A COUNCILLOR who previously headed up children’s services in Bucks is set to return to the troubled department which was hit by a damning Ofsted report earlier this year.

Cllr Lin Hazell, who has most recently served as Chairman of Buckinghamshire County Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee, was cabinet member for Children’s Services from 2005 to 2011.

During that time the department had been given a ‘good’ rating by Ofsted in three separate inspections.

Cllr Hazell’s predecessor, Cllr Angela MacPherson, stood down from the role for “personal reasons” earlier this month. She took up the post in 2013.

Announcing the appointment, leader of the council Martin Tett said: "Lin's commitment and experience will be vital in delivering the comprehensive improvement plan we set out following our Ofsted inspection report. She will be a real asset to the Cabinet and her previous knowledge means she can hit the ground running."

Cllr Hazell, who also represents the Farnham Common and Burnham Beeches division, said: "I am delighted to accept the appointment. We have a huge task ahead of us, but I am confident that we have a strong basis on which to move forward. I looking forward to working with all children's services staff to sucessfully deliver the improvements we have set out in our action plan."

An Ofsted report published over the summer branded children’s services in Bucks ‘inadequate’, highlighting “widespread and serious” failings by the county’s safeguarding services.

The following month, council bosses agreed an influx of cash to the tune of nearly £5 million in light of the damning Ofsted report.

The council said that it had been struggling to cope with the growing number of referrals the service had been receiving from other agencies, such as police, and that it was already addressing the problems raised in the report at the time of the inspection.