Conservative councillors in Wandsworth turned down the opportunities to accept its damning failure of children service were "unacceptable" or to create "a more transparent and open culture across the council".

It came amid mounting criticisms of the authority after independent inspectors Ofsted gave the service its lowest rating possible.

Wandsworth Times:

Labour members pushed for an amendment calling on the authority to accept that it had "repeatedly failed foster children, children leaving care, children in need of help and teenagers at risk of child sexual exploitation" and that "the performance of Wandsworth’s Children’s Services was unacceptable".

March 1: Wandsworth children's services director admits: "I should have known what Ofsted would find"

February 17: Wandsworth Council criticised for putting vulnerable children in B&Bs

Instead the ruling group voted to change the language and the majority group voted to remove an amendment on March 9.

In the original motion, the council was called on to accept that it "repeatedly failed foster children, children leaving care, children in need of help and teenagers at risk of child sexual exploitation" and that "the performance of Wandsworth’s children’s services was unacceptable".

It called for an apology to be made to vulnerable children and their families, with full responsibility taken by the political leadership.

The original motion also stated: "there has been a culture of complacency where those in senior positions have listened to good news, while not paying attention to valid concerns".

In the revised, and passed, edition, Wandsworth Council replaced these with an acknowledgement that "management oversight" and "case work drift", as well as delay left "some children at risk of child sexual exploitation and in some cases left looked after children without adequate support and protection".

Wandsworth Times:

The passed motion stated: "Missing children in particular did not always receive a coordinated response and on occasions return home interviews were not undertaken. Pathways for care leavers did not always track or take account of young people’s needs nor did they always make clear what was available.

"These failings occurred despite the commissioning of internal audits by external and independent bodies that did little to alert the authority to the findings in the Ofsted report."

January 28: "The game has changed": Council could not have prepared for Ofsted inspection, as £500,000 is allocated to reshuffle staff

January 27: "Weaknesses" identified in Wandsworth's children's services leads to staff shake-up ahead of agreement with Richmond

Labour Councillor Jeremy Ambache said the council should learn from the report and take action to "put things right".

He said: "The culture of complacency has contributed to a lack of strong leadership, management and governance.

"The Ofsted report describes how Wandsworth rated itself before this inspection as 'good' while in fact we were not even the grade below 'requires improvement', but we are now deemed to be 'inadequate'.

"This overinflated view of ourselves has not lead to strong leadership or strong scrutiny."

Conservative Councillor Kathy Tracey, cabinet member for children’s and education services, stressed no children had come to harm in the borough, despite concerns raised.

She said the relationships between departments, like housing and children’s services, was improving because of the Ofsted report.

Cllr Tracey said: "I do think we have stopped challenging in the way that we used to. We are not challenging the way we did 10 years ago and we do need some members development to look at the ways members ask questions."

The amended motion was passed with 31 votes to 19.