The county’s failing children’s services have undergone a “massive transformation” after they were branded “inadequate” by inspectors, according to council chiefs.

Bucks County Council’s (BCC) health and wellbeing board discussed improvements made to the services following the latest damning inspection in November– which found “critical weaknesses”.

Executive director for children’s services at BCC, Tolis Vouyioukas, assured the board that 75 per cent of “immediate actions” required following the inspection have been implemented.

He added that the government commissioner appointed to assess the future of the service, John Coughlan, has been working closely with front line staff, and is expected to report back to the Department for Education by the beginning of June.

Speaking at the meeting on Thursday (May 3), Mr Vouyioukas said: “We have invested a great deal of time having conversations with front line staff and first line managers.

“You may remember one of the findings of the Ofsted inspection is we have to do much better with management oversight across the service.”

Leader of BCC, Martin Tett, said the service has undergone a “massive transformation” since it was branded “inadequate” for the first time in 2014 – and praised teams for working effectively with social care and emergency services.

He said: “Going back to 2014 and where we are today – it’s chalk and cheese. We work so much better together now, the partnership across health, social care, I’m going to include colleagues in the police, education, as well.

“It’s a massive transformation from where we were. It doesn’t mean we still have a way to go but I think we have really come together so much better than we used to.”