The Education Select Committee is urging Malthouse to prioritise vulnerable children that it says are currently being failed by the local authorities.
Following an accountability hearing with the councils’ chief executives and interim directors of children’s services in June, the Committee, made up of cross-party MPS, has condemned the ‘inadequate’ response of the local authority leaders and called on the Department for Education and Ofsted to assess the progress made by both councils.
The Committee’s letter to the education secretary highlights a ‘clear deterioration’ in standards at both children’s services, predating the pandemic, and asks him to consider whether the leaders are ‘capable of continuing to try and establish significant change.’
The MPs also question the urgency with which the National Child Safeguarding Review Panel has sought to push forward improvements at the failing Councils. They express concern that a planned multi-agency safeguarding hub system to prevent future shortcomings, would ‘shift accountability between agencies, leaving no one person ultimately responsible for vulnerable children like Star and Arthur.’
One-year-old Star Hobson was murdered by her mother’s girlfriend in September 2020 in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was abused and subsequently killed by his father and father’s girlfriend in June 2020.
'It is essential that the leaders responsible for the most-at-risk children in our society are up to the job.'
Chair of the Education Select Committee, Robert Halfon MP, said, ‘The deaths of Arthur and Star were harrowing. Both Bradford and Solihull Councils' Children's Services were in dire need of improvements even before the lockdowns. Action was not taken, and two children lost their lives.
‘The new Education Secretary must prioritise the vulnerable children currently being failed by these authorities and take the steps to ensure targets for improvement are being met, and fast. There must be accountability, and it is essential that the leaders responsible for the most at-risk children in our society are up to the job.’
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said it had 'already intervened extensively' at the councils to 'address weaknesses'.
'We cannot be complacent when it comes to protecting vulnerable children and will not hesitate to take additional steps to drive swift improvement," it continued.
'We are working on a bold plan for wide-scale reform in children's social care which we will publish later this year."
Bradford Council said it was "working well" with the DfE and making "good progress".
'As a council we are clear about the actions we need to take to improve services and make sure that children in our district are safe," the authority said.
'We are implementing these at pace.'
