Agenda item

LEADER'S ANNOUNCEMENT

The Leader will confirm his Cabinet and Cabinet Portfolios and Holders (or otherwise confirm to Council that such details shall be communicated to all Members as soon as practicably possible after the meeting).

Minutes:

The Leader added his congratulations and welcomed Councillor Gillian Wood to the Council. He also welcomed the newly elected Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor Ian Lewis and expressed his thanks and appreciation to the former Leader of the Conservative Group, Councillor Jeff Green with whom he had worked on a number of issues.

 

The Leader outlined the changes he had made to his Cabinet, the priority for which was to deliver the Wirral Plan and the twenty pledges which underpinned it. There would be a detailed progress plan for the Council to consider in July.

 

The Leader of the Council confirmed appointments to his Cabinet for 2017/18 as follows:

 

Portfolio

Councillor

Party

Ward

Leader, Growth

Phil Davies Leader of the Council

Labour

Birkenhead and Tranmere

Housing and Community Safety

George Davies Deputy Leader

Labour

Claughton

Children and Families

Bernie Mooney

Labour

Liscard

Delivering Differently

Chris Spriggs

Labour

New Brighton

Environment

Phill Brightmore

Labour

Pensby and Thingwall

Finance and Income Generation

Janette Williamson

Labour

Liscard

Highways and Transport

Stuart Whittingham

Labour

Upton

Localism and Engagement

Matthew Patrick

Labour

Upton

Social Care and Health

Christine Jones

Labour

Seacombe

Transformation

Angela Davies

Labour

Prenton

 

Addressing specifically the issues in Children’s Services the Leader acknowledged the challenging year that lay ahead to drive the improvement process. The Leader stated that it was the right decision for both the Director of Children’s Services and the Cabinet Member to have stepped down and confirmed that Councillor Bernie Mooney had taken charge of the Children and Families portfolio with immediate effect. He congratulated the police in bringing the two evil perpetrators of these sickening crimes to justice and applauded the bravery of the victims in coming forward. The Council would do everything in its powers to ensure this didn’t happen again. A Serious Case Review had already commenced and would report in the summer and he would ensure that the Council implemented its recommendations. As part of the work following the OFSTED review, a number of measures had been put in place, including:

 

·  the appointment of a new senior management team

·  a comprehensive programme of training for frontline staff

·  a commitment of £10m additional funding into the service.

 

The Leader stated that Dr Maggie Atkinson, Chair of the Wirral Safeguarding Children’s Board was clear in her view that the services were very different today than they were six months ago and that “lessons have already been learnt”. He stated that he was encouraged by the progress already made but knew that there was still much more to do.

 

The Leader stated that an all Party approach was needed to address the issues in Children’s Services and that a cross party task force would be established with the Group Leaders, Cabinet Member and the spokespersons from the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee all involved to meet regularly, this would be in addition to the Improvement Board. He appealed to all Members to put Party differences aside as the issue was too important to be used as a political football.