Minutes:
The following statements were made –
(1) Child Q
At the request of Councillors Angela Wilkins and Kathy Bance, the Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families, Cllr Kate Lymer, made a statement on the Child Q case. Councillor Lymer had been shocked to hear about the treatment of this child. The report published by the City and Hackney Safeguarding Children Board, chaired by Jim Gamble, contained significant learning for all agencies. Councillor Lymer confirmed that she had met with Jim Gamble as Chairman of Bromley’s Safeguarding Children Board, the Leader, the Chief Executive, the Director of Children’s Services and senior local Police to discuss the report and obtain details of local responses. Following the meeting, she was reassured that the Police and all other local agencies were taking the issue very seriously. The report had been shared across all services and measures put in place to share the learning and actively engage with staff. The Safeguarding Children Board had already set up sessions for frontline staff and would be discussing the issue at the next partnership meeting. Jim Gamble had also offered to put on a session for Members. Councillor Lymer was also reassured that action was being taken by the local Police, in particular to ensure that officers knew how to work with school safeguarding leads, and also that the Metropolitan Police had begun a review and were engaging with the local community in Hackney.
In response to questions, Cllr Lymer confirmed that all academies would be contacted about this case, and that the Police were looking to rebuild trust in local communities. She confirmed that the Police had stated that no such searches had been conducted in schools in Bromley. She agreed to raise the issue of potential racism being a factor in this case.
(2) Leader’s Review of 2021/22
The Leader of the Council, Councillor Colin Smith made a statement reviewing progress against his objectives for the year. The highest priority had been the protection of vulnerable people and this was reflected in a national award for discharge from hospitals and the work on the loneliness agenda. There had also been national awards for the management of the Council’s finances and the Pension Scheme (for which the Leader thanked Councillor Keith Onslow and the members of the Pensions Committee). The Council had continued to support the local economy and channel government grant to local businesses - Bromley had come through the pandemic well and interest in town centre was beginning to pick up. More homes and better homes had been an objective for the year and a number of scheme were now nearly complete – there were two national awards for housing schemes. The Council’s expansion of street tree planting was now taking place, improving wellbeing and the environment. The Council had been determined to work towards being carbon neutral by 2029, but good progress had been made enabling the target to be changed to 2027. In summary, it had been a difficult year for residents, members and officers, but despite this Bromley had continued to make steady progress.
The Leader also marked the departure of a number of councillors at the forthcoming election – Councillors Peter Fortune, Graham Arthur, Peter Morgan, William Huntington-Thresher, Neil Reddin, Samaris Huntington-Thresher, Judi Ellis, Richard Scoates, Michael Turner, Chris Pierce, Robert Mcilveen, Gareth Allatt, Suraj Sharma, Julian Benington, Angela Wilkins, Vanessa Allen, Ian Dunn and the Mayor, Councillor Russell L. Mellor. The Leader thanked each one for their service to the borough, and led the chamber in a round of applause.