Councillor will report Telford & Wrekin Council to independent CSE inquiry
A councillor who helped oversee the set-up of the Telford child sexual exploitation inquiry says he will report the local authority itself to the inquiry, once it is up and running.
Tim Nelson says Telford and Wrekin Council’s “actions and inaction” has caused delays since the inquiry process was first started last spring.
The law firm acting as inquiry commissioners say recruitment for a chair could begin late next week, if the draft job specification is approved.
A senior Telford and Wrekin Council officer said the inquiry commissioners were “balancing the need to do this quickly against the need to make sure it is done properly”.
Councillor Nelson is a member of the Child Sexual Exploitation Inquiry Membership Advisory Group, a six-member cross-party committee.
In November the committee appointed Eversheds Sutherland International as the inquiry’s independent commissioners, and it will meet again on Tuesday to receive an update on the law firm’s progress and approve its draft person specification.
The inquiry format and terms of reference will be decided at a later date.
In his report for the committee, Telford & Wrekin Council monitoring officer Jonathan Eatough writes that splitting the set-up process into two parts “balances the need to progress the inquiry in a timely manner and the need to make sure that stakeholders, notably survivors, are properly engaged in the process.
“The transparent nature of this approval process provides the necessary check and balance to ensure the council is not attempting to influence the recruitment of the IC [independent chair], the terms of reference or the inquiry process.”
Councillor Nelson, a Conservative representing Newport’s North and West ward, said he was “incensed” by the delay.
He said: “The Conservative Group presented a motion at full council almost one year ago and we, and others, are still asking the question ‘When will it start?’
Urgent
“We should all be extremely concerned at this delay which, I believe, goes beyond everything a local authority should stand for, and seems to have been anything but independent throughout.
“Urgent answers are needed right away and I intend to refer the actions and inaction of Telford and Wrekin Council to the independent inquiry for investigation.
“The delay must stop now.”
Ms Allan criticised the “slow-motion” inquiry process, and said: “It is sending a message that getting to the bottom of what happened in Telford is just not a matter of urgency.”
Responding for the government, junior Local Government minister Rishi Sunak said: “First of all, I’m glad Telford and Wrekin Council and West Mercia Police are committed to tackling CSE in their area.
“Over the last decade or so they have forged a model of partnership working, established a task force to tackle this issue together, and have been noted by Ofsted for their work.
“And, in 2012, they did bring seven perpetrators to justice – the second place in the country to do so.”
In response to Ms Allan, Lee Carter, of Telford & Wrekin Council, said: "We made a solemn promise to the leading campaigners and victims and survivors that we would hold an inquiry in this town and we promised that they would be at the heart of that – we said we would do it differently in Telford and that we would do it right and we are doing that.
“Part of doing it right is that the whole inquiry is independent of the council and should be from free from political interference. Already one survivor has felt the need to speak out about the politicisation of the inquiry process in certain quarters."
Report by Alex Moore, local democracy reporter
