By Local Democracy Reporter
Steve Shaw
THE leader of Thurrock Council has said that people should be satisfied with the outcome of a whistleblower investigation, despite having not seen a full report.
Council leader Rob Gledhill said a full report into allegations that errors made by Children’s Services may have contributed to the death of a 23-month old could not be released because it contained “sensitive information”.
He admitted at a council meeting on Wednesday that he has not seen the report, which cleared the council of wrongdoing, but said everybody should be satisfied the council “acted appropriately” now that Ofsted had closed the case.
Group leaders were given the opportunity to look at a selection of documents that provided detailed information on the findings in the report but this took place just two hours before the meeting.
A similar problem occurred before the last cabinet meeting when the outcome of the investigation was rushed onto the meeting agenda, leaving the public and many councillors completely unaware that it would be discussed.
Councillor John Kent, leader of Thurrock Labour, said that while he was not given enough time to read the latest documents in full, they flag up areas of “clear concern”.
He said: “I believe that I do need to see the whole report to get the kind of assurance and comfort that I want and I understand that parts of that may need to be redacted.”
Mr Gledhill said the council does not have the freedom to say which documents can be made public.
“From the conversations I have had with the monitoring officer and the Chief Executive, I feel the information given out satisfies me, not because it was given to me by officers but also because Ofsted feel there is no more required of us than what we are doing at the moment,” he said.
“If Ofsted says everything is fine then I am happy with that.”
The cause of the toddler’s death has never been established but police have concluded there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding it. A coroner has claimed the cause was “unknown”.
Gledhill you are just an imbecile. Everything is not fine in that department and you know it.
Gledhill have you shot the whistleblower Yet?
i have to agree with TGDH on this one. you neoliberals are as dodgy as fuck.
Gledhill why not put a 70 year secret document rule on it like the David Kelly incident. Atleast that way you don’t get done for it and can die an right honorable man.
I love politicians there as dodgy as fuck we really should elect fraudsters atleast there honest about it.
Anyway we can’t hang around here I reckon
Gledhill has a
whistleblower he wants to hang.
It seems to be a Tory character trait to just believe things without evidence or trying to research what’s available in the way of information because JD-P did exactly the same thing when I brought up the issue of the unfit for purpose Work Capability Assessments for people with mental health issues. She said she believed what she was told by her party leaders that what the government was doing was correct and ignored the testimony of actual claimants which showed the opposing view. Still, by not making waves, she has risen to the heights of Minister for Mental Health (because she doesn’t care about or understand mental health) and Suicide Prevention (because she doesn’t care about suicide or reducing it).
Have to agree there Cookie. Don’t make waves and when your voted out we will give you a seat in the House of Lords, isn’t that right Baroness Angela Smith of Basildon. Oh but is this right I ask, was she not a Labour MP??? Ummm how much is it per house attendance now £600 +????
I feel politicians could face legal action in years to come over some of there actions.
All it needs is a new political party to come about that is not part of the elite establishment and is anti economic neoliberalism.
Lets destroy the elite establishment and get back to capitalism.
Valen (Myles) Cook
“It seems to be a Tory character trait to just believe things without evidence or trying to research what’s available in the way of information because JD-P did exactly the same thing.”
Its called ideology over reality. I would also put New Labour and Tony Blair in that camp too.
it’s very much like
I would never get in a car with the likes of JDP because if she wants to drive over the cliff no amount of facts on the harm of that for her and me will stop her. Due to her belief system.
“Ummm how much is it per house attendance now £600 +????”
Add in the political donations. corporate speaking circuit and Jobs for the boys and girls afterwards and its a nice little racket.
Selling Britain out by the Pound.
Oh and Lords have been known to pull up outside in a taxi sign in and jump back in a taxi. 15 Mins Job. It’s a tough old life as a Lord.
But if it gets too much they can always take a little nap in the chamber.
Who votes those clowns in anyway. Oh I forgot no one.
Catching the Bus (reply to comment posted December 4, 2018 at 6:08 pm) – I did try to start a group to look at all the political ideologies, take out the best parts and create a new ideology around which a new party could be formed but I didn’t get any interest. I think people just like things the way they are.
