Attempts to turn around the fortunes of a crisis-hit Merseyside children's service are in "early days" according to council officers.
A damning report in May this year left councillors "despondent".
The three week Ofsted inspection in May found a series of failings at Sefton Council children's services, with inspectors saying too many children were left in high risk situations for too long.
It was the third damning report for the borough's children services over recent years and which led to an improvement notice being issued after a catalogue of failings were identified, including children being left in high risk situations for too long and a shortage of social workers.
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At a meeting of the borough's overview and scrutiny committee on November 16, at Bootle Town Hall, councillors met to discuss an update report provided by the executive director of children's social care and education into the work of the recently formed improvement board.
The report noted significant investment in children's services totalling £7.7m between the budgets of 2021/21 and 2021/22 with approval given for a further £2million in September and £4 million in the pipeline, subject to cabinet approval.
Measures taken to date, according to the report include a "detailed diagnostic" and a focus on a "Front Door to Children’s Services and the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub(MASH)" to provide a single point of contact for people making referrals for access to services.
Speaking after officers presented findings from the report saying it was "early days" for the transformation of the service, several councillors criticised the "jargon" contained in the report and expressed disappointment at the lack of detailed plans for actions.
Councillor Andrew Wilson said: "I am not sure what to make of the whole new dictionary, I am out of the loop of social services.
"I understand some of the terms, like front doors are no revolving doors but what I would like to see is metrics."
Councillor Liz Dowd said: "I would appreciate more details, it's very descriptive. I find myself asking 'so what?'
"What difference has it made? Who is involved now and who was and how will that mitigate our safeguarding risk?"
Cllr Dowd added: "I understand sufficiency is an issue and is for most local authorities. We have divested all our provisions and rely on the market, which is not helpful.
"Is it in our scope that we should look again at how we commission services? There are huge amounts of money with private companies which is not not good in terms of provision, could we not spend that better ourselves?"
Officers said there were plans to look at a feasibility study around that in the future but that there could be a question about whether that was easier or cheaper.
Cllr Dowd responded: "We want better outcomes for our children, I don't want to spend less, I want better outcomes."
Cllr Paula Murphy said that her fellow councillors had "hit on an issue" raised at a previous meeting to discuss the Ofsted inspection in July where councillors had said they felt "despondent" after the report's findings.
Cllr Murphy said: "We're used to seeing an action plan and progress" but that officers had said that would be a matter for the improvement board.
The councillor added: "I'm not happy without that, I want that information with this committee. With the information provided we don't know what we're scrutinising"
Cllr Wilson said: "Whether this is appropriate for a less adversarial environment than a committee, but is it as much are information and issues as opposed to officers reports [that we should be receiving]?
"It may be we don't have the resources for good or outstanding services, I don't understand why we have so many temporary managers and staff, can we have a regional approach in terms of looked after provision, what about the provision in the private sector, some of that is costing £4,000 a week, why?"
Cllr Veronica Webster, who says she has sat on the committee for "many years" added: "Social care going back many years has been seriously underfunded and it hasn't helped with the predicament we find ourselves in."
Cllr Dowd said: "We spend a lot of money on this service, is it really a issue or funding or other reasons?"
Officers said problems around the wider system has led to "constant tensions" between cost and expansion of services.
Councillors agreed to note the update reports findings and requested further regular updates on the work the improvement board is carrying out.
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