Agenda item

The Chair welcomed Members to Councillors’ Forum. He also welcomed

Louise Casey CB in her role leading a review into how to boost opportunity and integration in the most isolated and deprived communities.

Louise praised local authorities for their contribution to the Troubled Families programme and highlighted the importance of strong local leadership in tackling entrenched social problems. Focussing on the review, Louise commented on the amount of time she has spent travelling the country speaking to local government, faith groups, schools and other organisations. She mentioned that replies to the review’s call for evidence had been dominated by local government, which indicates how seriously they take these issues.

Louise stated that the review’s work will be based around three broad themes:

·         Integration: this strand of the review will focus on segregation, whether that be through linguistic isolation, high levels of unemployment, or racial inequalities in the criminal justice system. In terms of solutions, Louise emphasised the need for local government input as each population is different and therefore these problems will require diverse local solutions. As a result, Louise reiterated that strong local leadership will be key.

·         Equality: this strand of the review will focus on gender equality, gay rights and the rule of law. Louise urged Members to defend these values in public without fear because civic leadership is crucial to ensuring that all parts of our society benefit from the realisation of these universal values.

·         Preventing harm to children: this strand of the review will focus on radicalisation, exploitation, and child abuse. Louise stated that, to tackle these problems, it is imperative that we build character and resilience in all children. She also highlighted that there is a national security element to this strand of the review. Louise emphasised that the first duty of public servants is to protect the vulnerable and urged Members not to worry about offending people in the process. Again, Louise highlighted strong local leadership as key to the success of this strategy.

Louise then spoke about her related work inspecting Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. She suggested that the central insight of the Rotherham report was that, although the denial of serious problems might seem like they serve community relations in the short-run, they will inevitably undermine community relations in the long-run by inhibiting justice and effective policing

The floor was opened up for questions:

·         Members stressed the complexity of tragic incidents such as the Daniel Pelka murder where many different public bodies such as the police, schools and the local authority all missed early warning signs of abuse. They asked for Louise’s insights into how progress can be made to avoid such events being repeated. In particular, members were keen to hear Louise’s thoughts on how best to proceed when a family does not cooperate with a local authority’s efforts.

·         Members emphasised the additional pressures on children’s services in some parts of the country due to increasing numbers of unaccompanied children asylum seekers. They highlighted the LGA’s call for a national programme to disperse the responsibility of caring for such children more fairly across local authorities.

·         Members highlighted the important role that other local organisations besides councils can play in promoting community integration. They noted the potential benefits of strong partnership work between councils and such organisations.

In response, Louise stressed the importance of creating workplace cultures in public bodies whereby individual employees feel confident that they can confront members of the community whom they suspect of abuse. Louise accepted that there is no easy solution to the problem of what to do in instances where a family does not cooperate with a local authority’s efforts; however, it is important to admit this and continue searching for solutions.

Louise acknowledged the pressures that certain councils’ children’s services face due to increasing numbers of unaccompanied children asylum seekers and noted that central government needs to work with local government to address this issue.

Louise stressed the importance of strong, clear leadership, especially in the context of devolution whereas, in her view, partnership work, unless there was someone to drive it, often amounts to the lowest common denominator of what can be agreed in a meeting. Moreover, because oftentimes no single person is held responsible for outcomes, there is a greater likelihood of oversights in partnership work.

Concluding, Louise anticipated that her final report would be published around June/July 2016. In addition, Louise stated that, whether it is included in the report or pursued separately, she would like to talk with the LGA about new ways to develop local leadership. She noted that central government has plans for new local leadership programmes, but suggested that it is crucial to also have local government input into on this going forward.