BRADFORD Council has been accused of living in a “parallel universe” over its response to a critical Ofsted review.

An inspection into Special Education Needs and Development services published by Ofsted last month raised “significant concerns” about the offer in Bradford.

It said there was “significant gaps” in services offered, and that parents had “lost faith” in the system.

It said while there were some areas of good practice, there were five “written statements of action” identifying specific steps that SEND service providers, including Bradford Council and health bodies, needed to take to improve.

An improvement plan had to be submitted to Ofsted in September.

Members of Bradford Council’s Executive were given an update on the response at a meeting on Tuesday, with a report going before members pointing out that Bradford had performed better than other areas.

The report said: “The Bradford local area performed better in this inspection than our closest comparator city, Sheffield City Council (7 WSOAs) and comparably to other councils our size inspected recently such as Warwickshire County Council (5 WSOAs).”

Niall Devlin, presenting the report on behalf of the Council, said: “Ofsted are very pleased with the progress made since the inspection.

“53 per cent of all local authorities inspected by Ofsted have been told to take action. The average number of actions Ofsted asks Councils to take is 5.1, so we are in the middle.”

Councillor Imran Khan, Deputy Leader on the Council, said: “We’ve waited a number of years for this SEND inspection. We welcome it as it helps us re-focus.”

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, leader of the Conservatives on Bradford Council, thanked the Telegraph & Argus for sending her a copy of the report when it was published last month, adding: “The Council didn’t send it to us.”

She was unimpressed with the positive spin presented in the report to Executive, saying: “The Ofsted report is a difficult read, and having read this Executive’s report on the Ofsted report it feels like you are in a parallel universe.

“The report says we only have five areas to improve, and with the national average being 5.1 then this is quite good.

“The families who contact me about SEND issues wouldn’t say five areas to improve is good.”

She said one area of improvement was communication, and that numerous families had contacted her about poor communication between the Council, health bodies and schools.

Members had been told that nobody from health bodies that were also criticised in the SEND report were attending the meeting due to an event to celebrate the birthday of the NHS.

Cllr Poulsen said: “They have questions to answer too according to the Ofsted report.

“When we hear is that families often end up going to tribunal – that shouldn’t happen. That should be the very last step.”

She asked that an improvement plan being prepared by the Council be passed on to all parties.

Cllr Khan replied, said: “I don’t want to be average. It was helpful that we put this report into context. I don’t think any of us want to be average, we want to provide the best possible service to all families and children in the District.

“A lot of the issues in the report are historic – we’re not good enough but we are moving in the right direction.”