(reply to comment posted December 4, 2018 at 6:18 pm) – Yeah, I wouldn’t trust JD-P behind the wheel of a car either. I wouldn’t trust her with a keyboard or a pen either.
(reply to comment posted December 4, 2018 at 6:28 pm) – The House of Lords might not be perfect but it does provide a check on the power of the House of Comics. If we had an elected upper House it could lead to a situation where the same party was in control of both Houses and there wouldn’t be any checks and balances. The only way to try to avoid that situation would be to hold mid-term elections for the upper House to allow the electorate a chance to put the brakes on a particularly bad executive but it’s hard enough to get people to vote every five years, let alone every two-and-a-half years and that might lead to the situation I outlined earlier with one party in control of both Houses.
On the House of Loonies I concede to you on some of what you said.
But the House of Comics. elect the House of Loonies. Or appoint
them. So I fear what could happen due to that.
As for you setting up a new political movement
If we just take the best bits of socialism (NHS Education) and capitalism (True free market with competition in capitalism).
RIght now we have the worst of both worlds.
Neoliberalism a perversion of capitalism.
With Austarity/capitalism for the 99% and socialism for the top 1%.
The Current system the Tory government favour economic neoliberalism.
WIth economic growth anemic despite trillions of corporate/public debt and money printing, why the number of start-ups has declined, and why are workers losing out.
A few very powerful companies dominate key industries and media and political lobbying. Oligopoly.
Or go to another system called capitalism.
where competition created higher economic growth,more jobs, higher wages and a level playing field for all. an open, competitive marketplace
As the global economy struggles to avoid meltdown, so the greatest Ponzi scheme in history approaches its final death rattle. Politicians have stood by and watched the financial industry create a massive overhang of debt, a mountain of low quality assets – and ultimately, an economic disaster which will dwarf all others.
Rising market power by dominant firms has created less competition, lower investment in the real economy, lower productivity, less economic dynamism with fewer startups, higher prices for dominant firms, lower wages and more wealth inequality. The evidence from economic studies is pouring in like a flood.
If you believe in competitive free markets, you should be very concerned. If you believe in fair play and hate cronyism, you should be worried. With fake capitalism CEOs cozy up to regulators to get the kind of rules they want and donate to get the laws they desire. Larger companies get larger, while the small disappear, and the consumer and worker are left with no choice.
In industry after industry, they can only purchase from local monopolies or oligopolies that can tacitly collude. The UK and U.S. now has many industries with only three or four competitors controlling entire markets. Since the early 1980s, market concentration has increased severely.
It was not always like this. Without almost any public debate, industries have now become much more concentrated than they were 40 years ago. As economist Gustavo Grullon has noted, the “nature of U.S. product markets has undergone a structural shift that has weakened competition.”
The government has done little to prevent this concentration, and in fact has done much to encourage it. Broken markets create broken politics. Economic and political power is becoming concentrated in the hands of distant monopolists.
The stronger companies become, the greater their stranglehold on regulators and legislators becomes via the political process. This is not the essence of capitalism.
Capitalism is a game where competitors play by rules on which everyone agrees. The government is the referee, and just as you need a referee and a set of agreed rules for a good football game, you need rules to promote competition in the economy.
Left to their own devices, firms will use any available means to crush their rivals. Today, the state, as referee, has not enforced rules that would increase competition, and through regulatory capture has created rules that limit competition.
When the left and right speak of capitalism today, they are telling stories about an imaginary state. The unbridled, competitive free markets that the right cherishes don’t exist today. The left attacks the grotesque capitalism we see today, as if that were the true manifestation of the essence of capitalism rather than the distorted version it has become.
In 1776 Adam Smith wrote “The Wealth of Nations,” and the American Continental Congress declared independence from Britain. Smith complained bitterly about monopolies. He wrote of the East India Company: “… the monopoly which our manufacturers have obtained … has so much increased the number of some particular tribes of them, that, like an overgrown standing army, they have become formidable to the government, and upon many occasions intimidate the legislature.”
Among the reasons the Continental Congress cited for separating from Britain in the Declaration of Independence was, “For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” The Boston Tea Party was in response to the East India Company’s monopoly on tea.
We need change.
Shoot Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron, May they are neoliberals they are all Anti Capitalists.