way out, you replied “I need ammunition, not a ride”  and I think Churchill would have cheered  – and he would probably have wept too – because he was often moved to tears at the sheer moral and physical courage you showed in those grim weeks.

Now I would like to think that when Ukraine’s tragedy triggered a global outpouring of support, and when dozens of countries came forward to supply your heroic armed forces with weapons,  and scores of nations imposed sanctions on Russia,  and almost three quarters of the entire membership of the United Nations voted to condemn the invasion, I would like to think this was an inevitable reaction, because never in my lifetime in international affairs has there been a clearer case of right against wrong.

But the truth is that it wasn’t inevitable, that reaction wasn’t inevitable, and the global wave of solidarity for Ukraine was, in large measure generated by your own personal articulation of the cause.

Your defiance, your dignity, your unfailing good humour has moved millions, and as you stand against barbarism, you’ve become a symbol of the heroism of the Ukrainian people.

You’ve addressed so many parliaments that I’ve lost count and you brought both sides of the House of Commons to their feet, something that Churchill would surely have envied, and I can imagine his spirit walking with you, silently urging you on, encouraging you through every ordeal, jabbing the way ahead with his walking stick and perhaps marvelling at your superb indifference to physical danger, something that he himself understood.

And like Churchill you’ve understood that you are not yourself the lion, the Ukrainian people are the lion, but you have been called upon to give the roar, the roar of freedom against tyranny, good against evil, of light against darkness.

And you have delivered that roar magnificently and that’s why it was such a huge stroke of good fortune that you should have been in office at this time of crisis for Ukraine and the world.

And inspired by your leadership, I know not just that Ukraine can win but Ukraine will win, and when that day comes, as it will, Ukraine will rise and take its place, as a free sovereign and independent nation.

Thank you Volodymyr for everything you have done and Slava Ukraini.

Our physical separation notwithstanding, it gives me great pleasure Volodymyr to present you with this award.