Last week the Government disclosed that it intends to allow Councils to apply for an exemption from Ofsted inspections and inquiries by the Childrens Commissioner for England for its child protection provision for up to six years if it is ‘testing different ways of working’ within its children services. More information is available here. The arrangements would also allow for the Local Safguarding Childrens Board (LSCB) to be scrapped and for the Council to do away with their need for a Director of childrens services. The arbiter of this provision would be the Education Secretary. Clearly when organisations are going through a period of change, and when they are experimenting with new ways of working, the way in which they are inspected and assessed needs to take account of this. For this reason all of us need to have confidence in the way in which Ofsted works and that they have adequate means of adapting their inspections to take account of changing circumstances and situations. For this reason, few people would find it concerning if Governments such as the current one reviewed the terms of references and resources provided for this powerful inspection system. However for a Minister from a particulate political party to have the power to excuse a local authority, led by a particular political party from inspections is beyond stupidity. It is in effect the opportunity for corruption to show up in an area where the lives of children and vulnerable adults are at risk. Imagine in times past if a Labour Health Secretary exempted Staffordshire hospitals from inspections, or a Conservative Housing Minister prevented inspectors checking up on how Council housing was allocated in Westminster Council. This idea is clearly focusing on the wrong part of the process and needs to be stopped. Mor