Child protection discussion lasts seconds, but who was there to hear it? Child protection discussion lasts seconds, but who was there to hear it? Richmond Council was accused of complacency after a report highlighting child protection failures was not discussed at a 60-second meeting. It was on the agenda for a cabinet meeting at York House on Thursday, June 19, but the meeting lasted just one minute. Officers proposed three options for cabinet to consider – receiving a detailed report on the matter, asking the portfolio holder to investigate further or referring the matter to a scrutiny committee. The cabinet dismissed those options. Leader of the opposition Councillor Stephen Knight criticised the cabinet for hearing 13 items in 60 seconds – 4.6 seconds per item. He said: “Richmond had almost twice as many episodes of children in care repeatedly going missing last year compared to the target and the report admits that a review last year found the council to be using an inappropriately high threshold of child protection processes. “Why was this report not published last year, only to surface now? “I fear we are entering into a new era of complacency and decision-making behind closed doors.” However, cabinet member for children’s services Councillor Paul Hodgins dismissed Coun Knight’s claims and [...] newsinlondon/child-protection-discussion-lasts-seconds-but-who-was-there-to-hear-it/
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 08:45:30 +0000