Yes, definitely, let’s devolve power and money to the localities, because ‘communities know better than anyone else what’s right for them’. Power to the people! What could possibly go wrong? Well, if this story is to be believed, plenty. In the early 2000s, the government gave LBWF many millions of public money to help the most deprived neighbourhoods in the borough. Now read on. Postscript ... »
This post looks in some detail at the recently published Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) regarding the historic child abuse at Whitefield School (or, to give it its formal title ‘Learning from the past: The use of restrictive practices, including seclusion, in a school for children with additional needs’). First, a couple of observations about how the LCSPR was set up and then act... »
It is said that the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) into child abuse at Whitefield School during 2014-17 finally will be released next week, having taken an astonishing 16 months longer than the official guidance recommends. However, even at this eleventh hour, research is still revealing new concerns about the existence of evidence relating to the abuse, and the following looks a... »
In 2020, after it was involved in several fire safety scandals, including litigation with a supplier, LBWF began a remediation programme (RP) to bring its housing stock ‘up to the most modern…safety standard’, this being forecast to cost £40m.. Previous posts on this blog have looked at the RP, and shown that in the early days there was some degree of progress, but more recently this has slowed. N... »
Journalist Andrew Kersley’s investigation of Waltham Forest resident Tracey Turnell’s tragic death, published on 30 May in The Londoner, has deservedly provoked much positive interest and comment (see below). But there is one grating note. After publication, the newly appointed Green Party cabinet member in charge of adult social care, Cllr. Martin Edobor, was in contact with Mr. Kersley and ‘said... »
From the beginning of the year, LBWF has been working with a big consultancy, Newton Consulting Ltd., on a project to deliver ‘change across its organisation, with a focus on… Housing and Homelessness and Adult Social Care’. This is part of a new LBWF emphasis on ‘demand management’, that is, wherever feasible, remodelling its key statutory responsibilities in a way that produces t... »
The Londoner has just published Andrew Kersley’s forensic investigation of the tragic death of Waltham Forest resident Tracey Turnell, the so called ‘body in the wheelchair’ case, here: https://www.the-londoner.co.uk/tracey-turnell-death-wheelchair-walthamstow/ It is well worth reading in full, particularly for those who still believe LBWF’s much repeated claim that it puts residents first in... »
Jubilant at gaining an overall majority in the Town Hall, the Greens are promising major changes, no less than ‘a new kind of council’. However, there are several flies in the ointment, as this post explains. First, many of the new Green councillors are almost completely unknown, and it’s possible that when they step into the limelight, it will turn out that some have made comments in the past whi... »
For the last five years, LBWF has been implementing a wide-ranging equality, diversity and inclusion programme which has comprised numerous separate initiatives; involved every Town Hall employee, from the most junior to the most senior; and cost a large amount of public money, not least because all of the activity has taken place in worktime. One of the key objectives here, repeated again and aga... »
Word reaches this blog that the Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review (LCSPR) of historic child abuse at Whitefield School, though already more than a year overdue, is to be delayed yet again, and in fact there is no longer even a target publication date. In explanation, it is said that the LCSPR panel needs to add further expertise, though why any knowledge deficit wasn’t addressed long ... »