A motion calling for additional scrutiny of Sefton Council’s children’s services sparked angry debate at Southport Town Hall last night.
Children’s Services within Sefton have come under considerable criticism from Ofsted, to varying extents, for over a decade. In May, Sefton’s children’s services were listed as inadequate, the lowest possible rating.
Councillor Mike Prendergast tabled a motion calling on the council to adopt indicators for measuring the improvement of children’s services, while requesting cabinet member Cllr Mhairi Doyle provide a report at each full council meeting.
The motion passed, but with amendments removing a number of the reporting requirements.
The passing of the motion means that Sefton Council now officially “acknowledges the continued failings in management, supervision and leadership identified by OFSTED that have left some of the most vulnerable children in the borough at an acceptable level of risk.”
The latest poor report and historical performance of children’s services lead the Department for Education (DfE) to appoint Paul Moffat as independent commissioner, to oversee improvements and assess Sefton’s long-term ability to run the services independently.
OTS News invited the DfE to update the public on Mr Moffat’s work. The department declined to comment, instead pointing to the statutory direction issued upon his appointment.
While the report listed significant areas for attention, it also detailed: ” There are some very basic and early signs of recovery from a low starting point. The recent creation of a single point of contact in the MASH means that more children who need help and protection are identified. A greater focus on compliance is ensuring that children are now being seen regularly, increased capacity across the leaving care team is providing better support for care leavers, and the tracking of children with plans for adoption has enabled more children to secure permanence.”
In his introduction to the motion Cllr Prendergast said: “This Council, for many many years, has failed vulnerable children”. He appealed for broad support and unsuccessfully urged members not to “water it down” with amendments.
Cllr Prendergast said that the refusal of the Sefton Labour group to allow any opposition to chair scrutiny committees was akin to “marking your own homework”.
Cabinet Member Cllr Mhairi Doyle, who became Cabinet member responsible for children’s services in May 2021 began with a verbal apology on behalf of the Council for any children who had been failed by the service: “I apologise to all of them. They deserve better.”
Cllr Doyle continued to tell Council that funding for children’s services had increased 80% since 2018 but that improvements: “will take time. [Improvement works] will not be completed in a matter of months.” She reported that the Council had made a number of key staffing changes, conducted a successful campaign seeking new foster parents and moved a majority of services to a single building in Magdalene House.
Highlighting issues faced by children’s services, Cllr Doyle explained that there was a national shortage of qualified children’s social care workers and that the number of children in care in Sefton had grown approximately 50% in several years, from 480 in 2018 to 626 today. An updated performance plan must be submitted to Ofsted in August.
Discussing the motion’s intended aim of more transparent scrutiny, Cllr Doyle revealed that Cllr John Pugh and Cllr Prendergast had been invited to join the Council’s Corporate Parenting Board on 12th May, with Cllr Pugh accepting the position immediately, while Cllr Prendergast declined several days later. Cllr Doyle also suggested that no Conservative member had appeared at a relevant committee meeting since 2017.
Amongst a number of other fiery interventions, Liberal Democrat councillors Leo Evans and Iain Brodie Browne said that deep cultural issues within Sefton Council affected the ability to improve the service.
Leo Evans asserted that improving children’s services is “the single biggest issue that the Council deals with this year” adding “it feels like something has been hidden from us.”
Iain Brodie-Browne said “The culture is what we have to attack. We have a cultural problem.
“You are all decent people, and you are all trying your best, but your best may not be good enough.”
Cllr Brodie-Browne also said it was a matter of regret that the amended motion did not carry a written apology for historic failings.
The motion, with amendments, was passed by the council.
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