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News and Comment April 2024

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7 April (Part 1) - A short history of SEN failure

It’ְְְs not been a good week or two for Bexley Council. First they advertised their managerial incompetence, their invisibility and bullying which results in mental health being the biggest cause of sick absence among staff. (In my time in management and a predominately female workforce by far the most common reason for pulling a sickie was child care.)

Then they held the inquest into their SEND failures at which the words Review and Improve popped up over and over again as if the OFSTED criticism was the first that Bexley Council knew that their SEN services have been poorly managed. That would be far from the truth as a re-examination of the events of 2019 would show.

In both February and April that year they were saying that £800,000 a year had been wiped off of SEND transport costs. Necessary perhaps but unlikely to make things better.

At the latter meeting assurances were given that Bexley was performing much better than in neighbouring boroughs, a claim that fell apart a couple of months later.

The Cabinet Member for Education said that no one had complained to the LGO (because the Director sitting next to him whispered a lie) but Councillor Perfect (Labour, Northumberland Heath) was able to show that 55% of the LGO’s London complaints were about Bexley and all the SEN related ones were upheld.

At the July Full Council meeting Teresa O’Neill the Council Leader was unhappy with the flow of embarrassing SEN revelations coming from Labour, and asked Mayor Lucia-Hennis to rule them out of order but the Mayor was not in favour of suppressing debate just because the facts were unpalatable. The Leader argued with her but to no avail.

But that soon changed.

Councillor Dave Putson (Labour, Belvedere until he was expelled in November 2021 for ridiculous reasons which are still being disputed) read out a number of damning LGO reports including one where Bexley had insisted on a single parent being at two schools at the same time.

Eventually the Mayor at the request of Councillor Sybil Camsey rudely shut him up for providing details of each of the LGO reports instead of simply saying there were six. (This was not reported in great detail on 27th July 2019 but I have today listened again to the recording of the ill tempered meeting and Mayor.)

Councillor Daniel Francis (Labour, Belvedere) asked why the Conservatives were so keen to suppress discussion of their many failures and called for a special meeting to discuss the issues. The Tories contemptuously jeered and accused him of “talking twaddle”. Meanwhile six LGO reports said otherwise.

When Daniel Francis objected to the language being used the Mayor said her patience with him was fast running out.

The Labour Group issued a Press Release on the subject.

Last year the LGO came back to give Bexley another good SEND kicking (†) in a further indication of the inadequacy of the management in that department and now OFSTED has got in on the act. But don’t worry, the Head of Human Resources thinks that awarding stars is the fix for under-performing staff.

Well it worked for me going to Sunday School regularly so maybe she knows more about managing a large workforce than I do.

† See also 9th October 2023.

 

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