Philip Davies MP on Bradford Children's Services Ofsted

OFSTED published their latest report on Bradford Children’s Services yesterday and it makes for sobering reading. 

Indeed, it is so damning that the leadership of Bradford Council should be resigning in shame with immediate effect. 

It was back in 2018 when Ofsted first deemed Bradford Children’s Services to be inadequate because serious failures left “children at risk of harm”.

Then of course the death of Star Hobson was shocking not least because we learned that Bradford Council had missed the opportunity to intervene to prevent her death. 

On the back of this, the leadership of Bradford Council was rightfully scrutinised during the cross-party Education Select Committee last year where Kersten England and Susan Hinchcliffe were accused of “failing to take accountability for the death” of Star.

The Ofsted report published yesterday is therefore particularly alarming because the death of Star and Ofsted’s 2018 report should have acted as a catalyst for Kersten England and Susan Hinchcliffe to bring about drastic change and fast. 

Instead, nothing has improved and in fact the provision of children’s services in Bradford has shockingly considerably worsened. 

Since 2018, Ofsted have stated that “corporate and senior leaders have failed to improve services, and have overseen further decline”. 

Every page of the report blames the ongoing failures in children’s services on the most senior levels of Bradford Council. 

Ofsted deemed that the leadership “lack understanding of the scale of improvement required”.

I am unsure why they don’t understand what is required to improve the terrible situation they presided over because the 2018 report clearly outlined where there were failures and how these failures could be improved. 

This latest report merely underlines the extent of chronic failure at the top of Bradford Council.

Instability in the workforce has also contributed to an “absence of a clear vision and an incoherent approach to improvement work”.

Bradford Council are failing to recruit employees across the board, not just in social services.

A start would be to scrap the pointless equality, diversity and inclusion positions that I mentioned last month, which cost the Council a shocking £665,000 a year, and the money generated from scrapping these posts could then be used for other employees.

Having said that though, how can you attract high quality staff to Bradford Council whilst it is a failing organisation under the current leadership?

The most sad and distressing aspect of the latest Ofsted report is that children in Bradford continue to remain in “situations of serious harm” because not enough has been done since 2018 to improve the standards of children’s services. 

Ofsted’s latest report should be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Kersten England has already announced her resignation ahead of the publication of this scathing report which details failures under her watch. 

It would appear a clear case of jumping before she’s pushed. 
But why is Susan Hinchcliffe – the leader of the Council – still in post? Has she no shame at all? She should resign and apologise to all the children she has failed.

Unfortunately, I am not holding my breath.

In her latest media round, Hinchcliffe accepted no personal responsibility for her failings to children across the district. 

I would have thought that at least an apology was in order, but no apology was forthcoming. 

Instead, Hinchcliffe said that she is looking forward to working with the new Bradford Children and Families Trust when it takes over in April of this year, which I must add was created after a direction from central Government deemed the Council leadership unable to adequately provide children’s services. 

How bad do things have to get before she will take responsibility for her failings?

The self-evident fact is that she is just not up to the job. 

This is a shameful period in the history of the Bradford district. 

Bradford needs strong and capable leadership. Kersten England has already bowed to the inevitable and announced her departure from the Council. Susan Hinchcliffe must now do the same and resign. 

As Oliver Cromwell famously said: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”