18 December 2008     

Lord Hanningfield’s response is totally inadequate

A damning report by Ofsted in their Annual Performance Assessment of services for children and young people in Essex County Council has stated that the Council is ‘inadequate’ in safeguarding children.  This report is horrendous and shows that Essex is one of the very worst Local Authorities in the country for protecting its young people. 

Speaking in response to the publication of the report Cllr Paul Kirkman, Leader of the Labour Group and Leader of the Opposition, said: 

“This report should cause the Administration to redouble their efforts to put things right; instead they claim they are right and Ofsted are wrong. The Administration’s view is  ‘…. we are not failing our vulnerable children’.  If this is the case, why do Ofsted say that they are?  Essex could not have been marked lower than the ‘inadequate’ rating it has received. 

The Council, this time last year, received reports that its children’s services were not up to scratch and this report is even worse than last year. The direction of travel is clear.

The first thing the Administration needs to do is admit that they took their eye off the ball and allowed standards to slip.  Maybe then we can believe what they say about trying to improve the situation.  To learn from their mistakes they need to recognise them and address the issues they throw up.  Pretending that nothing was or is wrong will only confirm the impression that they don’t know what they are doing.

I take no pleasure in pointing the finger over this report from Ofsted, but I do not intend to ignore it.  The Tories have spent the last 12 months messing about with cheap publicity stunts, peripheral issues and irrelevant reorganisations when they should have been concentrating their efforts on making sure Essex children were safe and not at risk. 

The Council have now been rated by Ofsted as inadequate - I rate the response from the Council over this issue as totally inadequate.”

Back