A Follow-Up Letter To The Buckingham Media
29–3-’21
Council Silent on Issues Raised Over Lack of Scrutiny of Failing Children’s Services
Dear Editor
I write with reference to my letter published on March 12 about the lack of meaningful, effective scrutiny of Buckinghamshire Council’s failing Children’s Services.
Since writing my letter I have been contacted by a number of local people, ranging from school governors to social workers, and including parents who have had involvement with Children’s Services service on behalf of a child.
All those who contacted me had a story to tell about the ongoing failure of the service (still judged as inadequate, the lowest category, since Ofsted’s 2014 inspection), and urged me to continue to “make a fuss” about the situation, especially about the lack of meaningful scrutiny, and the failure of successive Council Cabinet members with responsibility for the service to “own the failure” and sort the sorry situation out. Regrettably, accountability, as in “the buck stops here”, appears to be an alien concept to Council leaders in Buckinghamshire.
In writing my letter I had not expected that Conservative Councillors would necessarily agree with my observations, but I did expect that, as representatives entrusted with an important community leadership role, at least one elected Councillor would take it upon themselves to respond on behalf of the Council’s leadership.
In fact, since my letter was published, the silence from elected Conservative Councillors and Council leaders has been almost total. I am forced to conclude that either this silence represents an acceptance that there is no credible “case for the defence”, or simply indifference to public feeling on this vitally important matter. Neither of these possibilities reflects well on Buckinghamshire Council.
The only evidence I have been able to find of any response from a Conservative Councillor to my letter was from Councillor Whyte, formerly one of the Cabinet members responsible for Buckinghamshire Children’s Services during its period of prolonged failure. In an online discussion responding to my letter Councillor Whyte, without any attempt to engage with the serious issues that I raised, simply observed that “Buckinghamshire Council has increased investment in Children’s Services to record amounts”.
I have no idea if this observation was intended to assuage the very real worries that Buckinghamshire residents have about this dire situation, but it suggested a worrying misunderstanding of the serious failures in the service repeatedly highlighted by Ofsted. Adequate funding is a necessary part of the solution to the current situation, but in isolation it is far from sufficient.
Any “recipe” for improvement must include how funding is targeted, the impact it has and how this is measured and monitored, the quality of leadership and management in the service, especially at the highest levels, and elected Councillors doing what they are supposed to do and meaningfully and persistently holding those who manage the service to account.
The situation is complex and challenging, but certainly not hopeless. Those responsible for managing the service must be challenged and supported to deliver the necessary improvement, but if they are unable to achieve this they must, in the interests of Buckinghamshire children and their families and carers, be replaced by more capable leaders and managers.
It is to be hoped that, perhaps as the result of an injection of some “fresh blood”, the new Council elected on May 6th will finally address this unhappy state of affairs with the urgency, determination and expertise that it deserves.
Yours sincerely
Mick O’Mahony
