Agenda item

ANY OTHER BUSINESS - CHILDREN'S SERVICES

To consider any other items of business that the Civic Mayor accepts as being urgent.

Minutes:

The Civic Mayor agreed to the consideration of two items of urgent business on the basis of recent events which Members would be aware of and which were in the public interest.

 

(1)  On a motion by Councillor Phil Davies, seconded by Councillor Mooney it was –

 

Resolved (60:0) (One abstention) – That Deborah Gornik be appointed to the statutory position of Director of Children’s Services in an acting capacity with immediate effect after the departure of the Director of Children’s Services.

 

(2)  The Civic Mayor announced that the Council would hear representations in relation to recent events concerning Children’s Services and in discussion with the three Political Group Leaders, it had been agreed that the following Members would address the Council in relation to this matter:

 

Group Leader for the Conservative Group – Councillor Ian Lewis

Group Leader for the Liberal Democrat Group – Councillor Phil Gilchrist

Deputy Group Leader for the Conservative Group – Councillor Lesley Rennie

Group Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrat Group – Councillor Alan Brighouse

Cabinet Member for Children and Families – Councillor Bernie Mooney

Leader of the Council – Councillor Phil Davies

 

The Assistant Director of Law and Governance in response to questions from Members clarified the position in relation to items of urgent business in that the manner in which they were dealt with was entirely at the discretion of the Civic Mayor. She had decided how the matter would be dealt with and this had been agreed with the three Political Group Leaders.

 

Councillor Lewis congratulated Councillor Gillian Wood on her election.

 

Councillor Lewis referred to the utterly reprehensible crimes which had taken place over several years and commented that this was now an opportunity for the Leader to tell the Council what had been going on and what had gone wrong. He hoped that the Leader could explain why the Cabinet member was no longer in post having expressed his confidence in him just nine months ago. The Conservative Group had no faith that lessons had been learnt and would be asking for Government intervention, whether this happened or not they would hold the administration to account and any scrutiny was best undertaken by members of the opposition.

 

Councillor Phil Gilchrist stated that he was keen to see the outcome of the Serious Case Review. As a member of the Improvement Board he was aware that the minutes were available on the Council website and that actions were recorded fairly and accurately. He was aware there had been difficulties within the department of staffing retention. He would play a full part in the cross party task force the Leader had set up.

 

Councillor Rennie commented that Wirral was once again appearing in the national and local press for all the wrong reasons. These were appalling revelations of young vulnerable people being exploited in the vilest of ways. Lessons had not been learnt with the administration limping from one crisis to another, the Council under a Labour administration had lost its way. There had to be change, a senior member of the Labour administration and a senior Director had both now fallen on their swords and the Leader of the Council should review his position.

 

Councillor Brighouse stated that the ‘much improved Council’ tag was starting to look somewhat tarnished. There were too many initiatives and not enough concentrating on doing the real job in hand. There was a lack and loss of trust in what Members were being told or not being told, how many more times did the Leader have to say that lessons had been learnt. The Council needed to do what residents expected of it.

 

Councillor Mooney commented that the finger pointing was disgraceful. She made a commitment that, having been appointed to the Children and Families portfolio, she would lead the service through these incredibly challenging times in an open and inclusive manner with a cross party approach. She expressed her heartfelt sympathy to the girls and that everyone’s thoughts should be with the victims and their families. She paid tribute to the police officers, health professionals and Council officers who had helped in bringing these men to justice. It was important to learn lessons from these terrible crimes and the Council had to do everything in its power to prevent child exploitation. She asked all Members for their full support in ensuring this never happened to another child in Wirral again.

 

Councillor Phil Davies stated that there was a need to let the Serious Case Review take its course which would report in the summer. He was confident that Councillor Mooney would bring a fresh approach and there had already been a number of improvements since the OFSTED report. The former Children’s Commissioner for England, Dr Maggie Atkinson, had said that lessons had already been learnt and the service was now very different to what it was. He did not believe that the answer to all the Council’s problems was for Government Commissioner’s to move in. He assured Councillor Lewis that the Government was already involved as the Department for Education had appointed Tony Crane, an advisor for the Department to the Board. He stated that the issue was too important to be used as a political football and that the way forward was through a cross-party approach. The issue demanded a political maturity and there was clearly a lot more work to be done. There would be an opportunity to debate the Serious Case Review in a few months’ time.

 

The Civic Mayor then thanked all the Members who had contributed and closed the meeting at 7.15pm.