The Children Act 2004 (Joint Area Reviews) Regulations 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Section 20 of the Children Act 2004 (“the Act”) provides for the review of children’s services in the area of a children’s services authority in England (joint area reviews). “Children’s services” are defined by section 23(3) of that Act and regulations under that provision; “children’s services authority” is defined in section 63(1) of the Act. A review involves two or more of the persons and bodies listed at section 20(4); they may be requested to conduct a review by the Secretary of State, or may themselves decide to conduct a review. The purpose of a review is set out in section 20(3).

These Regulations make provision for the purposes of such reviews. Regulation 2 and the Schedule to the Regulations ensure that the persons and bodies listed at section 20(4) have sufficient powers to conduct an inspection for the purposes of a review by applying, for the purposes of a review, relevant enactments relating to the powers of those persons and bodies to inspect services that are children’s services, rights of entry and rights to obtain information, etc.

Regulation 3 obliges the Chief Inspector of Schools to make a report on a review (including a summary suitable for children) and send it to the children’s services authority for the area to which the review relates and to the Secretary of State. Within 30 working days of receiving the report the children’s services authority must send a copy of it to the persons and bodies with whom the authority makes arrangements to promote co-operation with a view to improving the well-being of children in their area and to each of their partners on the Local Safeguarding Children Board for their area. The authority must send the report to a newspaper circulating in the area and a radio station serving the area, make a copy available for inspection free of charge at their offices and supply a copy to a member of the public, on demand, for a reasonable charge.

A children’s services authority receiving a report under regulation 3 is obliged to make a written statement of proposed action in the light of the report, within 70 days of receiving the report (regulation 4). The authority must consult the same persons and bodies as were sent the report on the review when compiling the written statement. The written statement must be sent to the Chief Inspector of Schools and those same persons and bodies, and made publicly available in the same way as the report.

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on the costs of business.