‘County Hall approached over concerns about care’

JANNER: WITNESS ALSO TALKS OF ‘DYSFUNCTIONAL’ DEPARTMENT

FORMER care home residents, with a Mercury journalist, approached County Hall about concerns over their care in the 1990s, the Greville Janner inquiry was told this week.

A number of former senior figures from Leicestershire County Council, (LCC), which ran children’s homes in the city and county at the time, have been giving evidence to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA).

It is investigating how public bodies handled allegations made against Lord Janner, who was accused of committing acts of sexual abuse in children’s homes, schools, a flat in London and in Parliament over three decades. Those allegations – some made by former children’s home residents – were never tested in a criminal court because of his death, aged 87, in December 2015.

His family insists he is innocent of all allegations.

The hearing, parts of which are taking place in private session to protect alleged victims’ identities, has been asked to consider whether the former Leicester West MP was treated preferentially because of his social and political status.

At the end of each closed session, the team is releasing a summary of the evidence and submissions heard.

The inquiry heard evidence from a former senior management figure at the county council. The inquiry team told the hearing: “He said he could not recall any other example of an MP visiting a children’s home during his career.

“The witness also gave evidence that in 1993 a group of ex-residents from LCC children’s homes approached County Hall with a journalist from the Leicester Mercury, indicating they wished to raise concerns about their time in residential care and to make statements concerning Lord Janner.

“He referred to a record of an interview he had with one ex-resident. The ex-resident had not personally raised any concerns about Lord Janner, but had said that there was a further individual who wished to come and talk to someone about Lord Janner, but was feeling extremely nervous about doing so.

“The witness stated that he did not believe anyone subsequently came forward to speak to him.

“Reflecting on the period, the witness identified a number of shortcomings that he said meant that abuse had not been identified or dealt with properly at the time, including:

the lack of a complaints procedure; lack of effective training of staff; a lack of effective supervision and management of the children’s homes;

a lack of a culture in which staff and children could report concerns;

a lack of training in a range of areas.

A third witness, a former director of social services of the county council, also testified this week.

The inquiry team summarised his evidence.

It said: “The witness explained that when he became the director of social services, he took over a ‘dysfunctional’ department. He stated that following his appointment he had set up a special division called ‘children’s services’ and appointed an officer to head the division.

“He said that at the time, there was no complaints procedure for when children wanted to complain. He said that from 1994 onwards, a complaints procedure was introduced and it was headed by a different assistant director, outside of the operations branch, which ‘had the benefit of being somewhat independent’.

“He accepted the lack of a complaints policy contributed to the failure by LCC to detect allegations of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s.

“He said if there had been such a policy, ‘children would have been listened to, there would have been action taken and we would have gone to the police’.”

Following Lord Janner’s death, an official report identified three occasions – in 1991, 2002 and 2007 – when the peer should have been put on trial to face multiple abuse allegations. However, opportunities were missed because of mistakes by the police or prosecutors, the report concluded.