A BRADFORD councillor said it is “appalling” that parents and carers are in a position where they have lost faith in the district’s SEND (special educational needs and disability) provision.

The comments came after an inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission which revealed “significant concerns”.

Councillor Matt Edwards, leader of the Green Group on Bradford Council accused the Council of “trying to spin this to make it seem that it is making the changes needed when the report is very clear that the pace is just not quick enough”.

He added: “This report is another in the long list of reports by external bodies that paints a damning picture of how Bradford Council looks after children in our district.

“To say that ‘parents and carers have lost faith in the SEND system in Bradford’ is both appalling and yet completely relatable.

“As a ward councillor I have been contacted by residents who are telling me a catalogue of errors from missed diagnoses for their children, a lack of urgency putting plans in place to deal and a failure to meet mandatory deadlines. This report confirms these aren't isolated incidents.”

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland, spokesperson for children and young people for the Liberal Democract group on Bradford Council, described the inspection report as “damning”.

She said: “It is less than six months that Labour councillors were crowing that they were on top of the assessment processes when in truth the work was of variable quality, sometimes inaccurate and didn't even adequately describe the needs of the child. It is unsurprising that parents and carers have lost faith in the system. 

“Most worryingly is the failure to develop sufficient places and services for children requiring specialist support.

“More and more children will find themselves in places that do not meet their needs whilst the failure to properly plan and recruit to the transport services has meant that some children will not even get to school. 

“This is yet another report into the failure at the top at Bradford Council, this time to children with special educational needs and disabilities.

“Once again the Council logo of being a ‘Child Friendly City’ is being made a mockery of.

“Our children deserve much better than this.” 

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen, leader of the Conservative Group on Bradford Council, said she and her colleagues were "deeply disappointed" they first heard of the report via a request for comment from the Telegraph & Argus.

She claimed non-Labour councillors were being kept "in the dark about serious failures in services for children, over and over again".

In a statement last night, she said: "Because of this latest failure to disclose a report regarding failures in services to protect children, my colleagues and I are not in a position to read and reply to it substantively within the few hours available to us, we will make a more comprehensive statement tomorrow."

She said the "problems that are continuously coming to light are too important to be responded to in a hurried manner". 

Cllr Mike Pollard added: “The report’s main findings section starts with the sentence 'between 2014 and 2019, leaders from the local authority and the CCG did not prioritise the implementation of the SEND reforms’ and whilst the Conservative Group would prefer consensus across the Council Chamber in how to deal with the seemingly never-ending problems in this service area, I think it is perhaps not before time to gently mention that the controlling Labour Group took over overall control of the Council in, yes you guessed it, 2014.”