THE findings of a review into the progress of improvement in Gloucestershire County Council’s children’s services, since a damning report earlier this year, will be published next week.

A letter was sent to the council by Ofsted last month detailing the results of its review which will be made public next week ahead of the meeting of the council’s children and families overview and scrutiny committee meeting on November 17.

It was discussed by members of the council’s cross-party improvement board – set up in the wake of the publication of the scathing ‘inadequate’ report in June – on Tuesday.

Following that meeting, the leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group, Cllr Paul Hodgkinson wrote a letter to the leader of the council, Cllr Mark Hawthorne (Con, Quedgeley), asking that it be published for the public to see.

However, Cllr Hawthorne and Cllr Lesley Williams (Lab, Stonehouse) both criticised Cllr Hodgkinson, saying that the letter was to be published anyway.

Cllr Hawthorne said: “The council’s improvement board, of which Cllr Hodgkinson is a member, met yesterday, and he didn’t bring this issue up.

“As Cllr Hodgkinson was told last month, the report will be published next week, once the staff concerned have had a chance to see it, in advance of the council’s public scrutiny committee meeting.

“I am sorry Cllr Hodgkinson has had difficulty in attending the improvement board meetings in the past – hopefully he will be able attend more regularly in future, and he might be able to address these issues more easily.”

Cllr Williams said that Cllr Hodgkinson’s “unnecessary” request was “undermining” the council’s work to improve its children’s services.

The letter will be published within the reports for the committee meeting.