SERVICES for Cumbria's most vulnerable children are improving - a government inspector has announced.

Robert Lindsey, lead inspector for the Commission for Social Care Inspection, said that Cumbria County Council "had made a good start with the job of modernising children's services."

In 2003, a damning report branded some areas of children's services as unsafe and described Social Services as failing.

The department was said to be not serving children well and had showed "poor capacity" for improvement.

The report also stripped CCC's Social Services of its one star rating classing it along with just eight other authorities in the country to have been given such a rating.

A follow-up inspection of children's services was carried out in November last year by CSCI inspectors and its findings were announced on Tuesday.

But although the inspections team said that CCC's Children's Services were "serving some children well", prospects for improvement were "uncertain."

Presenting his findings to the cabinet, Mr Lindsey said that significant improvements had been made with better management and recruitment procedures. There had also been a "substantial" investment by the council in children's services, most notably for children with a disability.

Responding to the report, interim corporate director for Social Services, Stephen Wilds, said: "It is so important for us to hear this message in terms of things that are still there to do. We have taken the attitude of continuous improvement. We are no longer a failing service but there is still much more to do."

John Mallinson, cabinet spokesman for care and social services, said: "This is not perhaps a day of celebration but a day which we can remember as a turning point."

He added: "We have given strong support to all our Social Services department, including an improvement performance plan and increasing the budget significantly over the last few years. This additional money has enabled us to meet existing demands and provide for more front line staff in Social Services."

Tim Stoddard, leader of Cumbria County Council, believed that the report's findings would pave the way towards a one star rating for Social Services.

"Because the next overall star rating for Social Services in Cumbria will not be published by the inspectors until November, sadly Social Service still has a zero star rating. However, the success achieved so far should undoubtedly move us from a zero to a one star rating," he said.

After the meeting, Coun Stoddard added that CCC's "ultimate goal" was to achieve an excellent rating for Social Services in the county, although he conceded that this "would take some time."