Which is the second accolade for council department in six months
Ealing Council has again scooped a top national award for its work with children and young people winning the coveted Children’s Services Award at the Local Government Chronicle Awards.
The Council received the accolade in recognition of its work to make Ealing a great place for every child and young person to grow up by focusing on the needs of its young people, improving attainment and reducing levels of youth offending in the borough.
It’s the second award the Council’s Children’s Services Department has received in less than six months. In November Ealing was named Council of the Year for Children and Young People’s Services at the Children and Young People Now Awards 2007.
Achievements over the last year include the launch of the Young Apprenticeship Scheme to get more school leavers into work. The scheme is already on track to get 100 Ealing young people into real local jobs this year.
The Council has also achieved a great deal for its looked after children. Together the young people and the Council have achieved year-on-year improvements in education and nationally Ealing has the highest number of children leaving care who are supported by the borough to go on to university.
The Powerful Voices Conference is held each year to give vulnerable children and those with special educational needs a say on key issues, while The Ealing Youth Action Group, a consultation forum of young representatives from right across the borough, decides priorities for a £200,000 budget to be spent on initiatives for young people. The group also held an annual consultation conference with Councillors in February this year to highlight their views on how life in the borough can be improved for all young people.
David Archibald, Executive Director of Children and Adults Services, said: “Competition for this award is intense so I’m absolutely delighted that we’ve won. This is the second award we’ve received for Children’s Services in the last six months and I think all our staff can be very proud of their achievement.
“The awards reflect the hard work of the Council to involve young people and continuously make services more child and young person focused. The award demonstrates further improvement to services in Ealing and shows that the Council is giving children and young people a big say in the borough. The Council has also recently agreed an extra £1million for youth services, which will help us to make Ealing an even better place for children and young people in the future.”
March 28, 2008