Improvements have been made at a secure children’s home near Bristol following a damning report criticising “unlawful, painful” physical restraint, Ofsted has found. Inspectors returned to South Gloucestershire Council-run Vinney Green, in Emersons Green, for an “assurance” visit in January, six months after criticising the unit’s leaders for “repeated failures”, including unjustified use of solitary confinement for up to three days.
The education watchdog’s latest report says it did not identify “any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children” and that youngsters felt safe and were treated with dignity and respect. It describes the home, for young offenders deemed too vulnerable to be placed elsewhere in custody, as a “positive environment which supports them to make good progress”.
Although it was not a full reinspection, Ofsted assessed the care and safety of children and the effectiveness of managers. The report said: “The quality of care provided to children continues to improve.
Read more: Vinney Green secure unit uses 'unlawful, painful' physical restraint of youngsters, Ofsted finds
“Children told inspectors that the home is calm and they feel safe. Children benefit from well-planned care, and they have a say in the way they are looked after.
“The overall approach supports children to have a positive experience of learning how to develop the skills they need to improve their life chances. In one example, the severity and frequency of a child’s self-harming behaviour have reduced significantly because they have been involved in finding other ways of coping and expressing their feelings.”
It said youngsters knew how to make a complaint if they were unhappy about any aspect of their care and that these were “taken seriously, investigated and acted on”. “They are offered the opportunity to escalate their concerns to external agencies if they are unhappy about the outcome of their complaint,” the report said.
“The use of single separation, where children are locked in an area when they meet the legal criteria of being a significant risk to themselves or others, has reduced significantly. There have been just two uses of single separation since the last inspection [in August 2022].
“They were both appropriate and were applied for the minimum amount of time possible. Managers carefully review all incidents of physical restraint to ensure that the use of the measure was appropriate and proportionate.
“Closed-circuit television footage of restraints reviewed by inspectors during the inspection shows that staff are applying due diligence when they are restraining children.” But Ofsted said there were still problems with record-keeping of incidents, including the failure of managers to ensure the home’s independent person was consistently submitting monthly reports to the regulator as required.
The report said: “One recent incident of physical restraint occurred when a child was trying to access an unsafe area. A similar incident occurred a few weeks previously.
“Records do not demonstrate that managers have shared the learning from the first incident with staff with the intention of reducing the risk of a reoccurrence. In another example, managers have spoken to a staff member about the ways he could have tried to de-escalate an incident to avoid restraint.
“However, this discussion is not recorded on the restraint record.” Last year’s damning report in June gave a rating of “inadequate” and highlighted “significant concerns about children’s care, safety and wellbeing”.
At the time the council said it had taken immediate steps to address the problems, and by August’s full reinspection Ofsted judged that it had improved to “requires improvement to be good”.
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