“Failure to protect children from harm is unforgiveable” Cllr Brendan Glynane
The Leader of the Opposition at County Hall has today reacted to an OFSTED inspection of safeguarding children that identified serious failings in the safeguarding of children. OFSTED judges Northamptonshire County Council as inadequate in all 4 categories and identifies that:
- "Children and young people are not effectively protected from harm"
- "Inspectors saw a number of cases where children had experienced significant harm, and remained at risk of further harm"
- "Children remained at risk and, in some cases, continuing to experience harm"
- "There is a legacy of children and young people who have been exposed to chronic, and periodically acute, harmful experiences of which some are unlikely to have either been assessed or addressed"
- "the understanding of risk to children and young people through sexual exploitation and trafficking is not properly understood and systems to protect them are, as a result, not robust"
- Vulnerable children are not listened to
- Children have been "stepped down" from child protection plans without robust assessments
- "Leadership has not been effective in supporting and driving improvements"
- "Senior leaders and elected members have not focussed sufficiently on ensuring the quality of services is effective"
The County Council's own report further identifies that:
- "children who go missing from home or care and those affected by domestic violence are not adequately helped or kept safe"
- "the out of hours response is inadequate for children and families needing urgent help, and young people are being kept overnight in police custody instead of safe alternative arrangements
Cllr Glynane said "I am extremely angry about this report, as I believe any parent will be when they see it. The County Council has failed in its duty to safeguard children at risk and left children in harm's way. I am appalled at the failure to protect some of our most vulnerable children."
"What makes this so awful is that the administration were warned in a scrutiny report 2 years ago about problems in child protection. The following year the Cabinet Member failed to attend 5 out of 6 critical Safeguarding Board meetings, despite the fact that he has the responsibility, enshrined in law, to make sure vulnerable children are safeguarded from harm. The report clearly identifies a failure in political leadership. There can be simply no excuse for failing our children in this way."
"It is crystal clear what must happen - we need to move forward with a cross-party action plan and the Cabinet member must go. We need to have accountability where there are such severe failures. It is simply unforgiveable to let down children and leave them at risk of harm."
Cllr Glynane has tabled an official motion, to be debated tomorrow at Full Council, calling for the resignation of the Cabinet Member responsible for Safeguarding Children over the OFSTED report.