Minutes:
1) Councillor Gilding asked In view of the bad publicity Rotherham recently received over the sex grooming scandal, please give reasons why a Public Enquiry into the handling of the subject should not be held. An open enquiry would reassure the Rotherham public that there had not been a cover up.”
Councillor Lakin reported that he would like to categorically assure both Members and also the public that there had never ever been a cover up in relation to child sexual exploitation. The information published by The Times was historic and all of the cases highlighted had been dealt with and detailed information such as covered in the Times would never be published that identified individual young people. Young people and their families needed to be confident that information of a personal nature remained confidential, and was not used by a third party inappropriately.
Scrutiny has been asked to look at Exploitation as part of their work programme and would prepare a report which would be publicly available and all their scheduled meetings were open to the public. Rotherham was also a major contributor to the national enquiry into gangs and grooming led by the Deputy Children’s Commissioner, Sue Berelowitz. There would be a national report on this soon as requested by Michael Gove. The Exploitation Sub-Group of Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Board specifically addressed matters in relation to child sexual exploitation. Agenda and minutes were available through the website and lay member representatives attended these meetings and provided appropriate challenge.
If any request was made to give evidence to contribute to a Select Committee then the Rotherham Safeguarding Children’s Board would be more than happy to co-operate openly in the process.
(2) Councillor Middleton asked following revelations in 'The Times' concerning the sexual grooming and abuse of under-age girls from Rotherham, what disciplinary or other measures have been taken to deal with the shortcomings of those Council employees who failed to act adequately or at all to protect children from repeated criminal acts?
Councillor Lakin confirmed he had personally asked for an analysis of what actions had been taken by social care and others in respect of those young people who featured in Andrew Norfolk’s coverage of sexual exploitation here in Rotherham and read that appropriate support and protection for all the young people was highlighted. There was no evidence that any Council employee had failed to act appropriately in their efforts to protect these young people from sexual abuse.
Councillor Lakin gave his assurance that anyone failing to protect children in this Council would be dealt with robustly. In some cases there was a need to go to great lengths to protect some of the young people including applying to courts to gain parental responsibility over some of the young people and to place them in care at a distance from the risk factors posed to them.
Corporate Parenting Week was also scheduled from the 26th to 30th November, 2012 and a letter and blanket had been provided for all Members for information and contribution.
(3) Councillor Mannion asked in connection with the underage sex scandal, in an article to the Advertiser, the former Conservative Councillor, John Turner, referred to a request from the Labour Group that the Conservative Group do not pursue the matter. Can you explain why this request was made?
The Leader confirmed that this question was in relation to a meeting that was held between the previous Director of Children’s Services, himself and Councillors Turner and Clarke in 2006 about child sexual exploitation. In this situation members and officers were asked to keep some aspects of the investigation confidential to ensure there was no prejudice to any police investigations or have a negative effect on the welfare of particular children, but could not recall the detail from memory.
(4) Councillor Gilding asked about a private contractor being recently employed to plant thousands of plant-bulbs and why were Council gardeners then instructed to dig them up and what was the cost of the whole exercise?
Councillor McNeely confirmed the Council had employed a specialist contractor to plant bulbs because of the significant number involved and in March would sow several tonnes of wild flower seeds in the central reservation along an 8 mile stretch of dual carriageway from the A631 Bawtry Road to the A630 Centenary Way.
Using bulbs and wildflower mixes on grass verges had proved to be very successful for several years in areas such as Warren Vale at Rawmarsh and more recently at Dalton. Planting flowers rather than grass had various benefits - it saved money because the roads did not need to be closed as much to allow for grass cutting and weed spraying, made the verges look more attractive and had ecological benefits because of the birds and insects it attracted.
Once the planting was established, it was expected that an annual saving of about £20,000 would be achieved.
None of the bulbs recently planted have been taken out, but the work had coincided with the removal of annual bedding plants in other areas. This was work that was done every year at about this time and an article had actually been placed in the Rotherham Advertiser about this work and the benefits highlighted of using wild flowers.
(5) Councillor Gilding asked what positive steps have been taken to abide by the Armed Forces Covenant signed up to by this Council earlier this year?
Councillor Doyle provided some background information about the Covenant and the obligations within it which was signed on the 20th January, 2012 by various major partners, including the Council.
The Covenant was charged with ensuring that those serving in the Armed Forces and their families were not disadvantaged in any way and led to the establishment of a Steering Group who have met monthly.
The aim of the monthly Steering Group meetings was to raise awareness of the Armed Forces Community Covenant and to compile a directory of services that were offered to ex-military personnel. The Steering Group felt that it was important that service provision needed greater sign posting and improved communication with veterans, external organisations and local authorities and that the Covenant be made more known to public and other organisations.
In addition from July to October, 2012 weekly drop in sessions were set up at the Unity Centre. The meetings were well attended by veterans and key speakers were invited to go along and discuss how their service could help. These have included managers from DWP and the Council’s Homelessness Service and who have provided valuable assistance for military personnel with obtaining the grants they needed and signposting to the correct organisations.
There were still some military personnel who were dropping the below the radar of organisations and it was hoped that the adoption of the Armed Forces Covenant would help to address the issues and understand the problems being faced. Every effort was being made to promote the work of the Covenant through the use of television, local media, Rotherham Titans and the Yorkshire Regiment.
(6) Councillor Gilding asked were any Rotherham Hospitals using the “The Liverpool Pathway” in their treatment of the elderly?”
Councillor Wyatt reported that the Liverpool Care Pathway was an end of life care programme and had been implemented into hospitals, care homes, in the individuals own home/community and into the hospice. The Liverpool Care Pathway was not the answer to all needs for care of the dying, but it was felt to be a step in the right direction with care packages adapted to the patient which acted as a checklist/reference point and highlighted the important elements to address for patients and carers.