Moves to make it easier to take over council children's services failing vulnerable youngsters in England have been announced by the prime minister.
Departments judged inadequate by Ofsted will be given six months to improve and then be taken over by high-performing councils and charities if they fail.
A handful of councils that were failing children are already run by trusts. But the new measures will see the existing framework for takeovers speeded up and formalised.
Where departments fail to improve within six months of a poor Ofsted inspection, a new "commissioner" will be appointed and experts in child protection sent in.
In the past, where children's services have been taken over, the process has been far more "ad hoc", says the government. It will now send experts in to three councils in a process that could see them run by independent trusts.
Sunderland children's services will become a voluntary trust and experts will be sent in to run the department, after inspectors from the care watchdog Ofsted found "serious and widespread" failings.
