Opposition ‘enough is enough’ call as council taken to task
CONSERVATIVES AND LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HIT OUT OVER FAILINGS
Council bosses need to ‘stop blaming the Government’ and take responsibility for failing children’s services, opposition groups have said.
The call comes following a second damning Ofsted report since 2015, with inspectors noting just modest improvements in some areas.
Coun Robert Oliver, leader of the council’s opposition Conservative Party, said: “Vulnerable children in Sunderland are still not being properly protected nearly three years after the first report found that Children’s Services was inadequate in the city.
“It is clear that the political leadership of the council does not have a firm enough grip on the service and is overseeing slow progress at an enormous cost to the taxpayer. “Other councils have responded more quickly and turned around their children’s services much more effectively so the political leadership in the city must stop blaming the government.”
In April 2017, responsibility for children’s services in the city was handed to Together for Children (TfC), a specially formed organisation independent from the council.
Ofsted’s report said governance arrangements between the two had not ‘provided sufficient challenge and scrutiny’.
However, it also noted this situation had begun to im- prove since November last year.
Liberal Democrats on Wearside remain critical of the council’s leadership on the issue.
Coun Stephen O’Brien said: “Children’s Service has been in a shambolic state for there years.
“It has received very little direction from the political leadership of our Labour-run Council.
“Over this time, the Liberal Democrats on Sunderland City Council have constantly called for more action, more scrutiny, more efficiency and better management.
“This has simply not happened.
“Enough is enough.”