Given that local councils have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area, it is appropriate to find how they have responded to the government publications ‘Child protection in religious organisations and setting Investigation Report’, and ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’.
Their responsive action could include developing good working relationships with the places of worship to raise awareness about the children safeguarding procedures and good practices, especially as many provide services to children through ‘supplementary schooling’ or ‘out-of-school provision’.
It is not uncommon for the local authorities and the places of worship to work together on child safeguarding by sharing information, collaborating on policies, and ensuring that concerns about child safety are reported and addressed appropriately. This partnership is crucial for creating a safe environment for children within faith communities because effective child protection relies on coordinated action across the community.
We looked for but were unsuccessful in finding how Harrow council has followed up the government’s child protection and safeguarding reports; for example, have they forged any links with the local places of worship.
Therefore, we asked the Harrow council strategic director of children’s services, Parmjit Chahal: “Is there any collaboration between the Harrow council and the Harrow places of worship for creating a safe environment for children within the places of worship? If so, what are the arrangements?”
Apparently, Harrow children’s services regime has no established partnership with the local places of worship regarding safeguarding, but it is reassuring to hear from Parmjit Chahal that “to ensure a robust approach and to support all our faith organisations we will be working with them to remind them of their statutory duties and where needed to provide support to ensure there are up-to-date safeguarding procedures in place.”
There is a good opportunity for the council to do this by including the places of worship in the safeguarding preventive measures while taking steps to comply with the Improvement Notice requirements.
The Department for Education has issued an Improvement Notice to the Harrow council, following the Harrow’s children’s services being overall judged to be inadequate by Ofsted early this year.
Minister for Children and Families, Jenet Daby MP, in her letter to the leader of the Harrow council, said that on behalf of the Secretary of State, that the department for education has issued the London Borough of Harrow with an improvement Notice.
Alan Parnum, a senior civil servant in the Department for Education, elaborated*: “The Secretary of State has chosen to appoint an Adviser to provide advice to the Department for Education and the Council. The Council will work with the Adviser until some such time that the Secretary of State is satisfied that this is no longer required.”
Normally, the appointment of the Improvement Adviser is when the ability to improve is less sure.
Since the Harrow Council spends a significant portion of its budget, two-thirds (66%) or £135 million out of £203 million, on supporting vulnerable, including children, but still needs an Improvement Adviser to put things right, there is a big question about the value for public money.
It looks the Harrow children’s services need a good shake-up, both at officer and Member level. The way the Council Response to the Recent Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services has been reported to Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Scrutiny Sub-Committees in July 2025, and readily received by the committee, tends to support this.
The report to the July meeting, not fully stressing the gravity of the external evaluations of the services, described the practicalities and procedural matters (implying all is well except ‘standalone’ care Leavers situation!) but no obvious emphasis on the need for and well-embedded long-term process to improve the culture and ethos of the children’s services, apparent inadequacy of which resulted in the inadequate care for the Leavers in the first place, and which is needed to sustain the intended changes in the organisation and practice of the service, seemingly the undercurrent of the Ofsted report and the reason for the DfE Improvement Notice.
*elaborated
Their responsive action could include developing good working relationships with the places of worship to raise awareness about the children safeguarding procedures and good practices, especially as many provide services to children through ‘supplementary schooling’ or ‘out-of-school provision’.
It is not uncommon for the local authorities and the places of worship to work together on child safeguarding by sharing information, collaborating on policies, and ensuring that concerns about child safety are reported and addressed appropriately. This partnership is crucial for creating a safe environment for children within faith communities because effective child protection relies on coordinated action across the community.
We looked for but were unsuccessful in finding how Harrow council has followed up the government’s child protection and safeguarding reports; for example, have they forged any links with the local places of worship.
Therefore, we asked the Harrow council strategic director of children’s services, Parmjit Chahal: “Is there any collaboration between the Harrow council and the Harrow places of worship for creating a safe environment for children within the places of worship? If so, what are the arrangements?”
Apparently, Harrow children’s services regime has no established partnership with the local places of worship regarding safeguarding, but it is reassuring to hear from Parmjit Chahal that “to ensure a robust approach and to support all our faith organisations we will be working with them to remind them of their statutory duties and where needed to provide support to ensure there are up-to-date safeguarding procedures in place.”
There is a good opportunity for the council to do this by including the places of worship in the safeguarding preventive measures while taking steps to comply with the Improvement Notice requirements.
The Department for Education has issued an Improvement Notice to the Harrow council, following the Harrow’s children’s services being overall judged to be inadequate by Ofsted early this year.
Minister for Children and Families, Jenet Daby MP, in her letter to the leader of the Harrow council, said that on behalf of the Secretary of State, that the department for education has issued the London Borough of Harrow with an improvement Notice.
Alan Parnum, a senior civil servant in the Department for Education, elaborated*: “The Secretary of State has chosen to appoint an Adviser to provide advice to the Department for Education and the Council. The Council will work with the Adviser until some such time that the Secretary of State is satisfied that this is no longer required.”
Normally, the appointment of the Improvement Adviser is when the ability to improve is less sure.
Since the Harrow Council spends a significant portion of its budget, two-thirds (66%) or £135 million out of £203 million, on supporting vulnerable, including children, but still needs an Improvement Adviser to put things right, there is a big question about the value for public money.
It looks the Harrow children’s services need a good shake-up, both at officer and Member level. The way the Council Response to the Recent Ofsted Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services has been reported to Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Scrutiny Sub-Committees in July 2025, and readily received by the committee, tends to support this.
The report to the July meeting, not fully stressing the gravity of the external evaluations of the services, described the practicalities and procedural matters (implying all is well except ‘standalone’ care Leavers situation!) but no obvious emphasis on the need for and well-embedded long-term process to improve the culture and ethos of the children’s services, apparent inadequacy of which resulted in the inadequate care for the Leavers in the first place, and which is needed to sustain the intended changes in the organisation and practice of the service, seemingly the undercurrent of the Ofsted report and the reason for the DfE Improvement Notice.
*elaborated
Harrow Monitoring Group 
No surprise that Harrow Council Social Services lack Professional Standards when the staff working there call Harrow Residents who phone in to Report Child Neglect as ” Busy Body Neighbours “! Shocking.
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