Below are answers to some frequently asked questions about the JAR. If you have other questions that you would like to see answered on this page, please contact the JAR Lead Officer through JAR@bradford.gov.uk
The Joint Area Review is undertaken on a multidisciplinary basis with inspectors drawn from the inspectorates listed below. In addition to contact with professionals and organisations, the inspectors will take account of the views of children and young people and their parents and carers.
- Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI)
- Audit Commission (AC)
- Healthcare Commission (HC)
- Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI)
- Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)
- Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons)
- Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Probation (HMI Prob)
- Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA)
- HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI)
- Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).
The District’s Joint Area Review will take place in January 2008.
| Key Dates | Activity |
| September 2007 | Joint Set-up meeting |
| October 2007 | Submit self-assessment and documentary evidence |
| December 2007 and January 2007 | Analysis weeks |
| Weeks beginning 28 January - 4 February 2008 | On-site Field work |
| March 2007 | Draft report for comments |
| March 2007 | Comments received |
| April 2007 | Feedback meeting |
| May 2007 | Report publication |
The JAR will be in two parts - an analysis and fieldwork. The services being reviewed will include council services, health services, police and probation services, and publicly funded services provided by voluntary bodies.
Evidence from other inspections, such as schools, further education colleges and residential settings will contribute to the review. An analysis period will take place at which the inspectors will choose 10 key judgements from the inspection framework for the outcome areas and 4 for service management
The inspectors will carry out a "Tell Us" survey of 600 10-19 year olds which will be completed 'on-line' at school or college. The results of the survey will be fed into the analysis week and may be followed up during the fieldwork.
Inspectors will then conduct two weeks of fieldwork when they will engage with children, young people, parents, and carers, to discuss their experiences. They will also meet with front-line workers, key managers of services provided by the council, elected members, and the council’s partners.
The fieldwork will be conducted and focused upon the needs of the most vulnerable groups within the District. As part of the process inspectors will track a small number of children supported by a variety of services. This might involve a visit to a centre or school to find out about the quality of the support.
Also, as part of the JAR, a number of randomly selected case files, relating to the more vulnerable children in the area, will be studied to see how far services work together to address children’s specific needs and promote their well-being.
The results will be published in a report within eight weeks of the review. It will focus on the experience of children and young people measured against the five outcomes and the quality of management and support of the services provided. The report will judge the extent to which local services work together to:
- improve outcomes for children and young people
- protect the most vulnerable
- respond to the views of users, of parents and carers
- encourage the involvement of children and young people
- use self-evaluation to accurately identify their strengths and areas for future development
The Council’s children's service is then required to consult its partners and produce an action plan outlining how it will address any issues identified in the report.
If the report raises any significant concerns about an individual service or function, a detailed follow-up inspection may be commissioned to carry out a more in-depth examination.
The results of the JAR will also be used to for the children and young people element of Bradford Council’s Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), which is used to measure the performance of all councils. The CPA measures how well a council is managed, how effectively it works with partners and what it has achieved over two to three years.
When the draft report is available, we will have an opportunity to respond. Following this the report will be finalised and all judgements will be moderated independently. The final report will be published on the Council’s website and a variety of external sites including:
Bradford Metropolitan District Council will be inspected for its CPA at the same time as the JAR.
If you work with, or for children and young people, then it will affect you. Everyone working with children and young people across the District will be influenced by the impact of the Children Act 2004 and "Every Child Matters" agenda and the outcome of the Joint Area Review. The following sections will support you with information in your day-to day work whether you are a manager or front line worker.
- Improving Services
- Improving Outcomes
APA areas to improve
Following the Annual Performance Assessment (APA) process for 2006 the following areas were identified by Inspectors as needing improvement in the District:
- Be Healthy
- completion of the programmed development of CAMHS
- infant mortality rate
- Stay safe – None
- Enjoy and Achieve
- further improvement in standards of attainment
- continued improvements in attendance of looked-after children
- boys’ underachievement
- schools in categories for concern
- Positive Contribution
- participation of looked-after children in their reviews
- Economic Well Being
- retention and staying on rates post-16
- JAR Focus Areas
Again following the APA process in 2006 the following areas were identified as JAR Focus Areas: - Establishment of single children’s service and subsequent progress
- Impact of fully established CAMHS
- Impact of EB’s actions to raise standards in schools
- Impact of council’s actions to improve attendance in schools
- How well council’s actions have improved proportion of young people engaged in education, employment or training
- How well council and its partners continue to use information gained from consultation and engagement with C & YP and families to develop services and improve outcomes
The Joint Area Review (JAR) inspection team for the District will review documentation in October 2007. They will carry out fieldwork in the two weeks between ? January and ? February 2008.
Taking place alongside the JAR are:
- An inspection of the District’s Youth Service.
- An inspection of the Youth Offending Service.
- The Corporate Performance Assessment (CPA) of the Council as a whole.
The JAR covers all publicly funded services for children and young people in the local area, including those that are directly managed or commissioned by the council as well as services provided by health and youth justice services. The review covers the leadership and management of services for children and young people and, in particular, the way that such services work together to improve outcomes.
- To describe and analyse the outcomes achieved by children and young people living in the area.
- To evaluate the way services, taken together, contribute to their well-being.
- To evaluate the capacity of the Council and its partners to improve outcomes.
Inspectors will analyse some key documents, particularly our self-assessment and the CYP Plan and will be followed by:
- Case tracking: 10 individual children or young people
- An analysis of services to vulnerable groups of children and young people – especially those who need safeguarding; those who are looked after; and those with learning difficulties and disabilities and/or complex health needs
- Interviews and discussions with stakeholders and with staff from all agencies on a range of issues, including the 10 individual children or young people whose cases are being tracked
- A survey of children and young people
Inspectors will also use other evidence such as:
- Data and performance indicators
- Inspection outcomes from schools, settings and providers
- Briefings from inspectorates and government agencies or departments
- Key planning and review documents
- The views of stakeholders and providers
The review focuses of the Every Child Matters Outcomes Framework:
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic well-being
It also considers service management, especially how well partners work together and the use of resources.
Inspectors will make the following overall judgements:
The contribution of publicly funded services collectively in maintaining and improving outcomes in relation to:
- Being healthy
- Staying safe
- Enjoying and achieving
- Making a positive contribution
- Achieving economic well-being
- The capacity of publicly funded services to improve outcomes for children
- The contribution of the council’s children’s services in maintaining and improving outcomes for children and young people
- The capacity of Council’s children’s services to improve its services for children and young people
- The quality of children’s social care services
To make these judgements, inspectors will use a four-point scale:
Grade 4: A service that delivers well above minimum requirements for users
Grade 3: A service that consistently delivers above minimum requirements for users
Grade 2: A service that delivers only minimum requirements for users
Grade 1: A service that does not deliver minimum requirements for users
There are several lengthy documents on the OfSTED website that provide much more information, for example, details of the judgements, criteria for grades, and the supporting evidence that will be used, as well as the overall JAR framework.
These are available from the OfSTED web site
