Bradford Council chiefs grilled over Star Hobson case two years on

A cross-party group of MPs has written to Education Secretary Kit Malthouse to tell him they are “extremely concerned” about whether Kersten England, chief executive of Bradford Council, is up to the job of improving children’s services in the district. 

The Education Select Committee’s letter, which raises similar concerns about the leadership of the Council in Solihull after the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes, comes after it spoke to the senior officials from both councils and said it found their reassurances “inadequate”.

But Bradford Council has argued it is making the required changes “at pace”.

It comes ahead of the launch of a new children’s trust in Bradford next year – funded by the Council but run as a separate entity from April.

Kersten England (front right) speaking at the Commons select committee meeting in June 2022. Still picture from parliamentlive.tv (Image: Still picture from parliamentlive.tv)

The Education Select Committee's letter said they were “extremely concerned as to whether the councils’ current leadership will be able to safeguard other vulnerable children”.

The committee’s letter to Mr Malthouse questioned whether Solihull chief executive Nick Page and Ms England were “best placed to continue to lead and oversee the state of Children’s Services in both authorities”.

The MPs called on ministers to make sure that commitments made by bosses to improve services over 12 months were followed through.

Otherwise, it warned that the Department for Education and Ofsted should consider “whether both chief executives are capable of continuing to try and establish such significant change”.

Conservative chair of the committee, Robert Halfon MP, said: “The deaths of Arthur and Star were harrowing. Both Bradford and Solihull Councils’ children’s services were in dire need of improvements even before the lockdowns.

“Action was not taken, and two children lost their lives.

David Fawcett and Anita Smith, Star Hobson's great-grandparents, at her resting place on the second anniversary of the toddler's death this September (Image: Newsquest)

“The new Education Secretary must prioritise the vulnerable children currently being failed by these authorities and take steps to ensure targets for improvement are being met, and fast.

“There must be accountability.”

A spokesperson for Bradford Council said: “It is a matter of public record that we acknowledge and fully accept the findings of the National Panel report which was led by Annie Hudson into the horrific deaths of Star and Arthur.

“As a Council we are clear about the actions we need to take to improve services and make sure that children in our district are safe. 

Photo from David Fawcett shows baby Star in happier times, left. Right, a photo of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes (handout) (Image: Family handouts)

"We are implementing these at pace. We cooperated fully with the Department for Education’s Commissioner-led review which was a thorough appraisal of the challenges that have faced children’s services. The most recent Ofsted monitoring visit, the result of which was published this month, has also highlighted recent improvements in the delivery of services.

“We are currently working well with the Department for Education and we are making good progress towards establishing the Bradford Children and Families Trust which was a key recommendation from the Commissioner’s review.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have already intervened extensively in both Solihull and Bradford’s services to address weaknesses, appointing independent advisers in both cases and handing control of services in Bradford to a Trust.

“We cannot be complacent when it comes to protecting vulnerable children and will not hesitate to take additional steps to drive swift improvement. We are working on a bold plan for wide scale reform in children’s social care which we will publish later this year.”

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