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County In Denial Over Children's Services
Wednesday, 18 March 2009 23:33
At the Tandridge Local Committee last Friday a report was brought to County and District members regarding the County's "looked after children."
Cllr Lisa Bangs from Lingfield, who is the only Lib Dem on the committee, asked how this related to the recent appalling Ofsted report on children's services in the County which had caused the Council to drop to a one star rating, and asked what actions the County was taking in the light of that report.
This resulted in an extraordinary attack on Ofsted from Leader of the County Council, Cllr Nick Skellett. He said that the Ofsted report had been politically motivated and was unfair and that the County did not deserve the rating.
Cllr Chris Botten, leader of the Lib Dem Group on Tandridge District Council said, "I was shocked when Cllr Bangs relayed this to me, as I was keen local members should have some idea how the County is addressing the very serious concerns raised in the Ofsted Report. Simply dismissing the report as politically motivated does nothing for the children of Surrey and Tandridge, and betrays an unprofessional defensiveness."
Cllr Bangs said,"I was amazed at the idea that there might be political reasons behind the one star rating. The Chairman of the committee, David Hodge and the Leader of the Council Nick Skellet both claimed political interference had led to the Ofsted report findings and star rating. I think this is a very dangerous dismissal of what are obviously real concerns being expressed by Ofsted. Ultimately, this is about protecting children and not protecting those who have so far failed. Had one of Surrey's Headteachers described a critical report of their school in this way, Surrey would probably have sacked them!"