AN apology has been issued for a County Council information release which was wrong.

It claimed that a decision had been made by the authority’s Cabinet when it had not.

Deputy county council leader Jill Haynes described the incorrect information as “a small mistake” when admitting the inaccuracy at this Wednesday’s (12th) Cabinet meeting.

A news release, issued in mid-August, explained how council officers from Essex would spend 40 working days in Dorset to help improve performance in the county’s children’s social care team. In an email to councillors prior to the news release being sent out they were told that the decision had been given ‘cabinet approval.’

The mistake was spotted by Liberal Democrat leader at the county council Nick Ireland who asked at County Hall on Wednesday at which Cabinet meeting was the decision discussed and approved.

Cllr Haynes, deputising in the chair for council leader Rebecca Knox, told the cabinet that it had not been agreed by cabinet, although she said the July meeting had asked the acting director of social services, Nick Jarman, to investigate the offer.

“The email went out to members contained a small mistake. The decision to take up the opportunity to work partner (sic) with Essex County Council was made at the Organisational Transformation Board and not Cabinet as stated inadvertently. The Director of Children’s services apologises for not spotting this rudimentary error when he reviewed the email prior to its release,” said Cllr Haynes.

Dorset County Council was criticised by Ofsted for its work supporting children, deeming it to “require improvement to be good” following a 2016 inspection.

It said that young people were not receiving a “consistently good enough service”.

Essex County Council was awarded more than £2m by the Government earlier this year to cover the costs of working with other councils to help improve their social work practice. The authority has increased its own rating from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’.