Watchdog condemns abuse response

18 July 2011 Last updated at 22:23 GMT Abuse of people living at the home was brought to light by BBC Panorama

A health watchdog has reported a "systemic failure to protect people" at a hospital where alleged abuse was secretly filmed by the BBC.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) published its findings after an inspection of Winterbourne View near Bristol.

The review was ordered after BBC Panorama filmed patients being pinned down, slapped and taunted.

Police said they had arrested a 12th person in connection with the inquiry.

The Panorama programme was contacted by whistleblower Terry Bryan who alerted the BBC with his concerns about some staff.

Mr Bryan, a senior nurse, acted after his concerns were not followed up by the home's management or the CQC.

'Appalling misconduct'

The CQC report on Winterbourne View found owners Castlebeck Care had failed to ensure residents living at the unit were adequately protected from risk, including the risks of unsafe practices by its own staff.

It said: "There was a systemic failure to protect people or to investigate allegations of abuse.

"The provider had failed in its legal duty to notify the Care Quality Commission of serious incidents including injuries to patients or occasions when they had gone missing."

Inspectors also noted staff did not appear to understand the needs of the people in their care and said "some staff were too ready to use methods of restraint without considering alternatives".

Winterbourne View was closed down in June.

The CQC's director of operations Amanda Sherlock said that, following the investigation, it was clear the abuse was far worse than they were warned of by Mr Bryan.

Winterbourne View, which had 24 patients, was closed down last month

She claimed that Castlebeck had "misled" the CQC, and if officials had known about what was taking place they "could have taken action earlier".

In response to the CQC report, Castlebeck's Chief Executive, Lee Reed, said: "We are truly sorry for the failures which led to the terrible mistreatment suffered by patients at Winterbourne View.

"As soon as the company was made aware of the appalling misconduct of staff at Winterbourne View, we alerted the police and other relevant authorities.

"We then took immediate remedial steps to safeguard the welfare of all our service users. This work is ongoing, and is our absolute priority."

The latest person to be arrested is a 27-year-old man from the South Gloucestershire area.

Police said he had been arrested under the Mental Capacity Act and had been released on police bail.

Eleven other people, eight men and three women, previously arrested remain on police bail pending further inquiries.

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Watchdog attacks business courses

8 June 2011 Last updated at 01:48 GMT Some courses leave pupils with little little knowledge of business and the economy, inspectors say Many vocational business qualifications are failing to develop pupils' understanding and skills in the subject, inspectors have warned.

Ofsted said 30 of 39 English schools whose vocational business courses it inspected had a "serious problem".

Its report questioned whether business courses examined through internally set and marked assignments should be seen as equivalent to GCSEs.

Ministers said there were concerns about the quality of some courses.

Inspectors found some lessons focused too much on completing "narrow written assignments" that gave students little opportunity to debate issues, extend their thinking and develop a broader understanding and skills in the subject.

Despite students achieving good results, the quality of their work was weak, they said.

The report added: "Evidence from lesson observations, scrutiny of written work and discussion with students brings into question the case for claiming that such courses are equivalent to between two and four single-award, traditionally examined GCSEs at Key Stage 4."

Enterprise education The report - called Economics, business and enterprise education - looked at enterprise education across the whole school, as well as formal qualifications for 14 to 18-year-olds.

In the secondary schools inspected, Ofsted found enterprise education - which is statutory at Key Stage 4 - to be wanting.

"The provision for, and development of, all students' economic and business understanding and their financial capability were [...] often weak," the report said.

"As a result, students often had only vague ideas about the economy, interest rates and their impact, recession, inflation, why prices vary and the ownership of companies."

Chief inspector Christine Gilbert said economics, business and enterprise education was about equipping young people with the skills to leave school well-informed as consumers, employees and potential employers.

"More should be done to directly involve students with the business world and local businesses," she said.

"The report highlights the need to review the equivalency of vocational business qualifications that are assessed wholly or mainly by internally set and marked assignments with more traditional GCSEs and GCE A-levels."

Reforms planned

The Ofsted report comes just weeks after Education Secretary Michael Gove announced his plans to reform vocational education.

Under the measures 14-year-olds will be given more opportunities to study at college rather than school, and league tables will be overhauled so that only vocational qualifications identified as high quality are likely to be included.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "This report raises serious concerns about the quality of some courses taught in our schools.

"All young people should have access to high-quality qualifications that lead to employment, further or higher education.

"This summer, we will be carrying out a consultation on the characteristics of high-quality vocational qualifications so we can ensure that only those qualifications that meet the criteria are taught in our schools.

"We also plan to do more to encourage industry experts to teach in schools - providing students with a better understanding of how the business world works."

The report follows the publication in March of a report by Professor Alison Wolf on vocational education.

Professor Wolf said hundreds of thousands of young people in England were doing vocational courses which did not lead to university or a job.

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Watchdog to probe exam standards

13 May 2011 Last updated at 10:20 GMT GCSE results have been rising consecutively for 22 years Fears that GCSEs and A-levels are getting easier are to be investigated by the exams standards watchdog.

Ofqual said it would gather evidence and listen to views in what it described as an "objective and constructive debate" on the issue.

GCSE results have been rising for more than 20 years, and 27% of A-level students received As or A*s last year.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has made it clear he wants exams to be rigorous and demanding.

Ofqual spoke out as this year's exam season gets under way, with 800,000 pupils across England, Wales and Northern Ireland revising for their GCSE and A-level exams.

'Firm but fair'

Ofqual's new chief executive Glenys Stacey told the Daily Telegraph: "We do a lot of work to maintain standards on all the key qualifications across the board on subject matters and subject levels.

"But there is still a public concern over standards and a feeling that things aren't what they used to be.

"Well, I would like to understand that better and actually bring some evidence to the debate as well. I want an objective and constructive debate."

She said her investigation would be "firm but fair".

An Ofqual spokesman said that in the past the watchdog had focussed on the technical standards of individual exams.

However it now wanted to draw all the evidence together because it was aware of a public perception of falling standards.

Ofqual will also look at competition between exam boards and the use of modular exams - where exams are broken down into smaller units. This often leads to a high number of re-sits.

International comparisons

A number of studies have suggested exams are getting easier, and there have been attempts to tighten standards up by reducing the amount of course work.

Mr Gove has already called for exams taken in England to be compared with tests taken in other countries and has asked Ofsted to run a separate inquiry into standards in vocational exams.

The Department for Education did not wish to comment on Ofqual's plans.

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