A LEADING Worcestershire politician is facing calls to resign from his position after children's services were graded 'inadequate' in a scathing Ofsted report.

County Hall's opposition Labour group have called the inspector's findings "disgraceful" and say cabinet member for children and families Cllr Marc Bayliss should quit.

It comes just a day after Lib Dem Fran Oborski defended Cllr Bayliss and blamed his predecessor, current police and crime commissioner John Campion.

Cllr Bayliss was handed the role in May last year after a reshuffle of the Conservative leadership.

But the Labour group say he has "failed" to drive the necessary improvement, and claim the Tory administration has not lobbied ministers hard enough for better funding.

They also say cuts to children's centres - something Cllr Bayliss recently signed off despite opposition - will make the situation worse.

Cllr Peter McDonald, Labour group leader, said: "The situation is absolutely terrible, grovelling apologies are not enough.

"The warning signs have been there for three years - they've known for a long time about these problems, the service has been deteriorating.

"With the cuts to children's centres and now this Marc's record is shocking, he should have resigned by now.

"It's the controlling group which is responsible for this mess, they've got the wrong people in the cabinet."

Labour Councillor Pattie Hill added: "The cuts to public services by this Government are impacting disproportionately on the most vulnerable in our county.

"The failure of the cabinet member, Councillor Marc Bayliss, to fight for the necessary funds, and be more concerned with saving money has resulted in this Ofsted inspection declaring services inadequate - this is unacceptable."

But Cllr Bayliss has refuted the criticism, pointing to an immediate pledge to pump £3.5 million into the service, on top of the current record budget of £77 million.

He said the £3.5 million top-up will apply in each of the next two financial years, on top of a £700,000 rise already factored into the budget.

He added: "The leader of the Labour group calls for everyone's resignation, I'm just the latest in that so I fully expected this response.

"We need strong, stable leadership, I want to continue to work together across the aisle so together we can put it right.

"There's not a 'Labour way', a 'Conservative way' or a 'Lib Dem' way of running children's services, it's best done if we work together towards this common purpose.

"Ofsted rightly has a very tough inspection regime but did say there have been improvements recently, at a combined political and officer leadership level - but we accept the result."

He added: "I'm grateful for Fran Oborski's support as I've tried to work with all political groups on this."

COUNTY "MUST" IMPROVE SAYS INDEPENDENT SAFEGUARDING BOARD

THE chair of an independent safeguarding body says it is "concerned" by the Ofsted findings and insists the council "must" improve.

Worcestershire's Safeguarding Children's Board, which probes the quality of the service, warned last year that it was unhappy about the county council's position.

Its chairman Derek Benson has now reacted to the inspection outcome by warning things must get better.

He said: "We are concerned by the results of this inspection.

"Improvements must be made, and it's vital all the agencies work together to meet the challenges ahead.

"Ofsted has recognised that progress is now being made and following the appointment of Catherine Driscoll as director, I've seen the pace of that progress accelerate.

"But we must continue to see that progress. The role of this safeguarding board, to provide independent oversight and scrutiny, has never been more important."